For all those who still did not understand what is the dark side

It is unfortunate that all that is evil is featured with black color, for evil does not choose color and even philosophy. For all those who think we Jedi oppose the Sith, here's what I really think about that side, not the side of the Sith, but the real bad side.
It is not a vision of divergence as we have with the Sith, it is only views and ways of looking at different life, the real enemy we face is segregation and discrimination, whatever it may be, gender, Ethnicity , sexual orientation does not matter.
I am Brazilian, but I will quote here one an American brother speech that said:
"A house divided against itself can not stand"
If this is true because the people of Earth have to have so many segregations, so much discrimination. Perhaps my revolt is late, but it is rooted not only because of these protest about Star Wars, but because it happens everywhere on many levels, in many ways and I'm sick of this shit.
We all understand that we are children of the same mother, it is called Earth, and no matter what our flag, our anthem or our skin color, our sexual orientation, our religion; we are all brothers and we're all Jedi, peacekeepers, justice, equality and love.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/19/racists-urge-boycott-of-star-wars-episode-vii-over-black-lead-and-most-of-them-love-trump.html

i agree that discrimination is "a real enemy"

i dont think its the only one

also i have a sense that discrimination and segregation are the symptoms of a deeper issue

which we can link to fear, the desire for superiority, and an underlying urge to lash out at others

these are the things i always considered to be "the dark side"

i probably felt that way because thats exactly what was said in the movies - "fear, aggression, the dark side"

ive come to understand that people have come to other interpretations on what "dark side" means, and im not going to argue

what i will stand behind is that fear, selfishness, the urge to lash out at others, and a desire to degrade and control others, are all contrary to what i belive are the ideals of a jedi, counter productive to society, and are often suggestive of areas where we would benefit from learning new skills in handling emotions and dealing with peers

im not concerned about names or categories anymore, if someone wants to self identify as this or as that or as the other then more power to you

Only the intent of what we do makes something good or evil, until then, there is only balance.

i guess that what i believe is that a lot of the things that people do which would be considered "dark" happen because they are not balanced themselves

i dont see "light" as being on the extreme end of the spectrum - rather the ideals of "light" are the natural consequence of a healthy person who values others and handles their lives and emotions with thoughtfulness, maturity, and perspective

or in other words, a BALANCED person

an example of what i mean would be the balance between self interest and selfishness

a person who isnt balanced will either be an exploitable "people pleaser", on one end, because they cannot assert their own self interest, or would be a manipulator/bully on the other end, because they dont have regard for the boundaries and worth of others

both ends of this spectrum are equally "dark" by my understanding and both come from imbalance

being "nice" to people because you havent developed the discipline to stay true to what is right for yourself does not count as being "light", it counts as being "afraid"

and of course being a tyrant, even a small one, from what ive seen it always goes back to the same things - insecurity and resentment: fear and anger

these things are not balanced and are proven to be unhealthy

now, i didnt read much of the EU - i saw the movies and that was it, and really just the first three movies (the ones with harrison ford and mark hamill) and so to my mind "the dark side" has always been the emperor and his storm troopers with vader as his general, seeking to dominate the galaxy and subjugate those less powerful than themselves

when i saw that people were actually self identifying as sith and dark siders, my thought was that it was either a very shallow "i root for the bad guy because im so dark and complex" kind of thing thats more to do with self image and ego than with a real sense of what actually works on the path of becoming a "better" version of oneself, OR that it was people who really are completely selfish at heart and want to justify why its ok that they treat people like crap to get what they want - which again is not balanced at all, and also has a way of back firing, big time

at this point i realize that its not fair or appropriate for me to hold on to my assumptions about what others mean when they call themselves "sith" or "dark" or "dr spunk-monkey" or whatever, and thats why ive asked "what do you mean - what is "dark side anyway?"

the result of that inquiry has been that i am less critical of the terms that people use to identify with - i simply promote the ideas that i think have the "best" results and respect everyone elses right to do the same

This is what I've noticed over the years imo, the vast majority of individuals who come out publicly stating that their curious about the Dark side, is not nearly as much to do with curiosity as it has to do with some need to size people up, box and label so they then can further their self righteous quest to pass judgment on others in order to feed their huge ego's.

Something that I hold value in life may translate to something entirely different to someone else, hell, I may not be the same thing mentioned but a creative play on words. People want universal truth, and there is no such a thing in existence. They want it just the same, and if you threaten their perspective concerning this "universal truth" you become their next target.

