Star Wars is one of the most well known movie series of all time. As far as 1977, the first of its series introduced itself
Although the film entertains us with a beautiful story with cutting edge special effects, one can’t help but wonder if the film is philosophical as well. Did George Lucas actually have other intentions than to entertain the public?
In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, one of the lines even seemed to be anti-Bush
http://www.threemoviebuffs.com/review.php?movieID=starwarsepisode3revengeofthesith
One of the most surprising elements of this film is Lucas’ political statement. “Any one that’s not with me, is my enemy,” Anakin says at one point, paraphrasing the famous line from a George W. Bush speech. “Only a Sith believes only in absolutes,” Obi-wan replies. “So this is how liberty dies,” Padmé points out in another scene as Senator Palpatine is laying out his new political strategy. “With a round of applause.”
But aside from political statements, the series can be quite philosophical as well. For some reason, some people have seemed to take the philosophy quite seriously and have tried to promote it as a religion. Just search for “Jediism” and you will be surprised at the number of websites you will find.
I have tried in vain to search for quotation from the “Star Wars” series but only get relatively mundane quotations at best. So I will try to try my very best on this one from memory. The primary theme which I have seen in this series is the introduction of the “Force”. Another is the introduction of mental discipline.
Let us start with the idea of mental discipline first. If you shall look at the development the character of Darth Vader, you shall see that this character is one of the central figures. The character spans throughout the whole six films of the series and goes through a transformation from good to bad and back to good at the last film. The character started as Anakin Skywalker, later to be renamed as Darth Vader as he turns evil. Although everyone agrees that Darth Vader is indeed evil, how many people have noticed how Anakin’s character had changed.
Annakin, never showed greed, never showed materialism. But Anakin had been cautioned numerous times on his discipline. Anakin was the most loving and romantic of the characters, something which he never learned to discipline. He loved his mother and wife dearly. If you will notice, it was his love for his mother which had caused him to lose control and subsequently to slaughter women and children. And it was his love for his wife that caused him to change to Darth Vader. Anakin upon learning of his wife’s demise exuded so much force that he managed to rupture the robots beside him while being operated on on the operating table. Ok, maybe it’s not exactly love, but it was his attachment to his mother and wife which triggered all these.
But again, true love does not hold grudges and can let go. True love is not possessive nor jealous. Maybe Anakin had too much of romantic love and not unconditional love. Again an acquaintance told me before that only God can give unconditional love. Throughout the whole course of the series, I have yet to find an event where Darth Vader had shown greed or materialism.
When you think of it, the idea of it all seems so buddhist.
http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html
The Four Noble Truths
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a “self” which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call “self” is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
There is a path to the end of suffering – a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it from other paths which are merely “wandering on the wheel of becoming”, because these do not have a final object. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.
The idea of non-attachment is very central to Buddhism. It is included in their “Four Noble Truths”. For christians, this would be similar to their “Ten Commandments”
The gray area though is, what about love, is an attachment due to love considered an ‘attachment’? I have tried to search on this issue and it seems that buddhism is quite silent about it. If I were them though, I would let the seeking pupil find out for himself rather then tell it to him. Sometimes, experience is the best teacher. If you ask the typical person on the street though, he/she might insist that love is not love unless there is attachment. And love for God is different, with love for a spouse. If you look at Christianity too, there seems to be a lot of verses on love and no verses on attachment due to love. Hence people assume that once one is in love, everything is o.k. But how many times have we heard of men and women in suffering simply because they can not let go. They have not been wronged in their previous relationship, but for some reason, just can’t give up their attachments.
Buddhism, aside from being good, consider mental discipline as a prerequisite to attaining nirvana. Nirvana would be consider Heaven from a Christian’s point of view. Out of eight, we have three which are dedicated to mental discipline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eightfold_path
Below are the specifics of the three from the same webpage:
Samādhi: Mental Discipline, Concentration, Meditation
Samadhi is literally translated as “concentration”, it is achieved through training in the higher consciousness, which brings the calm and collectedness needed to develop true wisdom by direct experience. [42]
[edit] Right effort
Right effort (samyag-vyāyāma • sammā-vāyāma) can also be translated as “right endeavor”. In this factor, the practitioners should make a persisting effort to abandon all the wrong and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds. The practitioner should instead be persisting in giving rise to what would be good and useful to themselves and others in their thoughts, words, and deeds, without a thought for the difficulty or weariness involved. In the Pali Canon, it is explained as:
- And what, monks, is right effort?
