Okay, this is something that will be fun for some and crazy for others but ready and comment with your thoughts: In life you may have noticed that seldom are things truly black and white -- life is much more complex than this simple formula. The shades of grey between the two extremes are many and varied. It can be difficult at times to distinguish between what is light and what is dark. 1) THE LIGHT and THE DARK In life you may have noticed that seldom are things truly black and white -- life is much more complex than this simple formula. The shades of grey between the two extremes are many and varied. It can be difficult at times to distinguish between what is light and what is dark. For the purposes of fiction, however, we simplify a great deal. Lucas has (as usual) painted a picture of the Jedi and the Sith with fairly large brushstrokes, but there are some telling points he makes. LIGHT = serving the forces of Good Good is still a relative term, however, especially in the Star Wars storyarc. When we begin (at Episode 1) we see the Light as serving forces of Order, and the Dark as serving the forces of Chaos. By the time we get to Episode 4, however, the roles have reversed. The forces of Order are now represented by the Sith-- Lord Vader and Emperor Palpatine. So how do we define Light, if we dont define it as serving the forces of Order? Put simply, the opposites of Dark and Light are best represented in SW by those who display the highest degrees of Greed and Compassion, respectively. Greed motivates the Sith-- selfishness, self-aggrandizement, taking without thought of giving back, using people unfairly, all to achieve a private goal and dominance. Others are seen in a rather sociopathic way, as either a useful tool toward achieving the ends, or as the enemy. Compassion motivates the Jedi-- helping without thought of reward, and keeping the peace even if it means sacrificing ones own life. Now the fact of the matter is, the Force itself does not take sides. Thats right, the Force doesnt care about Light and Dark, greed and compassion. It does not attribute good or bad to anything... it is simply the Force, and there is grave danger in attributing any anthropomorphic quality to it. Even saying that one serves the greater good can lead to supporting the Emperors plan. After all, the Sith serve the greater good in their own way, establishing Order at the behest of the Emperor, running a really tight ship in terms of government, industry, technology and the like. Ordinary people might look at this and say, yes, this is Good. the world is a better place with a tight government that doesnt tolerate law-breaking. Just as the Republic of old did, so too the Empire (in Episodes 4 through 6) served the masses. So chaos and order are not distinctly good or bad. If the Force cares about anything at all, it cares about balance. Thus the struggle for power by both sides all throughout history, a struggle we see in the world around us, and in our own lives every day. If this seems like a strangely cold and objective way of looking at the Force, well, it is. In Lucas universe, there is no monotheistic deity who presides over the struggle. There is only the Force-- an otherwise-unnamed and faceless energy if you will, moving through the galaxy and holding it all together. I liken it to the tao, and there is an old saying, The tao that can be named is not the true tao. LIGHT= Compassion, selflessness DARK= Greed, selfishness A simple equation. There are other pairs of opposites you can insert and not lose the validity of the equation itself. But what about the Grey? Traditionally, a Jedi in the old Republic serves the Council, and the Jedi Order at large. They follow a strict Code, some of which we are familiar with through the novelizations of the SW movies. A Sith serves himself, or his Master (eg, Darth Sidious). He generally has no thought of serving the larger whole nor does he think about the other as someone to put before himself. Even his service to a Master is strictly selfish, a desire to increase his own knowledge and power, at whoevers expense it becomes necessary to do so. 2) THE GREY A GREY JEDI however, primarily serves the Force. A Grey Jedi is more interested in balance, just like the Force. A Grey Jedi does not eschew using Dark powers to achieve the greater good. In fact, a Grey Jedi might not even see things in terms of Light or Dark, though its hard to imagine having that mindset in the midst of the Jedi Temple. (Difficult, but not impossible.) To a Grey Jedi, the Republic, and the Jedi Council, are secondary to serving the Force. When it comes down to either doing the bidding of the Force, or doing the bidding of the Council, there is no question-- I shall do what I must to serve the Force, even if it means going against what the Council wishes, even if it means using the Dark Side, even if it means going to extremes that would otherwise be considered inappropriate for a Jedi. Being Grey is, perhaps, a reversion to a previous state of things. According to the sources we have, the Jedi were once an order of philosophical monks. Thus they initially devoted their lives entirely to the study of the Force, heeding the Force before anything else. Whereas the Jedi of late Republic times had become mired in politics. Naturally, that created an atmosphere where serving the Force was of secondary importance to the duties of keeping the peace and meting out justice-- serving the Republic. In Real Life, we see much the same phenomenon in most schools of organized spirituality. Things become heirarchical and the spirit of the original philosophy ossifies through distinterest and even, sometimes, disuse. Ultimately, no matter how long one has spent under its care and protection, if one is to truly investigate and listen to the calling of the Force one begins to flirt with disobedience to the Mother Sect (whatever it happens to be). Its not the same thing as turning ones back on the teaching (as with the Sith) nor blind obedience to its interpretations (as with the Jedi). The Grey find themselves instead questioning the right of other beings to dictate the will of the Force for them. One might even call the Grey a Reformist movement. ok when i read this i seriously changed my outlook on the entire aspect of jedi vs sith. i think honestly the grey jedi are the true masters of the force. i dont belive there were ever many of them though. but i jus want some thoughts and opinoins.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 19:27:14 +0000
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