Your wrong, I'm right. Your wrong is my right, and so I must wage my little war against you, for whatever reason.

That's not the Darkside, that's just sheer Insanity, but I digress, imo...

There is no "light" or "dark". There is only your perspective. "Rebels" are just as easily called "terrorists" depending on who you ask. It's easy to point to a movie and say this guy is "evil" because the character was written that way on purpose. That kind of symbolism does not apply to actual life.

As we've seen recently in the U.S., it's very popular to call law enforcement the "enemy". That is, until they rescue a baby, and then they are a "hero". Again, it all depends on the individuals perspective and their experience with law enforcement.

Put it back in the fictional galaxy far far away and I can say that Darth Maul never did anything to me, so who am I to call him "dark"? Maybe the Empire gave my dad a job waxing floors on a star destroyer. Sounds like a good deal to me. It feeds our family. Until the rebels blow up the star destroyer and kill my dad. Now they sound like "terrorists" to me.

If we treat people the way we wish to be treated, we don't need the labels. Just don't be an a-hole and it won't matter what shade you say you are.

And for the record, I'm on the brownish-pink side. :laugh:

The question is not about what is good or bad, but what is constructive or destructive. Example of Dark Maul, he wants to favor the interests of Papatine and that wants to take the universe to a military totalitarianism, rule by force, it is not good regardless of the perspective. One point of view is interesting only if it is leading somewhere, even though Jedi or Sith, some things are paramount, such as freedom, justice and equality; if these principles fail, what next is only pain, suffering and tyranny. Just as examples of films 4-6 of Star Wars or any war where we tried to take power; just designing what would happen if a lunatic took power. Discrimination in any form is bad, there is no balance in these attitudes, it does not tend to one side or another, but breaking the order of things as well as many others. For example, there are two sides when you kill someone? No, there is not because you broke the harmony of things, stopped a life, destroyed your side of the story.

Zenchi wrote: This is what I've noticed over the years imo, the vast majority of individuals who come out publicly stating that their curious about the Dark side, is not nearly as much to do with curiosity as it has to do with some need to size people up, box and label so they then can further their self righteous quest to pass judgment on others in order to feed their huge ego's.

Something that I hold value in life may translate to something entirely different to someone else, hell, I may not be the same thing mentioned but a creative play on words. People want universal truth, and there is no such a thing in existence. They want it just the same, and if you threaten their perspective concerning this "universal truth" you become their next target.

Your wrong, I'm right. Your wrong is my right, and so I must wage my little war against you, for whatever reason.

That's not the Darkside, that's just sheer Insanity, but I digress, imo...

ive seen what you describe and yes youre right to great extent

i myself had a higher degree of assumption than is fair, and im sometimes not as thoughtful in how i address other people as i should be, or at least not as thoughtful as i COULD be, and this makes things more difficult

i fully acknowledge my own part in that

this being said - i have made sincere inquiry into the topic on several occasions and to date there has been ONE "dark sider" who has been even a little bit helpful from my perspective - thats Khaos, and what he did was give me alink to some other material so that i could go through it at my convenience

other than this, the responses ive gotten have either been so metaphysically abstract that they may as well be meaningless for me personally

or else dismissive dodges like "oh youre just looking for a bad guy and thats why i wont answer any of your questions"
or "theres so much to the topic that i cant be bothered spending the time to answer what youre asking me"

now im not saying this to attack anyone
im doing my best to express the idea that sometimes people will be open to what you have to say, IF what you have to say really adds up - from this perspective i would suggest that the only "boxes" anyone has to worry about are the ones they actually fit into

i dont know how this comes across - i dont resent you Zenchi despite some of the words weve had, and for that matter i dont resent anyone else here at the temple either - i would like to be an example of how to respectfully disagree with others when there is a disagreement on an issue, and beyond that of how to just generally be a positive influence overall

to that effect i want to respond to this also:

Senan wrote: There is no "light" or "dark". There is only your perspective. "Rebels" are just as easily called "terrorists" depending on who you ask. It's easy to point to a movie and say this guy is "evil" because the character was written that way on purpose. That kind of symbolism does not apply to actual life.

As we've seen recently in the U.S., it's very popular to call law enforcement the "enemy". That is, until they rescue a baby, and then they are a "hero". Again, it all depends on the individuals perspective and their experience with law enforcement.

