¨There are three types of knowledge, Luke. First, there is knowledge acquired through experience, as in the case of the craftsman. Secondly, there is knowledge acquired through study, as in the case of the scholar. Finally there is knowledge acquired through initiation, and this is the special province of the Jedi Order.
Initiation does not teach you to know or do anything in particular. It is rather a process of awakening certain latent sensitivities within rare individuals. These sensitivities enable the Jedi to see situations and events around him with a clarity and objectivity unknown to non-Jedis. Thus he is able to impress his Will upon situations in a manner that is as effective as it is subtle. This Jedi characteristic, mysterious as it is to others, has resulted in our being suspect to those in positions of social power...
Now, the knowledge of the Jedi requires two factors. The initiation process is one factor; it is the deliberate sensitizing of the individual to the abilities that lie within his-or her- consciousness. This initiation may be encouraged and to some extent guided by others, but it is essentially a poersonal, private experience. Hence at the Citadel of the Jedi we never spoke of ´training´ Jedi - but rather of recognizing their respective levels of initiation.
...The other factor is the raw material. We have found that not everyone can respond to initiation, or respond to it at comparable levels. Nor is the capacity for initiation tied to the ability to acquire knowledge of the other two kinds, though of course a Jedi with such knowledge is all the more effective. In certain individuals - beings of all species throughout the galaxy - there is...the ´Force´, as we generally call it. It is the raw material, that, when refined through initiation, enables the Jedi to effect change in accordance with his Will...
The Jedi´s commitment is to change as something desirable in itself...but of course there are value judgments involved. There is nothing to be gained by influencing a peaceful, progressive society to disintegrate into war, for example. But a peaceful society which fails to progress may benefit in the long run from a destabilizing shock. The art of the Jedi lies in the ability to estimate when and if a change in the existing situation will stimulate positive evolution.
The strength of the Jedi lay in their ability to set processes in motion, not necessarily to force those same processes to conclusion...
If we are so subtle...then why the lightsaber?- A paradox of sorts: A more primitive weapon than a laser pistol, and yet I called it ´more civilized.´ I will tell you why. Pistols, laser cannon, missiles: All these enable one to kill with detachment, from a psychological as well as a physical distance. Death becomes an abstraction, something that can be dispensed for whimsical reasons. The Jedi´s use of the lightsaber necessitates intense personal involvement with the prospect of death.
The Jedi must risk life to take life, and the process of taking life is graphic, ugly, and physical. The lightsaber is not an advantage or convenience to the Jedi, it is a hindrance."
(47-48)
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"Ben, there´s something I´d like to ask you...I can´t help thinking that this whole thing has happened to me too, well, precisely. The situation with the Alderaan ship. The death of my aunt and uncle. It´s as though events have conspired to make my choices inevitable. Is there anything to this, or am I imagining things?"
"You´re asking me the greatest of all questions, my young friend: whether I am some mysterious being who can orchestrate wills in that fashion. Whether I have created this entire state of affairs to put you and others through some private ordeal I have conceived. How comfortable for you were I to say yes, for then your sense of responsibility for your decisions could be abrogated. On my shoulders would be all blame for anything less than an ideal outcome.
Luke, even the most advanced of Jedis, even the source from which Jedi initiation springs - cannot predetermine choices. If there were no real freedom of choice, then initiation would be no more than an elaborate sham - and a cruel joke. All of our efforts to exercise will would be merely a higher function of natural instinct. And, for all the effort we put forth to perceive ourselves as being entities of independent will, we might as well be insects building hives while deluding ourselves that we had ´decided´to do so.
So I say to you no, that is not the case; and however you may suspect my Jedi motives, believe that I speak the truth in this. I do not know what you will do a moment from now - or what Captain Solo or the Alderaan government or the Galactic Emperor will do. It is of the utmost importance that I don´t, because in that fact rests the essential proof of the truth of initiation...
To the charge that I am controlling this situation, I answer yes - to the extent that the factors governing it are functions of natural, instinctive behavior. But I also answer no to the extent that conscious, non-natural will is being exercised by those able to do so.
I add that the Jedi understands truly-conscious exercise of will to be a far rarer phenomenon then the non-initiate might believe it to be. You believe in your freedom of will. Can you offer me a single choice you have made since our meeting that was not made for reasons which were motivated by a desire for pleasure or a fear of pain?"
Luke stared back at him in astonishment. He thought carefully back through the decisions he had made - and found, as he examined them - that all of them had implicit motives as Kenobi had suggested. Then something occurred to him. He said, "My decision to become a Jedi. I didn´t know what that might portend- only that it implied change to a higher state of existence."
Then, for the very first time, Luke saw Ben Kenobi really smile at him - a smile so full of pleasure and affection that the young man couldn´t help grinning back. "You´re right, of course," said Ben.
(53,54)
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"I am now but the shell of the Jedi you once knew. I have sought knowledge forbidden by the Order; I have the blood of nameless things on my hands. Even my body is an outrage to the Universe; it belongs to Death, yet even this covenant I have denied. I have wrenched it back from the threshold because of the Change brought about in me by the Dark Side. I am accursed by the order of existence."
