AMA: Manu

When I first joined the Jedi/Force-realists community, what attracted me to the idea of a Jedi in the real world was that it emulated the hero from the original Star Wars trilogy, namely, Luke Skywalker. Phantom Menace was out already, but I never felt inspired or attracted by the stagnant Jedi Order showcased there.

In the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker as a Jedi vs. Darth Vader are offered as a metaphor of “man vs. machine”, the individual vs. the system. Similar to Mr. Anderson’s awakening as Neo in The Matrix, Luke Skywalker awakens as a Jedi and is able to go beyond the reach of the Machine (i.e. the Empire/Emperor), overcoming the final trial that Anakin Skywalker had failed before becoming Vader.

Remember, in the original trilogy we are not even introduced to the term “Sith”. Instead, Vader is always referred to as a “dark Jedi”, a fallen Jedi, one who has become corrupted to the point of his own destruction, and that is “more man than machine”. Hardly something to emulate (except maybe for the cool name and Force choke power).

Luke Skywalker’s critical victory over the Emperor is when he lets go of his need to control the outcome of the Galactic Civil War, effectively renouncing his duty to his friends (Han Solo and company), his masters (Kenobi and Yoda), and to the cause of the Rebel Alliance, and instead, choosing to stand for what his true Will was: showing his father that he was in fact, Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader.

The true victory of the Jedi is one of individuality and passion over duty.

As I participated in various Jedi forums, I realized more and more that my particular view of what the Jedi way was did not match their own. Many became tangled up on the idea of selfless duty, pacifism, utilitarianism and the greater good. These are all ideas that were sort of introduced to the original trilogy by proxy of the Jedi’s Samurai-like origin. But these ideas were really cemented into the Jedi mythos with the release of Expanded Universe books, games, and then Episodes I-III, along with that nonsense of non-attachment and midichlorians.

I may be wrong, but it is my assessment that Sithism rose, or at least gain adherents, due to this schism in the Jedi community. Much like the Swastika lost all its original meaning after it was popularized by Adolf Hitler, and is now exclusively a Nazi symbol, the “Jedi” symbol became so tainted with these ideas of selfless devotion and non-attachment, that many could no longer identify as Jedi without conveying a skewed meaning.

Now, just as the Jedi label has a tendency to attract the tree huggers and pacifists, the Sith label has a tendency to attract the angry teenagers rebelling against Christianity (much like Satanism attracts such people). At my short time at Sithism, I met more than a few that came around talking about destroying all religion, world conquest, animal sacrifice and whatnot. But looking past those people, I encountered others who were genuinely concerned with something I had been looking for in Jedi communities, and seldom did find.

They were looking for freedom through passion, a way to declare themselves as individuals unconquered by the Machine.

To me, a Jedi/Sith is someone who is able to look beyond the “programming” (norms of society, expectations of others, etc.), unlearning what has been learned (which requires destruction) to discover their true motives, their passion, their true Will, and then, pursue it, and in doing so live a life according to their own design, instead of simply being another cog in a wheel.

One afternoon, a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," said the fox.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again, the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them, but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway." Then he walked away.