"Our life evokes our character. You find out more about yourself as you go on. That's why it's good to be able to put yourself in situations that will evoke your higher nature rather than your lower. 'Lead us not into temptation.'" Joseph Campbell
When I went to London for 10 days I was mostly alone and I needed someone to put in my photos, so I brought three dolls with me: Yoda beanie, Wolverine, and Queen Amidala. Yoda turned out to be the best poser--he really looks like a tourist. I would tuck him into the pocket of my cargos, half sticking out, and stroll the London streets. People love Yoda Beanie. The other day I was even questioned by someone when we stopped at a road house!
But Yoda is also a great philosophical companion. I learned from him...
Mindfulness: "This one a long time have I watched. All his life as he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing!"
Make decisions from a place of calm: Luke "But how am I to know the good side from the bad? Yoda "You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive." I just came across a study that studied decision making among non-meditators, and regularly meditating monks. They found different parts of the brain lit up. The monks made decisions based on rationality, and not on emotion (such as whether they felt they were being treated fairly.)
What you think you create: (At the tree) Yoda "In you must go." Luke "What's in there?" Yoda "Only what you take with you."
and
(After Yoda raises the ship.) Luke "I don't believe it!" Yoda "That is why you fail."
Have faith in your abilities: "Always with you it cannot be done. ...Do or do not. There is no try."
We're all one: "You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere! Yes, even between the land and the ship." Jill Bolte-Taylor learned that our right brains see the world this way.
Don't be superficial: "Judge me by my size do you? And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is." This is why it saddens me when people complain that the final battle in Return of the Jedi should have been with wookies and not ewoks. As if the Empire would build a base on a wookie planet! The whole point is they underestimated the wee local natives.
And finally: We're bundles of energy, just like all the other life around us!
In part I I pointed out that in the general course of things, the SW characters are allowed to express the full range of emotions including "negative" ones like anger; but that Luke and Anakin's fatal flaw is their fear of losing loved ones, expressed in anger.
By the way, I love that Luke is an impulsive, reckless 20 year old male with anger problems who needs to grow up. After the recent London riots, methinks Lucas chose the perfect fatal flaw for his hero to overcome.
Anakin didn't know how to get deal with his fear and anger by talking about it with a friend. I blame the Jedi Order for that--my personal theory (this is hors canon) is that the imbalance in the Force is expressed in the way they take children from their parents and raise them sans emotion. How could this Order deal with a kid like Anakin who'd already experienced the full gamut of emotions? No Jedi trauma therapists. If he'd had a friend like Padme around, maybe he would've had someone to talk to, instead of Jedi buddies who are all "You miss your mother? Wha? Wha?"
Extent of the advice Anakin gets. Not to mention what a great way the Jedi all have with kids (not) evident in all the council scenes.
I think what Anakin and Luke bring back to the Force is full human experience. They're emotional, they're full of conflicted feelings, love and passion, and they have to learn to contend with them, unlike the Jedis who've been raised since babies in passion-free temples. …Just my theory.
Anakin has poor tools for coping with his passions, so when his mother is killed by the Tusken Raiders he doesn't even investigate to find out why it happened, he commits a gruesome crime, one that his mother would be horrified by. And later he commits the same crime when he murders the wee padawans. And he goes on to commit horrible crimes including the building of a genocide machine.
This is what Yoda is worried Luke's anger will lead to. If Chewbacca had murdered Lando, we all know it wouldn't have led to a killing spree or genocide because Chewbacca's temper stems from being a Wookie, not from a fatal flaw. This is the same guy who will later cuddle Han in Jabba's palace. After Lando gives them helpful information he could have killed him, but he doesn't because Lando is useful to them--Chewie's anger doesn't overpower his thinking.
But Anakin and Luke are Hamlets or Othellos. Young, conflicted, full of potential but only if they can overcome their demons. What Yoda wants Luke to learn is what no one taught Anakin: How to tell the good side of the Force from the bad. Anakin was constantly being manipulated by Palpatine, and the entire Jedi Order didn't see it until it was too late.
Yoda's had 20 years to rethink how to train a Jedi who wasn't reared as one since birth. The result is this teaching:
YODA: Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. LUKE: But how am I to know the good side from the bad? YODA: You will know. When you are calm, at peace. Passive.
There are two important factors in this advice. One, he's telling Luke that there are two sources for Jedi power: the good side and the dark side. If you want to wear the white hat, then you have to be careful about where you draw your power from. Not dissimilar from "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." If you apply that to Earth, it's like hoping one's politicians, CEOs, bankers, army and police forces will draw their power from the good side of the Force--that they'll keep other people's interests in mind, care about society, be kind. A little more Warren Buffet, a little less Rupert Murdoch.
