Duality of the Force
Posted: 2003-10-21 05:44am
Ever since Destiny Way come out, there has been numerous SW and even Trekkie debators who have started epousing that "There is no Dark and Light Side".
Instead, I would like to say that Vegere POV, is actually more in line with the Force, as we learnt in the OT, then Master Skywalker interpretation in post Dark Empire. Why do I say that?
1. There is no Dark Side.
That's what Vegere said. But did she mean that evil did not exist? Did she mean that one could participate in immoral acts? Or even the views epoused by the Sith, by the Shadow Academy and its founder, that the means justify the ways? Would Luke actions in The New Rebellion had repulsed her? Clearly not, as she destroyed Alpha Red work and prevented a genocidal attack on the Yuzhan Vong.
If so, what did she mean? In her discussions with Luke, she clearly stated that what she was against, was the view that certain actions, precursors and causes were evil. Agression, anger, emotions, using Force Lightning, this in her book was not considered evil. This is similar to what Luke epoused in the Courtship of Princess Leia, where he taught Isolder and the witches, that it is not the use of certain Force powers or "rituals" that caused them to become a Nightsister, it was the intent. Vegere goes one step further, and said that the intent by itself, is not evil. Instead, it was the loss of reasoning, the loss of serenity that led to the path of the dark side.
Doesn't this ring an echo?
Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
YODA: You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses
the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
2. Fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to suffering.
Vegere posed a question to Luke. Why did he feel anger towards Vegere, for having tortured Jacen? Why, if this emotion was flawed, had not genetic selection removed it? Surely it was of some use.
We have seen in the movies, that it was emotion, anger that seemed to have provided the turning point in a duel. Obi-wan defeated Darth Maul when he was enraged, Luke skywalker defeated Vader when he was enraged. Could this mean that Vegere was right? That the use of anger, would not turn one to the dark side?
Maybe. But look at the situation closely.In TPM, Obiwan was defeated in his initial rush, and had time to deliberate and recenter his emotions.
In ROTJ, Luke had the oppurtinity to kill Vader. Palpatine gloated and urged him to kill and take his father place at Palpatine side. Luke refused, and then turned around to state, I am a Jedi, like my father before me. What qualified him to make that statement? Obiwan in the novelisation had hinted that Vader turned to the Dark side, because he could not control his agression. Luke ability to control his, was that why he considered himself a Jedi?
3. The neccessity of the Dark Side.
Vegere told Jacen, There was no Dark Side. She elaborated, by explaining that the Dark and the Light Side were the same.
Yet, is this statement revolutionary, or does it merely complement what we have learned of the living force?
The Force in the OT, whether it is the Living Force or the Unifying Force has been compared to Taoism Yin and Yang, as well as Zen Buddhism. Interestingly, both religions acknowledge the importance of their opposites. In Zen, creation is unimportant, and even dangerous, without its counterpart destruction. Yin and Yang not only represent night and day, female and male, evil and good. They represent a neccesary component of nature and the Eight Diagrams is drawn, so as to represent the balance. If any is out of whack, problems will result. Similarly, Lao Tzu, the philosophy behind Tao(which was subsumed with certain aspects of the relgion Taoisms) decleares that something is something, only when its opposite nothing is compared.
Could it be that the aspects revealed merely indicate that the Force knowledge of the New Jedi Order is of an extremely shallow depth, as compared as to the Old Jedi Order? Clearly, we know that the Old Jedi Order were interested in the balance of life. The Living Force, does not focus on the dualistic nature of the Force, but rather on the human aspects of the Force. Yoda, a believer of the Unifying Force, does not state that it is the Light Side of the Force that life creates, binds the galaxy together. Neither does he state that the Dark Side of the Force is what is responible for destruction. Note, while Obiwan states that Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, he also makes clear that it was Vader choice, and his actions, his inability to resist temptation that made him evil.
Instead, I would like to say that Vegere POV, is actually more in line with the Force, as we learnt in the OT, then Master Skywalker interpretation in post Dark Empire. Why do I say that?
1. There is no Dark Side.
That's what Vegere said. But did she mean that evil did not exist? Did she mean that one could participate in immoral acts? Or even the views epoused by the Sith, by the Shadow Academy and its founder, that the means justify the ways? Would Luke actions in The New Rebellion had repulsed her? Clearly not, as she destroyed Alpha Red work and prevented a genocidal attack on the Yuzhan Vong.
If so, what did she mean? In her discussions with Luke, she clearly stated that what she was against, was the view that certain actions, precursors and causes were evil. Agression, anger, emotions, using Force Lightning, this in her book was not considered evil. This is similar to what Luke epoused in the Courtship of Princess Leia, where he taught Isolder and the witches, that it is not the use of certain Force powers or "rituals" that caused them to become a Nightsister, it was the intent. Vegere goes one step further, and said that the intent by itself, is not evil. Instead, it was the loss of reasoning, the loss of serenity that led to the path of the dark side.
Doesn't this ring an echo?
Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
YODA: You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses
the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
2. Fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to suffering.
Vegere posed a question to Luke. Why did he feel anger towards Vegere, for having tortured Jacen? Why, if this emotion was flawed, had not genetic selection removed it? Surely it was of some use.
We have seen in the movies, that it was emotion, anger that seemed to have provided the turning point in a duel. Obi-wan defeated Darth Maul when he was enraged, Luke skywalker defeated Vader when he was enraged. Could this mean that Vegere was right? That the use of anger, would not turn one to the dark side?
Maybe. But look at the situation closely.In TPM, Obiwan was defeated in his initial rush, and had time to deliberate and recenter his emotions.
In ROTJ, Luke had the oppurtinity to kill Vader. Palpatine gloated and urged him to kill and take his father place at Palpatine side. Luke refused, and then turned around to state, I am a Jedi, like my father before me. What qualified him to make that statement? Obiwan in the novelisation had hinted that Vader turned to the Dark side, because he could not control his agression. Luke ability to control his, was that why he considered himself a Jedi?
3. The neccessity of the Dark Side.
Vegere told Jacen, There was no Dark Side. She elaborated, by explaining that the Dark and the Light Side were the same.
Yet, is this statement revolutionary, or does it merely complement what we have learned of the living force?
The Force in the OT, whether it is the Living Force or the Unifying Force has been compared to Taoism Yin and Yang, as well as Zen Buddhism. Interestingly, both religions acknowledge the importance of their opposites. In Zen, creation is unimportant, and even dangerous, without its counterpart destruction. Yin and Yang not only represent night and day, female and male, evil and good. They represent a neccesary component of nature and the Eight Diagrams is drawn, so as to represent the balance. If any is out of whack, problems will result. Similarly, Lao Tzu, the philosophy behind Tao(which was subsumed with certain aspects of the relgion Taoisms) decleares that something is something, only when its opposite nothing is compared.
Could it be that the aspects revealed merely indicate that the Force knowledge of the New Jedi Order is of an extremely shallow depth, as compared as to the Old Jedi Order? Clearly, we know that the Old Jedi Order were interested in the balance of life. The Living Force, does not focus on the dualistic nature of the Force, but rather on the human aspects of the Force. Yoda, a believer of the Unifying Force, does not state that it is the Light Side of the Force that life creates, binds the galaxy together. Neither does he state that the Dark Side of the Force is what is responible for destruction. Note, while Obiwan states that Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, he also makes clear that it was Vader choice, and his actions, his inability to resist temptation that made him evil.