"Whatever you may think of me," answered Kenobi, "believe me in this; that I do not mock you. But I do not pity you your trials either, for each of them - no matter how loathsome it may have seemed to you -has ennobled your Being. Not the shell in which it is imprisoned, but your Being itself"...
Then with great dignity he raised his arms above the black helmet in the ancient Jedi greeting of XA. He said -
"Esseai aqanatoz qeoz, ambrotoz, ouk eti qnhtoz"
(You shall be an immortal god, divine, no longer mortal.)
60
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The Jedi have long regarded the Force as either an active intelligence or a passive tool for use in manipulating the natural laws of the cosmos. In the Yellow Text an entirely different application of the Force is suggested. It involves the creation of matter and energy by recourse to the Force alone, without reference to the pre-existing laws of the Universe. More than that, it approaches the inertial qualities of the natural universe as an inconvenience and an impediment to the spontaneous application of the Force for such creation...
There is more to the Yellow Text...It contains a formula for divesting the self of its material body and transferring it to the vehicle of the Force itself. In short, immortality and virtual limitlessness in extension of the mind.
84
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"Since you have made your choice," she said, "you must learn the secret of the planet."
...Han Solo approached the awesome statue and ran his hand gently over the silvery one of the creature, positioned on its knee. He drew back suddenly, conscious of a strange sensation that tingled through him.
"That is the Fire of Sith," said Krel. "According to Darth Vader it was sealed into this statue by the creature himself dim aeons ago, when this entire galaxy was just beginning its upward struggle from savagery. It is not of the Force, but it explains the Force. And sometimes it seems to speak with a purpose of its own.
"Yes," said Han Solo slowly. "I have just understood something of that purpose. I have learned that the influence of Darth Vader might have enabled the Empire to continue its climb to higher levels of civilization. But he has been slain, and now the Empire faces an unstable and uncertain future..."
89
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[Kenobi]"As for Sith, he and I understand each other very well. We are, you might say, old friends. And in the fortunes of human evolution we both have our prerogatives."
93
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Luke, the Force is not something which you can use as you would a lightsaber. Rather it reflects and magnifies the self. Seek therefore to know yourself for what you have Become.
The Force will be with you always.
118
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"A girl desires to please those whom she loves, but to Leia it seems that all around her take their pleasure only in power. Therefore she struggles to be powerful for you, but her true self abhors it. She is a creature who yearns in her heart to be innocent, and to be loved by someone who loves innocence. Do you know what ´innocence´is, Luke?"
"Immaturity, I guess," he replied. The girl´s silence told him that she was waiting to hear more.
"No," he reflected. "I think I know what you are getting at. Not immaturity. Something positive...something worthwhile for itself. Like honesty, I would say, perhaps, a delight in life for its own sake. A rejection of justifications, causes, excuses, and guilt at being alive. To be innocent is to say: I do not live to serve, to atone, to sacrifice, but simply to be. That´s it, isn´t it? Hey!"
119
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"...what´s it for? Are you doing this for the thrill of it, or to get Leia to fall for you, or what?...what does it mean to you? That´s what I want to know."
Luke bit his lip. "If you´re going to put it that way, then I´d have to say that all the fights and victories and medals don´t really mean anything in the long run. They´re exciting, all right, but what´s really important is what happens next. All the fighting is because we think we have a better set of values to give to life than those determined by the Empire..."
----
...Vader stopped a few feet away, lowered his own weapon, and stood looking at Luke. The red eyes glowed from within the mask.
"So, you would take my life because of the evil you think I have done. Do you not know that I too am a Jedi, and the student of Obi-Wan Kenobi? How do you know that when you look at me you do not see what you too will become? Will you wield the power of the Force according to your own standards of good and evil, or will you be guided by others who have not the wisdom of the Jedi?
Luke flushed. He said angrily:
"A Jedi must know his limitations as well as his strengths. And, if he intends to influence the lives of others, he must give thought to their feelings, not just to his own desires. I will use the Force in the cause of Freedom - not to tighten the grip of the Empire!"
"How wise you are that you can so easily know ´freedom,´" said Darth Vader with irony. "I have never found it, and I have searched for it for a lifetime. You cannot ´give´ freedom to anyone. What you give you can also take back, and therefore it is not freedom that you give, but rather a form of slavery that you deem enlightened and benevolent." He lashed out suddenly with the purple lightsaber and Luke jumped back and raised his own blade to strike back.
"Now see for yourself the DOOM of the Jedi," said the Lord of Sith. "You will use the judgment that you have, but you will never know whether what you do is for freedom or for a new slavery. Such things are not decided by you, but by those whom your actions affect. The Jedi cannot impart his wisdom to others; he can only allow them to gaze upon him and see, if they can, why he chooses as he does.
But I will tell you now that you will rarely know the comfort of being understood. You will be a mystery, and the common man fears and hates the mysterious. Do you think you will be a hero throughout the galaxy? Once I was foolish enough to have that dream myself, Luke Skywalker. Now I doubt that there is anyone more feared or despised. Would you still become a Jedi?"