Second, he's saying it's hard to tell the difference between the two sides when you're het up under the collar--this was Anakin's problem. You can't make good decisions, especially moral ones, this way. He's not saying: When you see someone steal an old lady's purse, don't get mad. It's normal to get mad. But he's saying, when you grab the bad guy and dispense Jedi Justice, breathe through your nose. This way you won't slaughter a village for killing your mother, or be fooled by your mentor into thinking Sith Lords know the secret to immortality.
When Luke runs off to Cloud City to save his friends, without finishing his training, it's a rash decision, an emotional one. Does he help at all? No. He makes things worse because they have to turn back and rescue him, and he loses his arm. Bad decision based on emotionally wrought up feelings instead of calm.
Confronting Vader he tried to play it cool, but on the inside we know he's 100% Inigo Montoya because he draws his lightsabre first.
A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
He's aggressive throughout the fight, and Vader tells him one of those famous Sith lies: "You have controlled your fear. Now release your anger--only your hatred can destroy me." It all goes to hell in a hand basket. Luke can't deflect the junk being tossed at his head, and finally Darth Vader reveals the unbearable truth of his paternity. BUT! Notice what happens after all the no-no-that's-impossible-I'll-never-join-you-ing. A calm and serene look comes over Luke's face.
Calm at 2:18
He knows, with total conviction, the right thing to do. Better to commit suicide than to stand there being tempted by the dark side--he drops to his possible death, and thus saves his life.
And discovers his connection with Leia!
One of my favorite shots from the trilogy.
- "We've got to go back. " -"WTF?"
After being rescued Luke can be as angry as he wants. He goes back to Dagobah and gives OB1 heck for lying to him: "Why didn't you tell me?" And in the original script Obi-Wan even affirms his feelings: "I don't blame you for being angry."
"A certain point of view? Ease."
But in the third movie it's back into the belly of the beast for Confrontation #2. And this time Luke will have overcome his anger, because this time he'll be up against the Sith Lord whom the greatest Jedis in the Galaxy were unable to defeat. Palpatine's faced both Righteous Anger (Mace Windu) and calm Supa Fighting (Yoda) before. Remaining calm will help Luke hear that small voice telling him the one thing that he can do to win this fight, that no one else could. :-D Tune in tomorrow!
PREVIEW FOR NEXT WEEK - STARTING TUESDAY - THE OLIVER SERIES
He was a poor little kitty with four barely working legs. But he was Adventure Boy! so he would pull himself around the carpet determined to get the most out of life. Would he ever be able to walk? Find out! In the Tuesday postings of Oliver: Adventure Boy!
A week ago I was reading my friendly neighborhood blogs when I came across this Betty post.
Aunt Bea had written about the concept of The Universe is Unfair on her last few blog entries, and how if you move too quickly to "life's unfair, suck it up buttercup" you're denying your own emotions and this is unhealthy. You gotta just let yourself feel the anger or sadness of your situation without running straight to Someone Else's Sadder Situation or The Essential Randomness of It All.
In the comments the discussion went along those lines. Our good friend Judy, Judy, Judy said: "People are so quick to squash any negative energy. It's not going away because you don't want to look at it. It's just going to pop up somewhere else." I agree. Eg. If you feel jealous of someone you can: (a) pretend you don't feel it, and it will go underground and still exist; (b) recognize and feed it; or (c) recognize and deal with it.
Aunt Bea replied: " Love your thoughts about not squashing negative energy. I'm a huge Star Wars fan (original 3, at least) but it always bothered me that anger was considered a bad thing in those movies."
At first I thought, Hm! this is true. Then I thought a moment and decided, hmm wait, no. And thus was born a very long essay on...
Anger
in the
Star Wars Universe
My thesis: On a moral level, Lucas doesn't portray the expression of anger as something that leads to bad consequences; he argues that someone aspiring to a position of immense power must not make decisions in moments of high emotion, such as anger. On a story level, the particular heroic flaw that both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker must overcome is the fear of losing people they love, and that fear expresses itself in anger; therefore they have to learn to control this anger--express it at appropriate times, so that evil people don't take advantage of them.
I'll mostly confine myself to the original movies, for simplicity. And I will post over a few days because it's long.
PART I
First, how is anger portrayed in the actions of the characters outside of our hero Luke?
