Adoption and the Myths of Star Wars

Eqin, I love what you said about it just recognizing something that already is. I tell people sometimes that I only find things when I stop looking because it's almost like they find me. In many churches, that's how they talk about a call to ministry of some kind. It isn't something asked for, it is just what feels right, what makes sense. To seek out the ministry of to not find it. To listen for a call is to not hear it. Calls have to emerge on their own, often out of terrible situations.

In Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus mentioned that while Sisyphus may need to push the boulder up the mountain for eternity, each sparkle in the moonlight is enough to be an entire world. The sparkle has always been there. So had the boulder. Noticing the sparkle doesn't get rid of the boulder. But it does allow the boulder to take on a new meaning. It may not be the messing we thought. It may not be the meaning we want. But it is the meaning that comes out if where we are, almost taking for us to see the beauty in what is there and take it in.

I've thought of that passage from Camus in terms of pain, suffering, grief. Casting questions into a vast cold universe never to get an answer: the absurd. It is my coping passage for so much. But I don't think I'd have put that passage here in this context. And I'm not sure if have ever thought about it that way. Being called into a family, an identity. Not choosing, not seeking. Simply allowing myself to be called into where I can't help but be and owning that place as where I need to be. I need to see the sparkle in the moonlight, in all its glory, and let it be a universe if only just for me.

Thank you for that redirect. It brought me down since really wonderful thoughts

That is beautiful! I'm honored to have been able to help. You found so much more meaning than I could possibly have intended, and in sharing, are inspiring me as well. You've given me a lot to reflect on just now. Sorry to be so vague, but I do not know yet how to share it well. Thank you!

Thank you for the beautiful post.

I think one of the greatest things about being a Jedi is our INSPIRATIONS.

Luke and Rey are both well-written characters that express a lot of the heart and soul of the human experience. And we're supposed to learn from them just like other cultures learned from their mythical gods and spirits who had their own stories. Having this inspiration is such a benefit because it gives you an extra layer of insight into what it means to be a Jedi.

Luke, for me, represents that reluctant hero who gets sucked into his destiny but cannot avoid it. Time and destiny flow like running water, carrying us all in its stream. It guides us and pulls us. But we also make decisions as part of our journey and those decisions create that flow for others.  Luke in the shadow of Anakin who gets to choose to be his own person... choose not to follow the footsteps of his father and even to try and redeem his father by forging a new path with better footsteps.

But as the fans started to feel like the only names in the galaxy that could be important enough to warrant a movie were "Skywalkers"... I think it was an important decision to give us someone to adjust our patriarchal structure by upsetting that norm and causing fans to either reboot or update. What makes you special is not where you come from but where you're going; is what Rey seems to suggest. She's like a ray of light but from which star?

The fact that we even ask says a lot; unsatisfied with her even though she is more than enough and proves it throughout her story arc.

And in both cases there are religious references back to messianic figures. The bible is the easiest example. Even though JC is given regular human parents (Joseph & Miriam) this was not enough and people wanted to elevate him to be the actual literal "God the son". Again, this says more about us and how we value a person than it does about the person themselves and what they can accomplish. Even she was in doubt because of her origins. "Who am I?" "Who am I to do this great thing that's in my path?" 

And the reality is... that by being INSPIRED... whether that inspiration is real or imagined... a little bit of that inspiration lives inside us; inside our hearts. And the more we believe (in ourselves) and keep 'that' faith, the more that our heroes live again and again through us. And to me, that is a beautiful thing.

note: Rey's mom Miramir is probably a not so subtle reference to Yeshua's (JC's) mom Miriam (Mary)

While I am not a true adoptee, my parents are my biological parents, I feel that I am a spiritual adoptee. Both of my parents are hardline far right Christians and its incredibly difficult to talk about spiritual matters with them as they will only have one book that they even attempt to talk from. Neither of them have lifted their bibles in some time. I see this from the dust on them on the shelves at their house. In this sense, I was a spiritual orphan for the better part of the last three years. I tried a few others, one is Norse Paganism and I do still follow that path, but this path has been the one where I feel the most connected with everyone. The discords are fantastic, the spiritual path itself is where I feel like I am mentally and its helping me be a better person. Not to knock the Vikings but they weren't exactly peace keepers. 

I can completely understand the need to try to find your place in all of this. My formative years was filled with belonging to a space where I never felt like I belonged. Could I go back and profess my undying devotion to the old religion? Yes. Would it be genuine? No. I would feel like I was living a lie for the rest of my life and that's something that I cannot do. The Jedi path has opened my eyes up to many different viewpoints from all over the world and I'm just on Mythology lesson 3. I'm hoping that my continuing journey will be even more illuminating. I thank all of you in this forum for your continued support and I just hope that I am able to be a good Jedi when its all said and done.