The new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, has been around just a few weeks, but has already made record revenues. The series is filled with intrigue as well as a complex plot, both of which seems to draw audiences around the world.
But I have also wondered if the fixation for many was not so much in stars, as it might be in wars. Would it affect human curiosity, for instance, if it were named Star Peace?
The philosophical premise of the series is that there are two competing tendencies within the one eternal Force.
One tendency is in favor of good, while the other does evil. Both compete for supremacy. And, of course, after many battles and destruction, good wins.
The victory in Star Wars comes only after evil is defeated. While the film leaves viewers excited that good has overcome evil, its ethos also delves deep into human beliefs, attitudes, and most importantly character.
The Star Wars series promotes the idea that the doers of good have a strong self-assumption of their inherent goodness, and of their insatiable need and burden to be the eliminators of evil.
Yet good as well as evil are not permanent, exclusive, and settled attributes in people. No person can be abjectly certified to be completely and consistently good or bad, if also at the same time reasonably healthy in body and mind.
Luke, for instance, though seeking good is also enticed by evil. Darth Vader experiences the opposite reality - of wallowing in evil, yet desiring to be good. The kind of lives Hans Solo and Chewbacca live show why attaining collective good and social justice are such difficult and often elusive goals.
Both characters represent people for whom morality is only a matter of appearances and cheat their way through life for selfish gain. And yet they do not always catch the attention and incur the wrath of others because they do not give expression to their darker tendencies.
This complex scenario gives rise to a strange eventuality: Star Wars assumes that the establishment of good requires the instrumentality of evil. There is a legitimate place, and even the need, of a just war for good to finally triumph, and for evil to be eliminated.
But doesn't an indulgence in violence make the good agent also bad? How perfect and blameless can a morally imperfect entity be while determining the evil nature of the opponent and bringing down violent consequences on the enemy? Surely both parties to the plot must be evil, though to varying degrees, to use war to achieve their purposes and impose their rule and influence.
This is the irony of the noble quest of that human imagination that takes inspiration from Star Wars.
While instilling in our minds a longing for higher moral purposes in our daily lives, in quite a subtle manner the film also provokes the darker element hidden in the uncultivated aspects of our being, that sometimes longs for self-justification: power, revenge, hatred, battles, brutality and decimation.
On the other hand, the film series also consistently demonstrates that evil shouldn't always be seen as some separate being or entity we would love to hate and destroy.
Evil often is that condition that creeps in when good recedes. Good and evil are not always solid and separate conditions. They frequently present themselves as fluid conditions that fight for space within the individual and the collective.
In the film's final analysis, should we hope for Star Wars to settle the dispute between good and evil, we cannot assume to be entirely on the side of the good. We are at least sometimes more likely to be on the side of evil.
The stars and all of creation must be at peace, and not at war, for good to reign. And as those humans who desire to be instruments of peace and good, it is necessary for us individually to pay close attention to the workings within our own inner selves, and avoid being preoccupied with the morality or lack thereof in the 'other.'
One must pay close attention to the quiet struggle for space and domination between good and evil that continually goes on within oneself. Evil takes over territory within each and every one of us when good quietly recedes.
So then, amidst the rage of celluloid Star Wars, it is vital that we recognize our own selves as the battlefield between good and evil. We must ask if good in any way has lost space and influence to evil, and what we might want to do to reverse that in the new year.
This mixed and complex scenario gives rise to a strange eventuality. The being that is essentially good should now supercede the evil one in evil acts to establish the good. Star Wars assumes that the establishment of good requires the instrumentality of evil. There is a legitimate place, and even the need, of a just war for good to finally triumph, and for evil to be eliminated.
Yet doesn't an indulgence in violence make the good agent also bad? How perfect and blameless can a morally imperfect entity be while determining the evil nature of the opponent and bringing down violent consequences on the enemy? Surely both parties to the plot must be evil, though to varying degrees, to use war to achieve their purposes and impose their rule and influence.
This indeed is the irony of the noble quest of that human imagination that takes inspiration from Star Wars. While instilling in our minds the nobility of a longing for higher moral purposes to our daily living, in quite a subtle manner, the film also provokes the nether element hidden in the uncultivated aspects of our being, that sometimes longs for self-justification, power, revenge, hatred, subduing, battles, brutality, and decimation.
On the other hand, the film series also consistently demonstrates that evil is not to be always seen as some separate being or entity we would love to hate and destroy. Evil often is that condition that creeps in when good recedes. Good and evil are not always solid and separate conditions. They frequently present themselves as fluid conditions that fight for space within the individual and the collective.
In the final analysis hence, should we desire for Star Wars to settle the dispute between good and evil, we cannot assume to be entirely on the side of the good. We are at least sometimes more likely to be on the side of evil.
The stars and all of creation must be at peace, and not at war, for good to reign. And as those humans who desire to be instruments of peace and good, it is first-of-all necessary for us individually to pay close attention to the workings within our own inner selves, and avoid being preoccupied with the morality or lack thereof in the 'other.'
One must pay close attention to the quiet struggle for space and domination between good and evil that continually goes on within oneself. Evil takes over territory within each and every one of us when good quietly recedes.
So then, amidst the rage of celluloid Star Wars, it is vital that we recognize our own selves as the battlefield between good and evil. We must ask if good in any way has lost space and influence to evil, and what we might want to do to reverse that in the new year.
