Those who have read The Lord of the Rings will know about the palantiri, the seeing stones which we look into at our peril. Anyone who looks into one of these stones does not see a complete lie. On the contrary, what he sees might be true. The problem is not that he is seeing a lie but that he is only seeing that part of the truth that the dominant will that controls the stones wants him to see. Thus Denethor, the Steward of Minas Tirith, develops the habit of looking into one of these stones and is shown repeatedly the sheer might of the enemy which is marching on his city and country. Faced with such seemingly insurmountable odds, he despairs of any chance of withstanding the onslaught of evil and commits suicide.
The problem is that it is Sauron’s will that controls the stones. Sauron, a demon whom Tolkien describes as the greatest of Satan’s servants, shows Denethor what he wants Denethor to see. Denethor, not exhibiting the cardinal virtues of prudence and temperance, does not have the sense to refrain from peering into the stones and is thereby seduced into believing that the triumph of evil is inevitable.
Perhaps, on one level, and most obviously, the palantiri can be likened to the crystal balls of the spiritualists which purport to see into the spiritual realm. It was the experience of this sort of palantir stone which prompted or provoked G. K. Chesterton to write “The Crystal”, one of his finest poems, after his wife had succumbed to the lure of spiritualism following the suicide of her brother: (continue reading)