So have I seen:
Now and again, the odd seeker shows up and asks, “What is the Force?” Answers fly like dust in a storm.
We are told that the great spiritual questions of our age have simple answers. Here is mine.
“No.”
But allow me to give you a more thoughtful and substantial response: I can’t tell you. More to the point, I won’t. No one in the Clergy will.
We never will.
It is not because we do not know. We might know. We might be wrong. Or there might be many right answers. But hear me out: that is not really the point.
It might be because those things are personal, but that is not why either. And it is not because we do not want to scare people away or offend them. While we do leave room for many visions, that is the effect rather than the cause.
And we are not holding back on answers because it is a secret. The Force may very well be mysterious, but it is not a secret. Do not wait for the secret teaching at this milestone or that.
Is there one true, encompassing explanation that describes and contains the Force, some equation or poem that will bring clarity? If there were, we would not teach it. The reason why is quite simple: Telling you would not help you.
The received answer will never be as meaningful as the direct, personal experience. It will leave no mark.
Instead, the Clergy will admonish you: Go and Seek! Seek in the wilderness. Seek in conflict and in the forging of peace. Seek in the books and old stories. Seek with your sisters and brothers. Seek with your Master. Seek alone. Seek in those undiscovered places. All of it, everywhere. Spare yourself nothing.
That is what we ask. It is the entire orientation of our Clergy.
I do not want you to simply receive an answer. You are capable of more. You deserve better than that.
Listen for clues here and there if they spur you on your journey. But if you are waiting for an answer so that you can stop your search, you do yourself a disservice. That answer would be as Death to your Path, even if it were the pure truth.
Here, I draw your attention to the words of Zen Master Matsuo Basho:
'Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; rather, seek what they sought.'
A more difficult task, certainly. But you will have help.
An Initiate Program will help you structure your inquiry and help you find both common ground and a common tongue with those who would journey beside you. An apprenticeship will, we hope, help you see yourself and bravely face all things within, making your peace there. It will train you to respond to the world in a way that is constructive and valuable. And, once that part is finished, if you have a lick of wisdom, you will realize you are only now ready to begin in earnest. And you will seek. Guides will point to undiscovered corners, but you will walk there. Or you will not.
And if you find a metaphor that serves you, cherish it until is stops serving you. On that day, gently set it down. And if you find a moment where all things become clear, accept it. Turn it over in your heart and decide if it satisfies. If it does not, treat it as a lesson. If it does, do not assume that it is a complete truth. Love it as a lesson and keep your focus.
So, we hand out no answers, only tools for that grand pursuit: to experience the Force, the world, and your role in it personally and directly.
What is the Force?
I cannot tell you. You Path, your work as a Jedi, is too important to me. I can only tell you this: Go and seek for yourself, bravely and tirelessly. Experience for yourself, or fall trying. The journey will make you kind and strong.
And help your brothers and sisters along the way.
The Force is with us.
