https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=SlT4URIhy98
The Ring of Power is not only a tool, not only akin to a covering or to clothing, but ultimately the Ring is an ornament. Now, the symbolism of the ornament participates in some of the most difficult and mysterious aspects of reality. But if we do want to understand why the Ring makes one invisible, it seems important to at least touch a little bit on the strange symbolism of ornamentation. You see, an ornament is the ultimate supplement. An ornament is something which we add to a person or to an object, but plays no practical purpose in what it ornaments. It is an alien form, foreign to the nature of where it is. Surrounding myself by a metal chariot, like a car, supplements my capacity to travel directly. But putting a pattern of flowers on a chair has nothing to do with the act of sitting. It is completely alien to the chair nature of the chair, just like an ornament on a sword would be alien to the sword nature of the sword. The ornament is only added to make the chair stand out from other chairs. The sword stand out from other swords. How would I know which chair is the King’s throne and not just any other chair? It is usually through a form of mark, a form of ornamentation. So like technology, the ornament can be a way of increasing one’s influence, increasing one’s power, marking how special one is. Think for example of a medal on a champion or a war hero. Think of a badge on a military uniform or on a police officer. In Rome, wearing an ornamental purple band on one’s vestment was only permitted to aristocracy. And similar laws can be found in other cultures as well. Of course, the ultimate example of the ornament is the King’s crown. But we can talk about that maybe in another video. The mystery in the ornament has to do with the problem of showing and hiding. Imagine you get a tattoo to attract attention, to differentiate yourself. Imagine you put on makeup to enhance your natural beauty. It is there to increase your glow, let’s call it, to increase your glory. But this is artificial to an extent. Yes, we want to feature, to attract attention to something. But like an insecure man with a very expensive sports car, at some point the question becomes whether you are overcompensating for something that is lacking. So the situation is also a paradox. It can in fact make something special. But if you push the ornament too far, well, think for example of how we carve vines into ornamental patterns on architectural details. A vine can be beautiful, but a vine is also a parasite. And if it takes over, it begins to hide rather than show. At one point does one vanish behind one’s tattoos. At what point does makeup cease to be an enhancement of beauty and become a way to hide our own ugliness? When does ornament become a mask? You see, this is the process by which the ornament pushed to its extreme can at some point make one disappear.