If I were to judge by the efforts to publish the various writings of J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) over the years of his life, I would have to say that he was also an extraordinary human being. In the lengthy Wikipedia entry "J. R. R. Tolkien," we learn under the subheading "Possible Sainthood" that "On 2 September 2017, the Oxford Oratory, Tolkien's parish church during his time in Oxford, offered its first Mass for the intention of Tolkien's cause for beatification to be opened. A prayer was written for his cause."
No doubt Tolkien's many fans today include many Roman Catholics.
Unfortunately, many conservative American Catholics today voted for trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Unfortunately, certain conservative American Catholics today have distinguished themselves as vociferous anti-Francis critics.
For a discussion of them, see Massimo Borghesi's book Catholic Discordance: Neoconservatism vs. the Field Hospital Church of Pope Francis, translated from the Italian by Barry Hudock (Liturgical Press Academic, 2021; orig. Italian ed., 2021).
Now, in addition to working through and processing unconscious contents in his Black Books and in his Red Book, Jung further worked through and processed the unconscious contents in his psyche when he wrote his 1912 book - the book in which he devoted a chapter to discussing the two ways of thinking: (1) fantasy thinking involving images and associative thinking and (2) directed thinking involving logic.
Beatrice M. Hinkle of Cornell University published an authorized English translation of Jung's 1912 book in her 1916 book titled Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido: A Contribution to the History of the Evolution of Thought (Moffatt, Yard and Company; reprinted by Princeton University Press, 1991).
In any event, four decades later, in 1952, Jung extensively revised his 1912 book and re-titled it Symbols of Transformation, translated by R. F. C. Hull, second edition (Princeton University Press, 1967). But his chapter on fantasy thinking and directed thinking remained largely the same as it was in the 1912 edition (pp. 7-33).
Now, it is in the realm of the possible that Tolkien had activated unconscious contents in his psyche when he was engaged in writing his fantasy novel The Hobbit (published in London in 1937 - the year in which Tolkien turned 45 - well into what Jung referred to as the second half of his life). If Tolkien had activated unconscious contents in his psyche in the process of writing The Hobbit (published in 1937), it would seem likely that he would have further activated unconscious contents in his psyche in the process of writing the much longer fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings (published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955); in 1955, Tolkien turned 63; he died in 1973 at the age of 81).
In 1954 and 1955, the World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) was the president of the United States. In the postwar 1950s in the United States, movies such as High Noon (1952) and Shane (1953) featured readily identifiable "good guys" and "bad guys."
The American columnist Maureen Dowd (born on January 14, 1952) meditates on the theme of good guys versus bad guys in the 1950s' movies in her column titled "Who Will Stand Up to Trump at High Noon?" (dated February 15, 2025) in The New York Times:
In it, Maureen Dowd sees President Donald Trump and Elon Musk as bad-guy bullies. At the end of her op-ed commentary, Dowd quotes "the words of John Wayne in the 1972 western, The Cowboys, 'A big mouth don't make a big man" with approval, and she hopes that President Trump and Elon Musk remember those words.
However that may be, Tolkien presents a far more subtle and nuanced account of evil in his three-volume fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings (1954 and 1955).
Now, I firmly believe that a writer can unwittingly activate unconscious contents in his psyche through his writing.
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