One of the more striking illustrations of exactly how our perceptions of physical reality can be distorted by social structures and controls, is, interestingly, to be found in a major current phenomenon in popular culture -- The Lord of the Rings. Where does the idea that rings have great power over physical reality come from, exactly? After all, rings are primarily simple ornamentation, why would anyone think they had any power at all, beyond, perhaps, creating a certain physical attraction to those bearing them? Nevertheless, the concept of Rings of Power lies very deep in popular mythology, from the Ring of the Niebelungen to Wagner's Ring Cycle to the Lord of the Rings in its various incarnations, since JRR Tolkien wrote this fantasy classic. And, the roots of this phenomenon in popular culture lie much deeper, and are older than this.

Where is this all coming from, exactly? Well, there is one way in which, for a time anyway, rings did posess a certain considerable practical power over the physical world. I am thinking of chain mail armor, which is formed by interlocking metal rings. For many centuries, chain mail armor was a very important means of self-protection in warfare, and provided an excellent defense against arrows, spears and swords. Still though, it's a bit of a stretch from chain mail armor -- just one of many forms of defensive armor -- to the "rings of power" that can control the entire world, isn't it?

I think the more persuasive explanation of the power of rings is not practical or physical, but, rather, merely social. Rings, particularly large expensive rings, with gemstones, or sophisticated engravings, were, for perhaps thousands of years, a prerogative of the rich and powerful. Indeed, signet rings, with special engravings, were often used as official seals of Kings and other powerful individuals, when dipped in melted wax, and could be the basis for a wide variety of critically important legal proceedings such as treaties, wars, great financial endowments, political appointments, or judicial court decisions of a criminal or a civil nature. The Ring syboloized official power and privilege.

However, people are easily confused. One thing becomes associated with another in people's minds, and social power, in our unconscious, becomes associated with physical power, the ability to destroy whole nations, or the entire world itself. Social power can appear to match divine powers of physical creation, although, when we look quite closely, this is almost never the case. The social powers of the world's leaders are declaimed on high, and form the basis for much of our attitudes to reality. However, on close inspection, it is often found, that the emperor, although he may indeed be the emperor, has no clothes at all!