Luke stared at Darth Vader, then slowly nodded his head. "I will accept the risk and the Doom because I have no real choice. It is my will to become a Jedi, and no lesser fear shall deter me. Perhaps I shall suffer your fate, or I may be honored and loved as Ben was. But either way, I shall not turn back."
120
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The Fire of Sith...
It is because we have seen the horrors that we have that we know this for what it is. Behind all beauty is horror, Terclis. Here in this garden the plants tear at each other for light and nourishment and insects engage in combat far more savage than that of your stormtroopers. Nature is not beautiful; nature is indifferent to such things as beauty or ugliness. It is we who decide what we shall consider beautiful, and we make such judgments because we have also decided what we shall consider horrible.
126
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Luke said, "I think I understand. The Jedi Order is not merely the beings who may exist within it at any one time. What is important is that the idea of the Jedi be preserved, and that the unique qualities that characterize a Jedi be recognized and confirmed in those who embody them..."
"So, you would be a Jedi, Luke? Then begin to rely upon your own judgment rather than being content with blind obedience to others, no matter in what esteem you may hold them."
122
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"Is this General Terclis a Jedi?" he asked.
When Dodonna shook his head, he continued:
"We succeeded against the Death Star. Why? I`ll tell you why. Not because we calculated the odds and found them favorable, or because I got lucky with a proton torpedo, or because the ghost of Ben Kenobi started talking to me up there. We succeed because we did something that the master strategists who conceived and built that Death Star never expected an enemy to do. We didn`t attack it with bad odds - we attacked it in a way that could not be measured in odds. And that`s why we were able to blow it to bits.
Now, I know what you`re saying, Jan, and I`ve had enough social engagements with Stormtroopers to know what sort of person this Terclis must be if he`s the one who got them together. And if he were also a Jedi - in which case he would also have considered the `impossible` alternatives - then I might agree with you that we`ve had it. But, for all his strategic skill, there is that in h im which spurns the Jedi philosophy and which sees situations, only in practical, logical terms. And Jedi - we Jedi - have a habit of doing the impossible."
139
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Vader: Jedi, you are hereby Recognized to your high office. From this time you are cast forth into the worlds of the galaxy, to exercise that license which is yours by reason of our Virtue and your Wisdom and your Understanding. Alone you may disregard all laws, all conventions, all standards of what others call morality. You may do these things because you are charged to discern and influence the evolution of life, and so you are also trained in skills necessary to safeguard your own lives. For there will be danger, both from those whom you seek out and perchance from the Empire itself. Your freedom is the freedom to KNOW, to DARE, to SPEAK, and to BECOME. All are perilous; any one may warrant your death. Threaten the stability of established cultures and you will find yourselves Imperial knights no longer but hated and hunted outlaws.
163
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What is behind efforts to civilize? To civilize is to create the artificial from the natural, which means to exercise will in order to be sure of its presence and keep it alive. Hence there is no actual other justification for civilization than the simple willing of conscious existence.
However, the drive for civilization is also based upon instinctive, animalistic drives - specifically the instincts for self-preservation and the avoidance of pain and the cultivation of pleasure. These force the continuation of civilization along certain lines. They are much more powerful in the mundane sense than the factor of conscious will.
Darth Vader personifies the conviction that the will for conscious existence is superior to the other two drives. He has this conviction via his exposure to the Dark Side of the Force, which one might also call the Fire of Sith (or also `Platonic intuition of the Forms`).
Darth Vader also thinks that, while civilization does not in itself ensure mass progress of all included beings toward actualization of the conscious will, it does provide the most fertile environment for this quality to be present and grow in the few.
Finally, Darth Vader considers civilization an artifical situation. Left alone, people would tend to use it as an expedient to help them fulfill basically natural desires. In order to effect expansion of will, civilization must be forced beyond the level of mere gratification.
Empèror Palpatine understands this concept intellectually, but not in the magical intuitive sense. He himself is driven by the Nietzschean Will to Power, being the desire to see the civilization preeminent as a thing in itself.
Xronos says that his own inspiration as a consequence of his exposure to the Fire of Sith is that Andromeda be given a massive stress-trial to offer it the chance to change direction from Palpatine`s point of view to Darth Vader`s - so that the entire civilization may be oriented along the quest for higher consciousness instead of that being merely a struggling, insignificant, incidental phenomenon.
To accomplish this Xronos proposes to apply a certain pressure such that use of the Will to Power will prove insufficient to deal with it. The Andromedean civilization must then seek a solution through consciousness...
The Empire, says Xronos, has reached a critical point. Left to itself, it will now decline because of lack of creative challenges. The Rebellion was thus a single system of a more general tendency.
Darth Vader correctly perceived that, but he thought that countering the Rebellion and stabilization of the Empire would solve the problem. It will not. The paradox of the situation is that both mundane challenge and the lack of challenge act to deteriorate the Empire. What is needed is a special sort of challenge whose resolution will lead upward.
The Empire, observes Xronos, has finally trained a leader who combines expertise in the three essential qualities: (Platonic)Politics, MindWar, and Jedi initiation. This is Luke.
183,184
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-Michael Aquino, excerpts from `The Dark Side`
for access to the full text, go here:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
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