Put it back in the fictional galaxy far far away and I can say that Darth Maul never did anything to me, so who am I to call him "dark"? Maybe the Empire gave my dad a job waxing floors on a star destroyer. Sounds like a good deal to me. It feeds our family. Until the rebels blow up the star destroyer and kill my dad. Now they sound like "terrorists" to me.

If we treat people the way we wish to be treated, we don't need the labels. Just don't be an a-hole and it won't matter what shade you say you are.

And for the record, I'm on the brownish-pink side. :laugh:

MrBruno responded really well overall but i want to address some specifics

there IS a difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter - though there has been plenty of overlap for sure, and if youre a government being attacked by a freedom fighter, no doubt youre going to call them terrorists

international law has a difficult time setting a strict definition for terrorism because basically all of our governments have committed and sponsored terrorist attacks and theres no honest definition that can be agreed on that wouldnt convict somebody

but its understood and accepted that terrorists are people who deliberately target civilians and non combatants (like the empire does in SW) in order to intimidate and - well - terrorize a population into submission or action

its actually pretty common for an interested third party (like the U.S. or U.K. or China, as examples) to support terrorists in their activities for any number of reasons

which is imo why certain people like to throw this idea around that the only difference between them is "perspective", which sounds very wise and enlightened maybe but isnt really TRUE

its not plausible to suggest that a war time attack on anything with a name like "start destroyer" or "DEATH STAR" is the same as a TERRORIST attack

if i sign up to sweep the floor on a floating battle station that incinerates entire planets, then i am a military target - and actually, as an american, who has some freedom to choose, i see this as having chosen a side, the wrong side, and im sorry that someones dad died because he was helping the empire reign terror on the galaxy but im MORE sorry that the empire is reigning TERROR on the galaxy

a real world comparison is nazi germany

hitler never did anything to me personally, but he was definitely a BAD GUY

theres no perspective that makes the nazi movement "OK"

when people see "law enforcement" as "heroes" for saving a baby, it is because saving babies is a heroic thing to do

when i learn that american cops kill more people in one day than norway cops have in nine years it is only natural AND CORRECT to conclude that american cops are doing something wrong

does this make every single american police officer "evil"? of course not
i really want to root for our police - i want them to be the defenders of the weak the just and the innocent that they are supposed to be, and im willing to acknowledge when they are

but there is a miscalculation at a fundamental level with our leos and pretending that its all just perspective is one of the reasons this problem still exists

anyway i do agree that we should treat each other as we want to be treated and i would say if i am a color its probably tie-dye

or "psychedelic" lol

this being said - i have made sincere inquiry into the topic on several occasions and to date there has been ONE "dark sider" who has been even a little bit helpful from my perspective - thats Khaos, and what he did was give me alink to some other material so that i could go through it at my convenience

I assume that if you want to go any deeper, or have any questions you will send a PM. I simply think a link to some material(s) is good starting point, because from my perspective, I cannot consolidate almost 2 decades into one succinct post.

I can be bothered to spend the time, but I expect no less from you or others in that regard.

In regards to the Dark path, I do not need to prove anything. If, at the end of the day, you dont feel I am Dark or dont understand this or that, I will not lose sleep over it.

Just as the universe is under no obligation to make sense to you, neither am I, however, for the serious minded, I am willing to try.

You can use any example you want, whether it is Hitler or Darth Vader. In PERSPECTIVE after the fact, we agree that Hitler was evil. If you lived in Germany in 1935 post WWI poverty, you would disagree. The majority ELECTED him. Because from their PERSPECTIVE it was right at the time.

American revolutionaries were terrorists from the PERSPECTIVE of the British at the time. It doesn't matter if others thought differently. It is always entirely dependent on an individual's ability to judge at that moment. If they had lost, history would likely paint them in a negative way. Would dropping two atomic weapons on civilian populations make Truman a follower of the "dark side"? Still depends...

It is why I firmly believe in living right now. History will judge us all. The best that can be expected of any Jedi is to knowingly do no harm and be an instrument of peace. You still may not end up being on the side of "light".

What doesn't depend on perspective is the universe's natural tendency toward balance. The Force does not interest itself with good and evil; dark and light. Expressions of the Force will emerge and return. How you judge them is just that, judgmental.