The Lord of the Rings: Product of a Mastermind Group

by Ben Francia |Last Updated: March 12, 2013

Image by zanastardust under CC licence on Flickr

There have been a lot of mastermind groups in the past. Some of them weren’t labeled as a mastermind group; but have the same agenda and system as a mastermind group.

One of these is the Inklings. Never heard of it before? Well I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the classic series of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Yes, members of this mastermind group were the authors of these classic pieces of literature.

This mastermind group was based in Oxford, England and was composed of various great poets like CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield.

These men would meet on Thursday or Friday evenings either in Lewis’ room at Magdalen College or at a local pub, the Eagle and Child (or as the Inklings affectionately dubbed it, the “Bird and Baby”). They would also meet on Tuesday mornings just before lunch. These old friends would then share thoughts and insights or as Lewis referred to as the “the cut and parry of prolonged, fierce, masculine argument” over tea, pipe smoke, and beer.

The meetings go about as each member of the Inklings read aloud from their recent writings. Then, the other members would give their very frank criticism and commentary on what they heard. According to Lewis, their works owed “a good deal to the hard hitting criticism of the circle. The problems of narrative as such-seldom heard of in modern critical writings-were constantly before our minds.”

The difference between the Inklings meetings with the mastermind group meetings is the former was not a structured affair compared to the former. This means, the Inklings didn’t just talk about literature. There were casual and informal debates and conversations about philosophy, romance in literature, and many others. Lewis said, “We meet…theoretically to talk about literature, but in fact nearly always to talk about something better. What I owe to them all is incalculable.”

The regular meetings in Lewis’ room were between 1933 up to 1949, as Tolkien finished the Lord of the Rings. Meanwhile, the pub meetings continued until Lewis’ death in 1963.

This kind of like-minded individuals coming together to discuss their passion and benefit from each other’s inputs and insights is just one form of a mastermind group. Although the structure is much different now, the means and the intention of forming such a group are the same. And the result, well it change our lives. Imagine, the popular results of these meetings were The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.

They honed their energy into inspiring each other in creating such beautiful literary pieces. Just think of what a mastermind group can do for you.

Do you want to be part of a mastermind group? Check this link and find out if you have what it takes to join. https://benfrancia.com/internet-marketing/is-a-mastermind-group-right-for-you/

PS: I recently started the Digital Entrepreneur Mastermind Club to help Entrepreneurs who want to start an online business how to take advantage the power of a Mastermind. I’ll be facilitating some of the Mastermind meetings and conduct a couple of FREE workshops as well. Check it out when you get the chance ==>> https://benfrancia.com/internet-marketing/the-digital-entrepreneur-mastermind-club-digientrep/

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