I was really intrigued by The Force, and bought the book hoping it would explain the details. But much to my disappointment, it was like reading a comic book. Later discovered it was a mix of Taoism (The Way), Zoroastrianism (battle between good and evil) and Christianity (battle between good and evil, "May God be with you"), just a made-up, Hollywood thing.
Have Jedi created a new 'religion'?
"The Jedi belief system is a patchwork quilt of Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Samurai, says Singler. Often the ideas offer a simple dualism of good and evil, light and dark. "Fear is the path to the dark side," Yoda tells Anakin Skywalker. "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you."
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"Star Wars was based on the mythological ideas put forward by the writer Joseph Campbell, who in turn was influenced by thinkers such as Carl Jung, Alan Watts, and Jiddu Krishnamurti."
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29753530
Tao Te Jedi: Taoist Influences in the Jedi Philosophies of Star Wars
"One can even say that the Jedi are Taoists in a galaxy far, far away. Indeed, the Taoist too must have the deepest commitment and the most serious mind, for detaching oneself from all earthly attachments is no easy feat. Nor must the Taoist crave adventure or excitement, otherwise his isolation would have been in vain, for adventure and excitement still imply attachment, and that is attachment to pleasure. For the Taoist, attachments and possessions are automatic no-no’s, for one must embrace only Nature, the Tao. The Tao Te Ching’s equivalent for that is found in Chapter 19:
Discern plainness.
Embrace simplicity.
Reduce selfishness.
Restrain desires. (Tao Te Ching: chapter 19)
Nameless simplicity means being without desires.
Being without desires and with tranquility,
The world will keep peace by itself. (TTC: ch.37)
To the Taoist, the mere act of possessing something,
This is called robbery and extravagance.
Really, this is not Tao. (TTC: ch.53)
Love too, is forbidden, unless it is the love that is not selective; that is love, compassion for everything in the universe, animate or inanimate. However, we should not love too much, for then we become attached.
Of gain and loss, which is more distressing?
Therefore, loving in excess incurs great cost. (TTC: ch.44)
The Jedi’s passive attitude clearly demonstrates the Jedi’s abhorrence for violence, parallelized by
Weapons are the tools of evil
not the tools of the gentleman.
When he uses them unavoidably, he is most calm and detached.
And does not glorify his victory. (TTC: ch.31)
And as the Taoist draws energy from the Tao, so does the Jedi draw energy from the Force.
THE FORCE
Be mindful of the living Force.
It is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together.
My ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is.
Its energy surrounds us and binds us.
You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock. Everywhere.
Feel the Force flow.
Use the Force.
Sense the Force around you.
The Force will guide us.
It continually speaks to us, telling us Its will.
When you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear It speaking to you.
It also obeys your commands.
You will know when you are calm…at peace…passive.
The original idea for the eternal is supposed to be “Nameless,”
The Nameless [non-being] is the origin of heaven and Earth.
The Namable [being] is the mother of all things. (TTC: ch.1)
as stated in the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching. But in order to teach this concept, one cannot keep on referring to a nameless idea, so for the sake of Lao Tzu’s students, he decided to name it.
Not knowing its name, I can only style it Tao. (TTC: ch.25)
But what is Tao? Apparently it is something so deep that no word can fully synonymize itself with it. It cannot even be directly translated as God. In places it seems to be confused or sometimes interchangeable with T’ien (Heaven), The Great Unity, The Great Mystery, The Great Illuminator, The Great Framer, The Great Infinite, The Great Truth, The Great Determiner (Soothill:1973). For me however, its closest equivalent in meaning was coined in 1977─The Force.
Tao is therefore also “Truth”, “right conduct”. Tao underlies the cosmos. Tao inhabits every created thing (Campbell:1973). Like the Force, described as an energy field,
Looked at, it cannot be seen;
it is called colorless.
Listened to, it cannot be heard;
it is called soundless.
Grasped, it cannot be obtained;
it is called formless. (TTC: ch.14)
Once a person hears the Force speaking to him/her, that person is well on the way to becoming a Jedi. Similarly,
The superior man, on hearing Tao,
Practices it diligently. (TTC: ch.41)
Since Tao is the backbone of Taoism, so is the Force the backbone of the Jedi faith. That is why it is spelled with a capital F.
CONCLUSION
There are actually more instances that show how George Lucas draws heavily from the work of Lao Tzu, and if I were to enumerate them all, it would take several dozen pages, and could in fact be a complete dissertation in itself. Star Wars, however, does not draw solely on Taoism. We can also see influences of Buddhist and Christian doctrines echoing throughout the story. What is fascinating however is that the dominant ideas presented are undoubtedly Taoist. And it makes us wonder then how the present generation of human beings, the generation of computers, the internet, and MTV, how they can have room to accept the centuries-old teachings of the sage Lao Tzu. For despite all our modernity, we seem to have a soft spot for the mystical, for the divine, for the things we cannot explain.
https://lookmaimawriter.blogspot.jp/201 ... -jedi.html
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