What is the Dark Side?

i have always had my own interpretation of this concept

recently ive considered that what i mean when i say "dark side" and what others mean when they say it might be pretty different

so i am curious what this term means to other Jedi

i dont want the thread to turn in to a battle over who is right or whatever, i just want to understand the different perspectives out there, and to that effect, all viewpoints are welcome

Curious to follow the answers, myself. Thank you for posting this.

The Darkness is the origin of all things. It's an old, powerful stillness that has much to teach us. But, when people try and manipulate the darkness by making it "ours", that lust destroys us because we are children of the Light.

The darkness is a void where all things are formless. By this measure, it is the perfect state of stillness. When we return to it in death, we are warmed by its unendingness. While alive, we are afraid of returning to it. This fear seeps into our bodies and transforms us into fools, always running from its clutches. Because we are made of Light, we naturally oppose the Dark. When we give into darkness, we have an internal conflict that impacts how we act and think.

Darkness manifests as fear, uncertainty.. it is incompatible with our thinking. To accept the void, one must relax and realize that inevitability of its influence on me and you. Fear isn't a pointless thing, it teaches us. But, when we forget Darkness, and we do not realize it, too, is our brother, we see it as an enemy, a threat. This is what almost killed the Buddha when we was starving himself.

Letting ones view remain stained by chaos, ignorance and passion. Through effective focus, understanding knowledge and welcoming wisdom, one can avoid the pitfalls of the dark side and instead see them as just another attribute of the flow that is without sides. Your focus determines your reality, as the Jinn clan says haha!?

Connor L. wrote: The Darkness is the origin of all things. It's an old, powerful stillness that has much to teach us. But, when people try and manipulate the darkness by making it "ours", that lust destroys us because we are children of the Light.

The darkness is a void where all things are formless. By this measure, it is the perfect state of stillness. When we return to it in death, we are warmed by its unendingness. While alive, we are afraid of returning to it. This fear seeps into our bodies and transforms us into fools, always running from its clutches. Because we are made of Light, we naturally oppose the Dark. When we give into darkness, we have an internal conflict that impacts how we act and think.

Darkness manifests as fear, uncertainty.. it is incompatible with our thinking. To accept the void, one must relax and realize that inevitability of its influence on me and you. Fear isn't a pointless thing, it teaches us. But, when we forget Darkness, and we do not realize it, too, is our brother, we see it as an enemy, a threat. This is what almost killed the Buddha when we was starving himself.

I agree and wish to add it is also a ancient library of mystery and primal knowledge. The Darkness is only feared due to its label of in printed evil. Its only something that is yet to be truly Understood, It should be celebrated with the light. Compare it a Lost Jungle that is yet to be set foot in, or ocean depths yet to be surveyed. Light is the void of all colors meaning it is void of judgement, Darkness is made up of all and set as one entity. In Death (an aspect), should be celebrated, meaning we have lived a good life, its time to move on to something new, something worthy, Those that pass will be honored for what they did. "there is no death there is only the force". Death isnt our end, but a continued journey on. All which follow from the Darkness teaches us something new, may it be plague, fear, suffering,etc. These were given to teach us to become stronger selves.

Bless the Light - it shows you the way. Bless the Darkness - it shows you the stars. And what is dark? You and your cat will disagree on the matter as will your cat and the owl. All sunshine makes a desert and all darkness makes a wasteland.

it is the other half of our self, not something to be fearful of, not an enemy, but something to recognize as a part of ourself and embraced. it is also not something to relinquish control to

I see it as the temptation to allow the destructive aspects of the Ego to manifest.

Not everything about the Ego is necessarily 'bad' - when someone is trying to kill you and the self-preservation instinct kicks in, that's probably a good thing...but when mental-insecurity-based self-preservation kicks in, through jealousy, hatred, rage, revenge, general maliciousness...that's not so great, particularly when we let it influence our behaviour. Sometimes we feel almost powerless to stop these things from overtaking us - you can train yourself out of them to a degree, but it's hard because these kind of reactions are human nature, with the triggers embedded in us often back in childhood and often difficult to identify and isolate.

In those moments when I say or do something out of anger or spite, there's a millisecond where I feel incredible. There's a kind of massive adrenalin rush - I'm sure everyone has experienced that feeling at some point or other. And then, five seconds later, I feel absolutely terrible and then continue to feel terrible for the next month or so, and I wonder what on Earth possessed me to behave that way. But that minscule fleeting moment of revelling in the feeling that I've caused harm - that's the dark side. It's a place that I go very, very rarely, but I still know that it's there and that there's a risk it could become very seductive in any moments that you hit on a trigger that I've not yet fully identified in myself and worked on overcoming.

I don't consider emotions in and of themselves to be negative...emotions and feelings - the whole spectrum of them - is what defines the human experience. It's how we react to them that can be negative, and it's that pleasure-seeking pull to use (and enjoy using) them destructively that I consider to be the true dark side of human nature.

