Rian Johnson talk about the changes to the Force in TLJ

Lucas basically forewarned they would do this.

“There’s more to it than just spaceships,” he says. But his biggest concern about the ever-expanding universe? That “the Force doesn’t get muddled into a bunch of gobbledygook.”

 

This article at the Atlantic talks about how different Rian Johnson's approach is compared to George Lucas and JJ Abrams: https://www.theatlantic.com/enterta...jedi-is-more-spiritual-than-religious/549146/

Here are selected quotes from that article in case people don't have the time to read it:

"For at least two generations, the Star Wars saga has served as a kind of secularized American religion. Throughout the series, the Force is a stand-in for a divine power that draws on a number of mystical traditions, representing the balance of good and evil, the promise of an ultimate unity, and the notion that those learned in its ways can tap into the infinite.
In the latest Star Wars film, though, the theology of this secular belief system shifts. From A New Hope through The Force Awakens, learning to master the Force required faith, ritual, and ancient wisdom—all of which are hallmarks of institutionalized religion. But in The Last Jedi, a grizzled Luke Skywalker dismisses the Jedi mythos, and presents a more modern take on theology that accords with the 'spiritual but not religious' trend that finds younger Americans to be less interested in organized faith but more open to spiritual experiences. Rather than being brought into the tradition, Rey, Luke’s would-be trainee, must find the Force within herself...

... the movies have long suggested that one must join a community of practitioners and undergo patient tutelage in the context of an institutionalized quasi-religious order. Led by trained masters, the Jedi saw themselves as inheritors of ancient texts and traditions and were conscious of their own continuity. This sensibility flows from the original trilogy, and is reinforced in the descriptions of Jedi temples and padawan training in the prequel trilogy....
... Though the earlier films had already established that the Jedi do not control the Force, Star Wars had until this point implied the Jedi at least possess an ancient tradition of how to tap into it....
... In his exchange with Luke, Yoda both discounts the value of the Jedi past and explains that though Rey has hardly been trained, the sacred 'library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess.'...

... in the older movies, locating the Force takes work: Luke and Anakin slowly make their way through an extensive training regimen, and haste is often the cause of disastrous decisions. Though The Last Jedi also expands on what the Force can accomplish (Princess/General Leia can float through space and resurrect herself; Luke is able to project himself halfway around the galaxy), a child with no mentoring simply intuits it when he needs a broom. The Last Jedi reminds viewers that even a fictional secular religion will likely reflect the spiritual economy of its time."