|
|
|
Time for my thread resurrection spree. Here's something I wrote at TFN last July, which is interesting to look at now in relation to the Mortis trilogy:
I agree with the idea that the Jedi follow the "whole Force," but I don't agree that "light" or the "light side" is the whole "rainbow" in the metaphor, because it's taking the metaphor and trying to then apply that to the Force, rather than structuring the metaphor around what the Force is.
I would define the light side as the opposite of the dark side. It basically follows off of what Yoda tells Luke to be in order to tell the "good side from the bad":
"When you are calm, at peace. Passive."
This is opposed to the dark side, which is predicated upon passions, namely fear, anger, hate, and aggression. Though I think the "light side" itself is a fabrication in the sense that you can take any particular emotions, namely positive ones, opposite the dark side emotions, and label them light side. You can just as easily take the absence of emotion, or serenity, and label it light side. All exist in the Force.
None of these "sides" represent the whole gamut of the Force. As to why I agree the Jedi follow the whole Force, well, the old Jedi Order was particularly concerned with the Force being balanced, and sought to follow the will of the Force, as opposed to any particular side. Obviously, they didn't use the dark side, but their desire for balance obviously wasn't rooted out of particular interest in the domination of the light.
My newest of many interpretations of Traitor and Vergere is not that she is saying that there is no dark side, but merely that the Force encompasses *all* sides, light, dark, rainbow, whatever, all choices, all morality. The dark side still exists in the Force.
She was trying to tell Jacen that to seek guidance from the Force, which is basically what he was doing when he had his vision in Balance Point, and the subsequent paralysis with indecision, is a losing proposition: the Force encompasses all choices, all sides, all moralities. He has to choose and act based upon his own morality and own decisions, and not wait for the Force to tell him what to do, because it won't. That vision Jacen received is all the guidance he received, he had to choose how to act based upon it, and by doing so, was acting in accordance with the will of the Force.
It's much like Qui-Gon Jinn. He encounters Jar Jar Binks by chance upon landing on Naboo, and chooses to take this as the will of the Force, and chooses to accept Binks as a companion. Ultimately, this pays off by leading to the alliance between the Naboo and the Gungans. Likewise, he encountered Anakin Skywalker, whom had the highest concentration of midichlorians in a life form, and chose to take him to the Jedi temple, which ultimately led to him bringing balance to the Force.
I think it holds up pretty well, no? Of particular note is that I mentioned "[the Jedi] didn't use the dark side," which apparently they did, to an extent, insofar as that even while using their lightsabers and the Force for defense, using it destructively is still "dark," at least Sam Witwer seems to believe so and says it in an interview about the Mortis trilogy.
_________________
"Trust not the words of a poet, as he is born to seduce. Yet for poetry to seize the heart, it must ring with the chimes of truth.”
“The world is understood through metaphors. Language is a metaphor-system. Mathematics is a metaphor-system. All real-world schools of magic and religion revolve around the understanding of vast metaphor-systems, symbols as they relate to concepts."
"See, the thing is, everything everyone tells you is a lie. The truth is always bigger than the words we use to describe it."
|
|