The dark/light dichotomy, like all others, is an illusion.

The Force is grey to its core. Unity - One, not Two.

There is no Dark Side to the Force, only to the individual. We all have one in us. There is a saying about there being two wolves in everyone, a light and a dark. The one that becomes the strongest is the one we feed the most.

What is the Dark side?

A choice.

My choice.

Anymore than that would be like trying to explain to someone why I like a certain type of music,food,wine, etc.

At one time, when I first started down the Sith path, this question was super important, and I answered it in pages of text, then one page, then one paragraph, then one sentence, and finally, I wondered why I went through all the trouble.

At its core, when I think about it long enough, I always come back to one word, if I absolutely have to explain it.

Passion.

Certainly, others use this word, regardless of alignment or discipline, but it holds a different kind of weight in the Dark. That word, is a lynchpin that holds a Dark practitioners core values together, everything starts and ends with it.

I cannot give it its due justice in the meaning it has for the Dark path, but at the same time, like most things in the Dark path as I have come to understand it, it is not about explaining, it is about doing, and feeling.

The Dark is very much experienced on a somatic level.

My opinion:

The dark side of the force is non existent, rather, it is how one uses the force. As Jedi, we use the force for good, trying to achieve unity with the force. Practitioners of Sithism try to gain control of the force, only seeking unification to gain their own personal benefits.

tzb wrote: The dark/light dichotomy, like all others, is an illusion.

The Force is grey to its core. Unity - One, not Two.

This, and Goken's response, pretty much sum up what I believe.

There is no duality in the Force. I would describe it by saying that the Force is "good," as we would describe it, and that evil is an artificial condition fostered within sentience. I might would describe it by saying that "dark" and "light" are the Force's reflection on the individual, rather than aspects or polarities of the Force.

Goken wrote: There is no Dark Side to the Force, only to the individual. We all have one in us. There is a saying about there being two wolves in everyone, a light and a dark. The one that becomes the strongest is the one we feed the most.

So The Force is universal entity/connection, I Choose to manipulate "those" energies, thus the "dark side" emerges upon how I use it? otherwise its just that, the force?

Star Forge wrote:

tzb wrote: The dark/light dichotomy, like all others, is an illusion.

The Force is grey to its core. Unity - One, not Two.

This, and Goken's response, pretty much sum up what I believe.

There is no duality in the Force. I would describe it by saying that the Force is "good," as we would describe it, and that evil is an artificial condition fostered within sentience. I might would describe it by saying that "dark" and "light" are the Force's reflection on the individual, rather than aspects or polarities of the Force.

The universe never makes anything in one's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MBzv85rwxc

Just one of anything wood extremely boring, and that's possibly the best case scenario.

Let the hate flow through you...

Zhaerys wrote:

Goken wrote: There is no Dark Side to the Force, only to the individual. We all have one in us. There is a saying about there being two wolves in everyone, a light and a dark. The one that becomes the strongest is the one we feed the most.

So The Force is universal entity/connection, I Choose to manipulate "those" energies, thus the "dark side" emerges upon how I use it? otherwise its just that, the force?

The way I see it, yes. Take a hammer for example. The hammer is a tool, it's a thing. It has no inherent properties of good or evil. It can be used to build a lovely home or it can be used to take a life. It's all in the wielder, not in what is being wielded.

To me the Dark side is one side of the spectrum of good and bad choices. On the opposite side is the light side and in the middle is neutral. To determine what belongs where I look at whether the action or choice is causing harm to people "Dark Side", doesn't make a difference "Neutral", or creates healing / promotes positive growth "Light Side". Of course many of those things are subjective and I know the world will never be able to look through a fully objective lens but that's how I define it. Certain emotions like jealousy I believe to be connected to the dark side since it can lead to you making those choices that harm people. Great question by the way lots of interesting answers here.

With all do respect, Connor L.,

You wrote:

The Darkness is the origin of all things. It's an old, powerful stillness that has much to teach us. But, when people try and manipulate the darkness by making it "ours", that lust destroys us because we are children of the Light.

If The Darkness is the origin of all things, (the universe and everything in it, especially humanity) how could we (human beings) and even more so for the Jedi, we could saying at the same time we are children of the Light?

In other terms: how the Darkness could produce what is "bright", and ultimately the Light?

I just want to be sure I understand well.

MTFBWY

To be honest, I don't know. hahah.

I would not listen to anybody who tells me they truly understand the origin of all things.

All I know (besides nothing), is that Darkness is the origin of all things. Before there was light, there was darkness. And, before Darkness, light. And, before Light, darkness. And, so on through the eons.

How CAN the darkness produce light? If we truly understood that, then there would be no question as to the origins of the universe. Scientists and religious people have debated this for a very long time. If you come up with the answer, please let me know.

In all simpleness, this is just my belief. Out of nothing came something. But, there was probably something else before that.