Among the Eldar exists a secret gift, given to them by Eru by way of their kinship to the Ainur. Though few of the fair folk now know of it, they may commune without speech. It was in the noontide of Valinor, ere the unchaining of Melkor, that Eonwe did gather the wise among the Maiar who had doubt of this enemy's freedom, to discuss the vulnerability of the elvish mind under the eaves of Laurelin. It was suggesteed by Olorin, wisest among the Maiar, that the elvish gift of thoughtful-speech would be kept hidden from future generations, and discouraged by the Ainur among Valinor. Not openly outlawed, but those elves who would seek to commune with the Ainur through thought alone would not be responded to. Eonwe and this council took their decisions to Manwe, who agreed on the prudence of such protective measures for the frailty of elvish minds.
Due to this council, Ere Feanor wrought his greatest works, he did not open his mind to Melkor. Those Noldor who crossed the Helcaraxe sought at first to rebel against the Valar in this among other things, though it was not far into their newfound war against 'Morgoth' that they found thoughts unbidden enter their minds.
In defiance did Galadriel, among the oldest of the Noldor who still dwelt on the eastern shores, open her mind within the safety of Nenya's power. Thus did she discover the power, and the workings therein of the 'grasping-mind':
Thoughts are, by their nature, shy and reclusive, not knowing how to reach out or to make known their existence. It takes a focused mind to make itself known, a focus that comes naturally to elven-kind, but not one which the mind willingly takes to. For that focus to become known to an elf, it requires a certain yearning, a pull to know the hearts of others. Those elves who have been made wise to the ways of their own mind, and the powers it contains, may easily access such a pull. Others will find it only in the rarest of circumstances. Many elves who remain ignorant of their mind's abilities may, during the act of union with another, discover their gift, though most simply take this as affirmation of their love, and as a sign to the unique and even special design of their union. While this is in a sense true, it is but an inkling of the greater truth, where Eru surely devised for the Eldar a world in which their thought could flow freely with each other, an echo though no less great as the Great Music. A world in which mind could meet mind from afar (any distance, to the practiced), knowing each other ever more even as other minds would join in, and as some thought fades other rises, and wave upon ebb upon flow should guide the beauty of our Lord's creation, and beyond even the beauty is guided- as even the beholders' eyes may meet on even ground, and with an ever renewed vision they may see creation in its true glory and splendour through each others' eyes.
And so it was that Galadriel, eldest of the proud, the creative, the strong Noldor, did fall into a trap that none had devised for her. Her mind yearned for a world that Eru had created, and while the ring she had been granted yet gave her the power to sustain and contain a better world, she could shut the true world from her vision.