- (i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
- (ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.
- (iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
- (iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen:
- This, monks, is called right effort.[43][44][45]
Although the above instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers from both genders.
The above four phases of right effort mean:
- make effort to prevent the unwholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
- make effort to destroy the unwholesome that has arisen in oneself.
- make effort to arouse the wholesome that has not yet arisen in oneself.
- make effort to maintain the wholesome that has arisen in oneself.
[edit] Right mindfulness
Right mindfulness (samyak-smṛti • sammā-sati), also translated as “right memory”, “right awareness” or “right attention”. In this factor, the practitioner should constantly keep their mind alert to phenomena as they are affecting the body and mind. They should be mindful and deliberate, making sure not to act or speak through the power of inattention or forgetfulness. In the Pali Canon, it is explained as:
- And what, monks, is right mindfulness?
- (i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world.
- (ii) He remains focused on feelings in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world.
- (iii) He remains focused on the mind in & of itself — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world.
- (iv) He remains focused on mental qualities in & of themselves — ardent, aware, & mindful — putting away greed & distress with reference to the world.
- This, monks, is called right mindfulness. [46][47][48]
Although the above instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers from both genders.
Bhikkhu Bodhi, a monk of the Theravadin tradition, further explain the concept of mindfulness as follows:
The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped[49].[edit] Right concentration
Right concentration (samyak-samādhi • sammā-samādhi), as its Pali and Sanskrit name indicates, is the practice of concentration (samadhi). The practitioner will have to concentrate on an object of attention until it reaches full concentration and then into the state of meditative absorption (jhana). Traditionally, the practice of samadhi can be developed from mindfulness of breathing, from visual objects (kasina), and repetition of phrases. Samadhi is used to suppress the five hindrances in order to enter into jhana. Jhana is an instrument used for developing wisdom by cultivating insight and use it to penetrate the true nature of phenomena through direct cognition, which will then lead to cutting off the defilements, realize the dhamma and self-awakening. During the practice of right concentration, the practitioner will need to investigate and verify their right view, in the process right knowledge will arise and then followed by right liberation. In the Pali Canon, it is explained as:
- And what is right concentration?
- (i)Herein a monk aloof from sense desires, aloof from unwholesome thoughts, attains to and abides in the first meditative absorbtion (jhana) which is detachment-born and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought, joy, and bliss.
- (ii)By allaying applied and sustained thought he attains to, and abides in the second jhana which is inner tranquillity, which is unification (of the mind), devoid of applied and sustained thought, and which has joy and bliss.
- (iii)By detachment from joy he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and with clear comprehension and enjoys bliss in body, and attains to and abides in the third jhana which the noble ones (ariyas) call: ‘Dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss.
Although the above instruction is given to the male monastic order, it is also meant for the female monastic order and can be practiced by lay followers from both genders.
According to the Pali canon, right concentration is dependent on the development of preceding path factors:
- “The Blessed One said: “Now what, monks, is noble right concentration with its supports & requisite conditions? Any singleness of mind equipped with these seven factors — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, & right mindfulness — is called noble right concentration with its supports & requisite conditions.” [54]
Should this be correct, what will become of people of other religions which only preach love without mental discipline, whose lives are full of stress, insecurities and hangups. Shall they go to Heaven or not?
