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.