Freedom Friday: Awaken The Force In You!
You might call me a nerd, a geek, or a fanatic, or even a kook, but Star Wars is more than just a series of films, it’s a belief system! That’s not just my opinion, it’s also the opinion of somebody I greatly respect, and who is in a position to know: Joseph Campbell. So, with The Force Awakens “awakening” today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with all of you some of the very important lessons we can all learn from the Jedi.
Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. You are not your body, nor your mundane existence (inclusive of your job title); instead, you are the individual that is walking around in that shell (your body; the “crude matter” Yoda is talking about in that quote). You are something bigger, greater, and deeper than what most people perceive on the surface. Note: that “most people” might even include you, yourself! The real you is a luminous being: a being made entirely of energy, with a duty to shine! Because what else do we know about luminous beings? To be luminous means to reflect, radiate, or emanate light; to shine. It can also mean to be enlightened—to be one who reflects, radiates, or emanates spiritual light out into the world via the way one behaves or the lessons one teaches. In this day and age, we tend to see enlightenment either as something lofty that none of us can possibly attain, or something completely passive that maybe involves sitting very still while contemplating one’s navel. However, what it really means is “having or showing an understanding of how people should be treated; to remove ignorance, misconceptions, and narrow patterns of thinking”.
Be mindful of the Living Force. Concentrate your full understanding and comprehension on the things and situations in the world around you. In order to perceive what is going on around you, and be fully aware of it, and, therefore, mindful, you have to actually stop and take the time to do so. It’s like imbibing moments; slowly drinking them in. And that isn’t something we allow ourselves to do very often, with people, or with the natural world, or with practically anything else in our lives. We are all connected, and the only way to maintain that connection is by being fully aware of it. So, take the time to stop and imbibe moments.
Emotion, yet peace. This tenet of the Jedi Code might be better understood as “emotion cannot take away my peace.” Nobody should ever be devoid of emotions. That would make for a pretty miserable existence, wouldn’t it? It’s also pretty much impossible to accomplish. But we also should not be ruled by our emotions: we can’t go off half-cocked in anger, or let fear or sadness run the show so that we make everyone around us thoroughly miserable all of the time. We shouldn’t deny or bottle up when we’re angry, sad, or miserable, but we also shouldn’t let those emotions come to control us. Instead, we should go to others (and The All/Deity/The Force) for help when we need it, and then disattach ourselves from the negativity: it’s a little hard to wield a lightsaber, when you’re also carrying all of your personal “baggage”!
Ignorance, yet knowledge. There is a big (and very distinct) difference between knowledge and wisdom. You may be a champion at Trivial Pursuit, but that just means you’re smart, not necessarily wise! True Wisdom starts first in knowing your True Self. You’ve got to get in touch with Authentic You before you can get authentically in-touch with the rest of the Universe. Recognizing that we don’t “know it all” is a valuable first step towards starting to ask the right questions inside, so that we can Know, instead of just know, ya know?
Passion, yet serenity. You don’t have to be a total Star Wars nut to know that passionate use of power leads to the Dark Side of the Force! (Nor do you have to sit through the icky prequel trilogy!) We act rashly when we operate from the place of fear, anger, or sadness; when we let those emotions come to control our lives. We need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves, and remain calm. Serenity is the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. It’s more than a little bit hard to get in that place and stay in it in this world of ours, all by ourselves. That’s where realizing there’s something bigger than you out there, that’s benevolent and working for you and with you, comes in. If you had to go through life without a “safety net”, imagine what you would become: bitter, pissed off, and probably a total Sith Lord, right? It’s great to be passionate about things: like spreading light, staying positive, and spreading beauty and love. It’s when we act from negative passion that we’re royally screwed, so don’t fall into that trap. Accept the reality of the “safety net”.
Chaos, yet harmony. At face value, the Universe is a chaotic and disconnected place, but the reality is, we’re all connected to all things, all people, and The All (The Force, if you prefer), and that means we’re also interdependent. Everything and everyone depends on everything and everyone else along the “cosmic web”. One little tiny ripple reverberates out to everything and everybody else, whether we actively realize it, or not. Every person, place, thing, and event has a purpose. Minor inconveniences such as failure, disappointment, and disagreement are precisely that: minor inconveniences. There’s a much bigger picture out there, and all of those little tiny things are simply there to teach us valuable lessons along the way. But if we don’t pay attention to those lessons, they just become things that suck. And when our lives are filled with things that suck, everything turns to crap; to chaos. We can find harmony only when we realize our particular place in the Song.
Death, yet the Force. We all fail and fall; everything eventually comes to an end, whether it’s a cycle, or a lifetime. But we are all made of stardust, and to stardust we one day return–that’s not just a hippy-dippy notion, that’s actually being proven by scientists! Because we are luminous beings, and not just this crude matter that we see up and walking around, the best parts of us–the parts that shine–continue on forever. When we come to look at life this way, we can begin to let go of things like sadness and grief, or even anger over the loss of things, people, and even pets that we love. We aren’t really letting go, we’re just letting change. And change is good–sometimes it’s scary as hell, but trust me, it’s good!
The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. That’s the “safety net” I talked about a few minutes ago. Because of this, we’re all connected–what happens to you matters to me, so what happens to me should matter to you. When we start going through life living that way, we practice what I’ve termed the unforced rhythms of grace (okay, so technically, Jesus came up with the term, not me): a regularly repeated pattern of behaving in a kind, courteous, and thoughtful way, even when other people don’t deserve it, and with no need for other people to earn it, that is not compelled by your own personal need, necessity, or pressure, nor by a personal craving for strength or power, nor by outside force. In other words, you are not only being kind, courteous, and thoughtful because someone else told you that is the correct way to behave. You are being kind, courteous, and thoughtful because you actually enjoy it. When we live our lives that way, we make the “safety net” of the Force (The All) not only apparent to ourselves, but to other people, basically becoming the “weave” of the “net”.
I find your lack of faith disturbing. Going through life without faith is precisely what I’m talking about, when I speak of working without a “safety net”. Faith is the firm conviction/belief in something for which there is no proof. I can’t prove to you, scientifically, that there’s something bigger than you in the Universe that is actually connecting everything. Then again, maybe I can: smile at someone, and see what happens. Did they smile back? There’s your connection! A lack of faith is disturbing because it leads to all the stuff we talked about in the section on Passion, yet serenity. Lacking faith can head us straight to Sith-ville, and is it any wonder, really?
Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to suffering. Don’t fall into that trap, either. Practice love, instead of fear. If we go through life practicing constant unconditional love, it leaves no room in our lives for fear. When we aren’t afraid of things, we don’t get angry. When we don’t get angry, we don’t let hate replace love in our lives. Suffering disappears. And we all want to end our suffering, right? (We should want to end everybody else’s suffering, too!)
Do or do not, there is no try. Commit to living your life as a creature of Light. Spread beauty, love, and compassion wherever you go, whatever you do. Don’t just take all this stuff and make it into a bunch of sentimental gobbledy-gook that would be “real nice, if it were possible”. It is possible. Live it! Listen to Yoda:
You can be a Jedi, too!
