SPECULATION The nature of the Force

Pre-TFA in canon there were no sides. The "dark side" was just a corruption and it caused the imbalance of the Force. Although, since the sith were living in secret for a millenia it isn't really sure what the jedi were doing about it for a thousand years, and how were they even supposed to bring balance pre-TPM era (when they presumed that the sith were extinct).

In TFA however, Han mentions that the Force culminates the darkness and the light. So, in current canon the Force is supposed to be similar to yin-yang, unless Han was wrong of course.

 

I am torn is the discussions on this forum and others representative of:

1- The fact that Lucas himself failed to deliver a cohesive easy to follow vision of the force. This in turn was turned over to secondary writers and producers of now Canon content who had conflicting views or mistaken views and ran with it.

or

2- TLG is so good at world building that there are literal sects and divisions within the variant sects of the force.

or the most likely

3- Both

 

Nice point Pastor ↑. It makes sense to me that the nature of The Force in unknowable in it's entirety and I actually think the mystery and ambiguity is a strength of the stories.

I think plenty is up for viewer interpretation and IMO it's nice that people can infer different meanings from the Light vs Dark dichotomy/spectrum e.g.
Good vs Evil
Selfless vs Selfish
Visible vs Occult
Illuminated vs Unaware
Obvious vs Hidden etc.

I doubt whether peoples fears of TPTB retconning the nature of The Force is even on the table. Little is established fact and most information comes from individual characters and although some is from expert authorities they no doubt play to their own perspectives and contain bias and received ideas.

FWIW I kinda think the "Light and Dark sides" concept works equally well whether stemming from tapping into sides of The Force or sides of the user.

Good point. I'm assuming this only applies to sentient creatures killing unecessarily though and not so much for carnivore's seeking nourishment. But who knows...

True. And the thesis that “the Jedi must end” would certainly make some sense to someone aware that some people with a hand in some of the greatest atrocities the galaxy has seen were those who gained their immense power primarily through being trained by Jedi.

 

Quoting myself how tacky.

Or

4- Lucas created a synchronistic amalgamation of many religions and people pick the pieces that they really like.

5- Lucas did one better than a synchronistic amalgamation of religions and developed a unique fantasy philosophy that actually bridges East-West philosophies but we have a hard time unpacking that because we difficulty knowing when to think in what perspective.

 

Found this. Interesting watch...

 

I think your last point. about he actually invented a philosophy that bridges East-West philosophies is true to a degree. However accidental it was on his part, I'm not sure. The beauty of the 'Force' lies in its simplicity surrounding it. There was nothing the prequel trilogy added to this in my opinion, it only made it more convoluted and thus less all encompassing as a philosophy, the PT made it seem more hokey I think.

Where as, every line Yoda said in TESB was really deep philosophical stuff, I realise its borrowed from other places but so are all religious texts...I'm not going to start de-constructing all established religion but even the story of Noah's Ark was originally a Babylonian myth that the enslaved Jews heared and embelished upon. So yeah, I think Yoda's lines about the nature of the foce in Empire Strikes Back were really beautiful and simple, mainly because they spoke not of doctrine but the interconnection between the light and the dark in each of us, and also the connectivity between ourselves as living organisms and the rest of the universe...its pretty good stuff and I always feel that Yoda's dialog sounds nothing like the rest of Lucas's script, so I wonder if he had a bit of extra help with it. He also never managed to re-create that feeling in such a nuanced and ambigus way.

 

George Lucas did not invent a philosophy, he illuminated it. Philosopher Joseph Campbell created the concept of a "monomyth" which is the theory that sees all mythic narratives as variations of a single great story. Campbell referred to George Lucas as his greatest student because George brought the monomyth to life in Star Wars.