The next big issue with the “Star Wars” series is their introduction to the concept of “The Force”. Exactly what is “The Force”? Is it God? When you think of it, how can it be God if there is “the bad side of the force” and “the good side of the force”. And both good and evil characters in the series use “The Force” to their advantage. Should this “Force” be God, it is also definitely not a personal God as to what the Christians and Muslims believe. The characters both good and evil do not worship the Force or even pray to it, but they do seem to attempt to assimilate themselves into it. There is also no mention of God in the whole series. This leads me to believe that the series is actually atheist in nature. The closest which it can relate itself into is the Yin and Yang of Taoism. Taoism is mum about its alignment with the concept of God. The Yin/Yang energy can hardly be called a deity. Buddhism is something else, Buddhism is primarily atheist and several Buddhists will even state of their disbelief in God.
This is one such buddhist which is against the concept of God. Here is an excerpt from his book which specifically says so.
http://everything2.com/e2node/Beyond%2520Belief%253A%2520Why%2520God%2520Cannot%2520Exist
Chapter 3:
Why God Cannot ExistWe have seen that the arguments used to prove God’s existence are inadequate. We will now demonstrate that logically an all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful God such as the one in which Christians have faith cannot exist.
The Problem of Free Will
For the religious life to be meaningful we must have free will, we must be able to choose between good and evil. If we do not have free will we cannot be held responsible for what we do.
According to Christians, God is all-knowing – he knows all the past, all the present and all the future. If this is so, then God must know everything we do long before we do it. This means that our whole life must be predetermined and that we act not according to the free exercise of our wills but according to our predetermined natures. If we are predetermined to be good we will be good and if we are predetermined to be evil we will be evil. We will act not according to our will or choice but according to the way God has already foreseen we will act. Although Christians will insist that we do have free will, God’s omniscience simply makes this logically impossible. And that people will act only as God determines is verified in the Bible.
If people are evil it is because God has chosen to make them evil (Rom 1:24-28) and caused them to disobey him (Rom 11:32). If they do not understand God’s message it is because he has made their minds dull (Rom 11:8) and caused them to be stubborn (Rom 9:18). God prevents the Gospel from being preached in certain areas (Act 16:6-7) and he fixes long before it will happen when a person will be born and when he or she will die (Act 17:26). Those who were going to be saved were chosen by God before the beginning of time (II Tim 1:9, Eph 1:11). If a person has faith and is thereby saved, their faith comes from God, not from any effort on their part (Eph 2:9-10). One may ask “If a person can only do what God predetermines them to do, how can God hold them responsible for their actions?” The Bible has an answer for this question.
But one of you will say to me: “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? For who can resist God’s will?” But who are you, my friend, to answer God back? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it: “Why did you make me like this?” After all, the man who makes the pot has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from one lump of clay, one for special occasions and one for ordinary use. And the same is true of what God has done (Rom 9:19-22).
So apparently in Christianity a person’s life and destiny are due purely to the whim of God and as mere humans we have no right to complain about what God has decided for us. The idea that we are all predetermined is quite consistent with the idea of an all-knowing God but it makes nonsense of the concept of making an effort to do good or avoid evil.
The Problem of Evil
Perhaps the most potent argument against the existence of an all-powerful, all loving God is the undeniable fact that there is so much pain and suffering in the world. If there is really a God of love who has unlimited power, why doesn’t he put an end to all evil? Christians try to answer this question in several ways.
Firstly, they will say that evil is caused by man not God and that if only man would follow God’s commandments there would be no pain, evil or suffering. However, while it is true that evils such as war, rape, murder and exploitation can be blamed on humans, they can hardly be blamed for the millions who die each year in earthquakes, floods, epidemics and accidents, all of which are natural events. In fact, according to the Bible, the germs that cause hideous diseases like TB, polio, cholera, leprosy etc. and all the misery, deformity and suffering to which they give rise, were created by God before he created man (Gen. 1:11-12).
Another way Christians will try to explain away evil is to say that it is God’s punishment for those who do not follow his commandments. However this implies that terrible things happen only to bad people, which is certainly not true. We often hear of painful sicknesses or disasters befalling good people including good Christians, and likewise we often hear of really bad people who seem to have nothing but good fortune and success. So it cannot be said that suffering and evil are God’s way of punishing sinners.
