Angry Insider rant about how the force balances itself

ZealotX wrote: The balance as it relates to life and death is that an old man or lady dies and a new boy or girl is born.

The population would stay the same, forever.

So there's already a cycle there. One doesn't have to die a certain way just as one doesn't have to live a certain way. The way you live is a balance of your decisions and your environment. The way you die, same thing.

I can agree with that

The Force is also unstable and imbalanced by its very nature.

For me, personally; the way that i see the Force is that theres only a small portion of it that is comprehensible. The rest is beyond our ability to understand. Its beyond the perceptual and computational capacities of our hardware aka our physiology. For me, personally, theres no way to know enough about the Force to decide if its balanced or unbalanced or why. Like presenting a bird with a physics equation.

The pendulum is always moving as the universal equation is always trying to balance itself. It does this through us and without us. Some ladies don't die crossing the street. Some babies are never born. Interceding on behalf of an old person is the same as a parent saving the life or a baby. And sometimes babies die from SIDS and sometimes old people survive heart attacks. There's no 1:1 because the universe isn't balanced. There's not an equal amount of matter and antimatter.

But balance paints in broad strokes. It simply depends on the equation; how it will balance itself.

Fair enough. Homeostasis seems relevant here, too.

I think this whole discussion hinges on us taking the creator of Jar Jar seriously. That first thing prinze said: "it's a kid's show" might be painfully accurate, and we might be reading too deeply into the juvenile fiction

My interest in Star Wars canon never went far beyond the universal archetypes it shares with other myths... but I had no idea the canon interpretation of Balance in the Force was so... simplistic. Does this mean that, through all the movies, there is an equal amount of Sith and Jedi present in the galaxy? It seems awfully imbalanced during the prequels. It's fine for fiction but I hope people aren't applying this 1:1 ratio to real life. It's funny to joke about old lady quotas but some people really see human suffering, disease, and war as essential to the "balance" of life.

'Balancing the force" was such a big theme of the movies but I don't think I have ever mentioned it here, and I don't think few members ever have (but I haven't witnessed much in my 4+ years). I like to say that balance has nothing to do with the force and everything to do with our relationship to it, but that is a flowery definition that lacks teeth. Then again, most of what I say lacks teeth.

Sentences are simplified constructs, partial maps of meaning.... wisdom is filling the blank spaces and understanding the bigger picture. Syncretism is a fun way to blend lots of ingrwdients in this constructive way to make a better tasting soup. Folk who swallow the koolaid whole in its little plastic cup (and take things literally in these regards) are just fans wanting more candy, and if they push it too far are in effect acting delusional, but fiction is a pretty safe space to have fun with bizarre I guess. Of course it can go the other way too, with folk building delusional depth.... either way what makes something delusional is asserting truth where it doesn't belng, and I guess that can happen onto objective reality, social consensus, or fictional universes!

But I think SW is made for all ages, which means kids too, they just see the superficial literal fun and silliness, while adults read in the bigger picture over and above that vehicle of simplistic superficiality. To me, I think balance is a system term and does jot apply to the Force, but rather systems within the Force.... like me, you and other sentient things, and of relevance to those things balance has bearing to connecting outside that system to the broader Force, hence why it is relevant to Jedi.

But. I think one must understand the system first, and when it's systems of systems the awareness to be meaningful probably needs to respect the functional parameters of them as architecture and health, and not muddle different bits and pieces to prop up any particular convenient self denial. Simple things are easy to balance, but complex things need a bit more care IMO.

Rex wrote: I think this whole discussion hinges on us taking the creator of Jar Jar seriously. That first thing prinze said: "it's a kid's show" might be painfully accurate, and we might be reading too deeply into the juvenile fiction

I would take the whole "for kids" thing with a grain of salt. Let's keep in mind that Disney hasn't always owned Star Wars. When I was really young I remember being taken over a friends house because our parents were friends and us kids had to stay in the basement while our parents were watching Star Wars. I remember getting a peek at Darth Vader but it wasn't until later that I got to see it.

I think kids were more so an add on to the original audience. They saw the glowing swords and instantly thought it was cool. However, most of the extreme violence kids were exposed to back then was cartoon violence. Who would ever expect a child to sit still through a live action movie that had literally about 5 minutes of light saber time?

No, I had more GI Joe action figures than star wars toys and I remember when an older friend of my kid self had a millennium falcon and I was super jealous. But I remember it being expensive and he was probably 16-18.

When the mouse house bought star wars I'm sure they were mostly thinking about all the merchandise they could sell. Star Wars became more than a movie trilogy. And generations of people were already into it. So if they could do the same thing, I'm sure they believed they could get new generations into it. That doesn't mean they weren't thinking about the older fans. I think they just wanted to give a younger generation what they had when they were young. And of course for those lucky parents who can share more of their star wars interest with their kids... there's that too.

Young Anakin was definitely for kids. Teenage Anakin was for teenagers. Rey is for young women. You can pretty much look at the age of the hero to see the target age and gender Disney is going after. Finn includes black people like Billy Dee WIlliams did in the originals. It's about inclusion but I don't necessarily think Rey's gender is ever a central part of the story. Rey just happens to be a girl for the sake of the current zeitgeist. So even saying they made Rey "for girls" doesn't make the story "for girls". It's still a Star Wars story. So I think likewise, the inclusion of children, for children, doesn't make the story a children's tale. It's simply meant to include them so that they'll be more engaged so that they can grow up with Star Wars the same way we did.

And that's hard to do if you get sick of it once you hit puberty. My kids are over My Little Pony now. I don't think they mean for kids to grow out of star wars the same way by creating content that would "ONLY" appeal to that age group. Star Wars is universal. And the story, like the bible, is inclusive and can be enjoyed by all kinds of people. Children may read little picture bibles of Noah and the ark and grow into other stories with more adult themes. Star Wars is the same way because the overall premise is the same. It's the eternal struggle between good and evil and the hero's journey crossing the line between. It's for kids. But its not "just" for kids.

Introduction to myth or beginners guide to the myth I think is the idea that can be placed in as well as - these are baby story’s .
There is a beginning to everything. Where and how we are introduced can be the same for some or we can come from already grown knowledge of it.
Real life Example :

There is a church in Texas. They have missionary’s each year and take on more and more and as many as they possibly can. They go door to door and invite people after 50 years ... they still do it today. People stay there for about 2-5 years then pick a denomination and move on.
You could say they church is on fire for their faith. You could say it’s a oasis for the beginners. You could say after a while - people need more than just the begging stuff. Some need growth in different areas and some just wanna make a place like that their home. Some need the basics reminded often some don’t some grow in different directions.
Maybe some organizations are for introductions and some for specifics. Maybe some things are entry level some arnt. Something to think about.


Edit : don’t let Freddy hurt your feelings. Lol joking of course. After all - in context it’s a comedy skit ... it’s a comedy routine to make people laugh - - syndicated comedy- good stuff but still funny. What a guy - now he’s on the internet doing what his daddy was doing. Anybone see FP Sr ‘s ghost glowing blue behind J.R.? I do - Any how good stuff - hands down.