We know Luke's uncle is a good man cause he's all short-tempered and crusty;
C3PO and R2's bickering humanizes them;
We know Leia and Han are in love because they make each other lose their cool;
The audience is made to love Chewbacca most when he's trying to kill people because he's in extreme grief over the possible death of his best friend: When he's throwing people around in the carbon chamber, and when he's choking Lando--Chewie is given complete license by Lucas to show his anger;
Yoda is the most impatient, crabby old sonovamuppet in the movies. When he reveals who he is to Luke, he gives him a speech of Righteous Anger: "What know you of ready!... You are reckless!" He's always barking at him. "Not different! Only in your mind!" And he gives Luke the most famous shaming in the Universe: "Do or do not. There is no try."
"I guess that's what you're best at!"
These characters aren't punished for expressing their anger (Luke when Han won't stay and fight for the Rebel cause) or their fear (Chewie's anguished cry when the blast shield is closed on Hoth), or their sadness (when Luke and his father say goodbye), or their pain (when Han is tortured). The original Star Wars movie was only so successful because these characters were allowed to be fully human, including the droids and beasties.
So anger isn't the problem per se. Unleashing wookie whoop-ass on Lando won't Lead You Down the Dark Path and Forever Dominate Your Destiny.
But every story has its hero, and this story is about Luke who has inherited the same problem as his father: They have a deep-seated fear of losing the people they love. I don't know why Anakin's got such a bee in his bonnet, but Luke thinks his mother died when he was young, thinks his father was murdered, then his adopted parents are murdered, then his new father figure mentor is murdered by guy who murdered his father. He is sad. And like his father, that fear is his weakness and can easily be manipulated into extreme anger.
TOMORROW: PART II
More about Luke's fatal flaw and why Yoda's always going on about anger and dark paths
No time to post! I have a fabulous Star Wars essay for you, it's almost done, but I really have to go to bed. I have a doctor's appointment at 1:00 today then I'm off to my sister-in-law's for supper. And then Thursday I have a meeting with my new employer. So my brain's all kerfuffly, my stomach's all nerve-uffly. I'll try to post my essay soon.
Over the years I've come up with a few Star Wars Essays. They're usually told verbally, though. I don't know I've ever blogged any of them. They are:
* Luke's real weakness, Lando's strength; and
* It had to be Ewoks
There might be another, I can't remember at the moment.
Anyway, here's some SW stuff I posted awhile back on my old blog. To keep the Warsians going in the meantime...
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...Any time you pick up a walkie-talkie or two-way radio, the first thing you say is "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...Whenever you went anywhere outside with your friends, you always walked single file, to hide your numbers.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...On Halloween, you would never dress as: Luke, Han Solo, Leia, Vader, Chewie, Threepio, Artoo. However, you would dress as: Wedge, Porkins [I have a Porkins action figure. And there's a long story of how I acquired him.]
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...You have held up an onion ring and said, "Look sir...droids!"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...You answer the phone "Die wanna wanga?"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...You want appliances that speaks Bacchi.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...Whenever you catch sight of cars behind yours, you say "Fighters, coming in, point three five."
Someone else in your car says "What about that tower?" [And don't forget my brother's fave: "I can't see him! I can't see him!"]
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... Your significant other dumps you because everytime she/he says, "I love you" you always respond, "I know." [Apparently Maewitch and her sig other say this and they're not SW fans!]
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... You quote Yoda to defend your political beliefs.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...With a blue-tinted plastic tube, a flashlight, two hours of a Saturday night, and 4 rolls of blue electrical tape, you finally complete your own working "Light-saber"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...Someone asks you how fast your car is, and you reply, "Fast enough for you, old man!"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...Someone says they will try to do something you automatically respond "Do or do not. There is no try."
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... You have a bad feeling about everything.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... You believe John Williams is the best composer ever (which, of course, he is!)
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... While listening to the soundtrack without knowing the name of the song you are listening to, you know exactly what's happening while it's playing.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...You now want to become an astronaut to see if there really is a Lando system. [Except you wouldn't. Because you would know that Lando is a man, not a system.]
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... Yoda's little sayings have had a profound impact on your life, and you abide by them religiously.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... You've created lyrics to the songs in Star Wars. [Or you just sing the Bill Murray version.]
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... When your alarm clock goes off in the morning, your reply is, "Unexpected this is... and unfortunate!"
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... When riding your bike, you look behind you and accelerate wildly by pressing down on the petal with your right toe.
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You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends who are addicted to Star Wars.
AND my own additions:
You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... you can imitate the sound of OB1 powering down the tractor beam. (Some guys in the store tested me on this one once.)
You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When... everytime you finish the dishes (or any other chore) you call out "The dishes are away!" "Hooray!" (You also know you're Married to the Right Man when he joins in on the Hooray.) [We now do this for just about anything. "The [fill in the blank] is away! Hooray!"]