Next, Christians will say that God allows evil to exist in the world because he wants to give us the freedom to choose good over evil and thereby earn salvation. Evil, they will say, exists to test us. At first this seems to be a good explanation. If a man sees someone being beaten up by a bully he has a choice between turning away (doing wrong) or deciding to help the victim (doing right). If he decides to help then he has been tested and found good. However, as we have seen before, an all-knowing God must already know what choices a person will make so what is the point of testing us? Also, even if suffering and evil exist in the world to test us, couldn’t an all-loving God think of a less cruel and less painful way to do this? It seems unloving and unfair to allow pain to be inflicted on one person so that another person can have the opportunity to choose between good and evil.
Some Christians will try to free God from responsibility for evil by saying that it is not created by God but by the Devil. This may be true but again if God is so loving why doesn’t he simply prevent the Devil from doing this? In any case, who created the Devil in the first place? Surely it was God.
By this stage the Christian will start to get a bit desperate, shifting the argument from logic to pragmatism. He will say that even though there is suffering in the world we can use it as an opportunity to develop courage and patience. This is undoubtedly true but it still does not explain why an all-loving God allows babies to die of cancer, innocent bystanders to be killed in accidents, and leprosy victims to suffer deformity and pain. In fact the existence of so much unnecessary pain, misery and evil in the world is very strong evidence that there is no all-loving all powerful God.
Why Create?
Christians claim that God is perfect, that he is complete in every way, but if God really did create the universe this would prove that he was not perfect. Let us examine why. Before God created the universe there was nothing – no sun, no earth, no people, no good or evil, no pain – nothing but God who was, according to Christians, perfect. So if God was perfect and nothing but perfection existed, what motivated God to create the universe and thus bring imperfection into being? Was it because he was bored and wanted something to do? Was it because he was lonely and wanted someone to pray to him?
Christians will say that God created everything because of his love of man, but this is impossible. God could not love humans before he created them any more than a woman could love her children before she had conceived them. God’s need to create indicates that he was dissatisfied in some way and therefore not perfect. Christians might then say that God created spontaneously and without need or desire. However this would mean that the whole universe came into being without purpose or forethought and therefore it would mean that God was not a loving creator.
The Problem of the Hidden God
Christians claim that God wants us to believe in him so that we can be saved – but if this is so why doesn’t God simply appear and perform a miracle so that everyone will see and believe? Christians will say that God wants us to believe in him out of faith, not because we see him with our eyes. However, according to the Bible, God in the past performed the most awesome miracles and often intervened dramatically in human affairs so that people would know his presence. So if he did so in the past, why doesn’t he do so now?
Christians will say that God does perform miracles today (healing, solving personal problems etc) but being stubborn and evil most people refuse to believe. However these so-called miracles are individual and minor and leave much room for doubt. If God performed a really impressive miracle which could have no other possible explanation, then most people certainly would believe.
According to the Bible when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, God fed them by making food fall regularly from the sky (Ex16:4). During the 1980’s, several million Ethiopian Christians died slowly and painfully from starvation due to a prolonged drought. God had then the opportunity to make food fall from the sky, as the Bible claims he did in the past, in order to prove his existence, his power and his love. Buddhists would say that God did not manifest his presence because he does not exist.
Here is where you can download his free ebook
Click to access beyond-belief02.pdf
So what exactly is this “Force” and what are it’s functions. I have earlier made a book on this too, you can check out my other blog where I have placed it in.
Lucas himself was a self-confessed student of mythology, and he intended the stories of Luke and Anakin Skywalker to be consistent with archetypes.
http://www.folkstory.com/articles/petersburg.html
Interesting this idea of a “Hero” that was first postulated by Joseph Campbell. And even more interesting is that many popular personas of past and present tradition adhere to the “hero pattern”. Even the personages of present-day religions (e.g. Jesus, Mohammad, etc.) have a lot in common with each other.
Lucas’ tremendous box office success is a testament to the power of mythology to enthrall.
What is time? Do we not measure it in terms of the movement of celestial bodies local to our planet and in terms of the rotations and revolutions of our planet?What about individual age? Cell mitosis with ever decreasing telomere lengths? The rate of division and aging is different for each individual. This means that each person ages at a different rate. Saying you are 40 years old means nothing about your actual age since you are measuring an internal biological process using a celestial measuring tool.
