Being that this is the forum thread for all things \"Dark Side\", I would like to pose a thought/question to all.

As we know, the \"Dark\" Side is the negative emotions of every person living, and breathing in this world, fear, anger, aggression, hatred, envy, etc etc, or, as the Christians lovingly refer to them, the \"7 Deadly Sins* if you prefer.

How many times have you heard that these emotions are destructive, and wrong, and bad for you? Quite a few, right? Well, how are we to be ideal Jedi, if we refuse to consider the possibility, that too truly understand what it means to be Jedi, if we refuse to explore in a safe fashion, these negative emotions?

What's that? You say it can't done in a safe fashion? Yes, it can, and I do it on a regular basis. They say that those negative emotions breed only destruction, and \"evil\". I say that's wrong, I say that you can create very beautiful things with those emotions, if you doubt that, go to the forum thread titled, \"We sell bottles\", and check out those lovely poems that some of us here have written.

To me, if you refuse to dabble in the \"darker\" side of the self, then that means that you are afraid of it, afraid that you may come to realize that it makes you human, and they are natural in the course of our lives. I could be wrong, this is opinion. And, in being afraid to examine these emotions, are you not, in fact, giving in to the \"Dark\" Side, by being afraid of what might happen if you \"test the waters\" of the human spirit in all it's glory?

Just thoughts of mine, and we need to get this \"Dark\" side discussions thread flowing a little more along the lines that it was put here for, to study , and discuss our \"Dark\" Sides, we all have them, it's all in how you deal with them that makes them dangerous.

MTFBWY

AHHA, indeed. Tis True, 'Tis Pity, and Pity 'Tis 'Tis True. I certainly am doing this day in and out. but I would submit the following.
When you have begun to develop a negative emotion as a response to a negative situation of some kind and you redirect that energy into positive work, you are not using the negative energy any longer, and because your intentions have changed you have turned it into positive energy and thus positive works.

Teaching #7
\"Jedi are mindful of the negative emotions which lead to the Dark Side: Anger, Fear, Aggression, and Hate. If we sense these emotions manifesting within ourselves, we must meditate on the Jedi Code and focus on purging these destructive emotions.\"
The teaching says we are to be mindful, could that not include seeking to understand these emotions? Turn these emotions into the positive things you have mentioned? In doing so, do we not follow the teaching by purging the destructive emotions by making them into a positive energy or works? This also has us meditating on the Jedi Code as mentioned in the 7th teaching by following the second line of the code.
\"There is no Ignorance; There is Knowledge.\"

Yes, those are the negatives being turned into positive, but, being the radical that I am, it is not \"purging\" the emotions, they are still there, inside us, we can't be free from them until the day we die. And I really don't consider \"being mindful\" the same as understanding, I consider it to just knowing that \"Yes, those naughty naughty things are out there and running rampant in some people\". What I mean by understand, is to actually, every once in awhile, give in to them......just, make sure you are alone, or in the gym in front of a heavy bag.

See, I like all my emotions, they make me, ME. To purge those things would be like killing part of myself, and I'm not weak enough to commit any form of suicide. A personal perspective, we all have them, and on the topic of the code, well, we each follow our own, similar in ways, completely different in others.

MTFBWY, by the by, thanks for involving yourselves in this discussion, something actually about the Dark Side, lol.

I'll be honest, I think we're all using different words for the same ideas.

In a nut shell, yes. We are. But each with our own unique spin on things.

Let me pose this question, why must all \"negative\" emotions be contained or converted into something positive?

If a woman is beaten over and over again by the same man, and kills him because she fears being beaten again, she has given into the \"dark\" side of her emotions, yet a positive outcome was achieved. She didn't convert her emotions into something positive, she had the darkest of intents, to kill the man, and she did. Yet a positive has occurred. Multiple positives really. Whats YOUR (the reader) view?

DK

Let me pose this question, why must all \"negative\" emotions be contained or converted into something positive?

If a woman is beaten over and over again by the same man, and kills him because she fears being beaten again, she has given into the \"dark\" side of her emotions, yet a positive outcome was achieved. She didn't convert her emotions into something positive, she had the darkest of intents, to kill the man, and she did. Yet a positive has occurred. Multiple positives really. Whats YOUR (the reader) view?

DK

How can negative emotions be turned into positive? Is not a negative emotion defined by its motivating force and its resulting effect? I can certainly understand that the energy powering one emotion can be otherwise mobilized, but this has nothing to do with the emotion. God knows that, like many others, I too have these emotions but only in understanding their origin have I been able to redirect its energy and effect (origionally against myself and others). Not only has my life been made easier but those around me seemed to have benefited.

\"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.\"
C.S.Lewis.

First, Dhagon. Wouldn't her actions fall under self defense? By killing her attacker, she has defended her own life, but in taking his, she will have to justify to a court as to why she killed. If she can convince them she feared for her own life, then she will be fine. Otherwise, she has just murdered someone. She had other options outside of killing. As far as converting her emotions, I believe she did. She converted her fear that kept her from fighting back into courage to fight back. Never know, her intentions might not have been to kill him in the first place. There are a lot of \"if\"s that can fall into this.

Secondly, Jon. You answered your own question, I believe. You mentioned redircting the energy from the emotion. We see Br Shaun redirect his all the time in form of poetry. I redirect mine into working out. We know and understand where this energy comes from (the negative emotions) but focus it one something that is health and beneficial to us and our well being instead of letting it fester and become something destructive. We have redirected the energy.

And finally, Br Shaun. I thought of this after leaving the house for a little while to run errands. When \"purging\" the negative emotions, it doesn't have to mean they are eliminated entirely. Purging can also mean removing impurities. It's kinda like when a blacksmith is working steel. He heats it up, bringing the impurities to the top and then hammers them away. The impurities flake off and are discarded. The same is true with these emotions. Taking away from these negative emotions and making them something positive. If we come to an understanding of these negative emotions and what drives them in their negative form, we can purge that away. For example, righteous indignation. In it's root, it is still anger, but it is anger with a right twist on it, if that makes sense. You can purge the wrong from the emotion turing it into a form of the emotion that can benefit you and have no ill lean to it.