Is time not simply a measure of motion? Has it not already been proven in a controlled setting with peer review that particles can exist in multiple places at once and move faster than the speed of light? Only if you see time as linear does it effect free will. It is theorized there are multiple dimensions, universes, etc.
Perspective is important and free will is possibly an illusion based on motion. Imagine you are walking down the street talking to a friend who is flying above you in a helicopter. They will have a perspective of heigh, speed, and motion that allows them to see that you will inevitably collide with another pedestrian shortly if you do not change course. They can see things you can not see from your perspective.
The best assessment science can offer at the moment is that the future is probabilistic. There is a high percent change that certain things may happen, but there are also ‘Black Swan’ events that are not predictable. Given a probabilistic existence, a well educated ‘prophet’ could stand a high degree of success predicting the future by using historic data because time is cyclical and not linear.
What we think of as free will is nothing more than a predictive/analytic mutation that enables humans to employ reason to determine the best possible way to survive in the future in a given environment. It is a survival mutation that has the consequence of us having to face our eventual demise in ways that other animals do not have to face.
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You don not understand Christianity at all. You have displayed the ideas of a Calvinist Christian, not what those within orthodoxy belief. In so doing, you have added unreasonable bias in your piece.
I’m a calvinist and I disagree with him. According to calvinism, all men are destined to hell because of our sin. Because of what we are by nature. God originally created us in glory and righteousness; after the fall, when Adam freely chose to sin, all of mankind is slave to their sin and are therefore resigned to hell. And God freely chooses to save some, men and women who are his enemies by nature, out of love.
And God did not create the world because he was lonely, God exists in a trinity. God has always had perfect, loving fellowship with himself (Father, Son, and Spirit). God created to display all of his goodness and joy and beauty to something other than just himself. Even now he works to display this glory.
I say this with all the respect and peace possible, but this sounds, to me, narcissistic of God. The description of a “perfect, loving relationship with himself” and a motive to create others, not to give them life of their own for that sake, but to “display his beauty to something other than just himself?” It sounds like Narcissist gazing into the pond. And why is everyone descended from Adam guilty for Adam’s sin? This is like the North Korea government imprisoning three generations for one ancestor’s offense. What do the innocent great-great-great grandkids have to do with Adam’s bad choice, and why would they all be doomed to hell too? Finally, if God has the goodness and forgiveness to forgive SOME of his enemies out of love, why not all? Why do some deserve forgiveness while others deserve hell?
And to sum it all up, the resurrection fits the kind of historically proven miracle criteria that you are looking for.
Watch “Did Jesus rise from the dead or was it a hoax by …” on YouTube
Did Jesus rise from the dead or was it a hoax by …: http://youtu.be/aELRKdxV7Wk
[…] when he created the overarching universe. The philosophical ideas present in Star Wars are a hodgepodge of Eastern/Western concepts, and Lucas himself admits a great affinity for Samurai warrior culture and Kurosawa films. Having […]
Jesus rising from the dead, is symbolic of the sun rising from the shadow at dawn. It is alchemical cycle of death and rebirth that everyone goes through on this plain called earth. In order to go through it though, you must first go through the cross – the horizon line or the line between day and night. Remember, death happens more than once to everyone Whenever people grow, and change or become a better or wiser person, they have to have an emotion or mental death at some point. When a boy becomes a man, the child dies and the man takes his place. Thus death always happens.. No reason to be afraid. Not choosing to go to the cross, to experience the rebirth leaves you in HELL… from the word HEL, or shelter. That is the alchemical story explained in the BIBLE (BI-BULL (2 bulls or winged BULLS – sun and the moon), that had to be coded in works by KING JAMES and others, because to practice such alchemy of evolving ones-self into a new being, or godhood was a threat to kings who only sought control over the minds of their sheep.
[…] and therefore its demarcations. Science gives usthe How. Philosophy, via Metaphysics, gives us the Why. It questions the Ultimate Nature of Reality: which encompasses questions about perception, mental […]