I've been thinking about it for a while, and I can't seem to puzzle it out myself. The Star Wars wiki says that the Light Side of the force is aligned with good, benevolence, etc. Anakin says that compassion is at the core of the Jedi code. The Dark Side is aligned with hate, malice, aggression, passion, etc. Dark Side users draw their power from those emotions. Now what puzzles me is that the Jedi don't seem to use positive emotions, such as compassion, for anything other than moral guidance. If the Jedi don't use positive emotions to use the force, how exactly is the Light Side aligned with benevolence? What exactly is the relationship between the Light Side and positive emotions/benevolence?

the jedi order is the star wars equivalent of sunday school. im not a fan of the dark side stuff, but, the way i imagine the force is that it, like anything else, requires both focus and passion to use, and the jedi and sith go too far in their respective directions as a rule. jedi would have you believe that being rude, individualistic or anything like that will inevitably make you into an evil person that enjoys slaughtering children and such. this isn't true, even in most worthwhile star wars fiction, let alone reality. the old 'slippery slope' argument has never been a good one for anything but an emotional appeal.

 

to directly address your question, i dont think there is a connection between 'goodness' and the light side, its just a no sex ed kind of philosophy- better to avoid the subject and the issues than actually understand them. that is, jedi are close minded because they, you're right, for no good reason equate 'benevolence' aka the good catholic life (no lovin, no self interest etc.) with the 'light side' as they call it, and there isnt really a tangible connection between the two. you dont have to think happy thoughts to use force push, for example, and indeed, considering that there isn't raelly anything the light side can do that the dark cant, i like to see the jedi as simply denying themselves access to some powers 'on principle', even though their premises are completely off.

Edited March 27, 2012 by LilTsar

I've been thinking about it for a while, and I can't seem to puzzle it out myself. The Star Wars wiki says that the Light Side of the force is aligned with good, benevolence, etc. Anakin says that compassion is at the core of the Jedi code. The Dark Side is aligned with hate, malice, aggression, passion, etc. Dark Side users draw their power from those emotions. Now what puzzles me is that the Jedi don't seem to use positive emotions, such as compassion, for anything other than moral guidance. If the Jedi don't use positive emotions to use the force, how exactly is the Light Side aligned with benevolence? What exactly is the relationship between the Light Side and positive emotions/benevolence?

 

The Light side of the Force is about allowing the Force to be your guide. The Dark side of the Force is about bending the Force to your will.

 

Emotions, good or bad, cloud the ability to sense the direction the Force is prodding you in.

 

Technically, there is nothing stopping a Sith using love and compassion to draw on the Dark side. It's all emotion.

As I've always interpreted is that Jedi resemble Buddhist monks more than any other earthly religion. That means that they view is that all desire leads to suffering and if you master emotion the only thing left is compassion and peace.

 

Jedi also believe in maintaining a system of power in which everyone benefits and where leaders cannot become all powerfull. To do that, they need a certain amount of power and to not become rulers themselves, as the Sith do, they try to give up all their attachments and their ego. This let's them make decision as a peace keeping force that serves purely to protect, without becoming corrupt by the lures of power.

 

I don't think that using the Force better or worse has anything to do with it, but more with the way that the Force SHOULD be used. Eventually that inner peace that they gain by mastering emotion, gives them a certain 'cool' in battle which leads to a very efficient way of using the Force.

It's a fairly common misconception that the Dark side is about hate or rage. The Dark side is about emotion.

 

The Sith code for example starts off with...

 

"Peace is a lie there is only passion."

 

In fact no where in the Sith code is hate, anger, rage, ect... mentioned, only passion. Because the dark side is about using the Force to enact your will on the galaxy. It is simply that passions such as hate and rage are easier to use.

Well, it depends on the Jedi Council of any given era. How THEY interpret the code and debate it for years determines how the code is interpreted. First off, let's look at the ORIGINAL Jedi Code.

 

Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Passion, yet serenity.

Death, yet The Force.

 

Guidelines to live by as a Jedi Knight.

 

This, in fact, is the code my Knight follows. There is no "There is no" in my philosophy when it comes to the Jedi code. Funny thing about how the stricter rules get, the more people break them out of not just defiance, but sometimes necessity. Seems to me that the same happened to the Jedi Order. The Council bans everything having to do with family, romance, attachments, etc.

 

The Jedi, for supposedly being fearless, fear emotion and passion instead of embracing them as a part of life. That right there has led to many more Jedi falling to the dark side than anything before the first revision.

 

And anyone who says a true Jedi has no darkness in them is delusional. "Nobody comes through the fire of battle unchanged."

It's a fairly common misconception that the Dark side is about hate or rage. The Dark side is about emotion.

 

The Sith code for example starts off with...

 

"Peace is a lie there is only passion."

 

In fact no where in the Sith code is hate, anger, rage, ect... mentioned, only passion. Because the dark side is about using the Force to enact your will on the galaxy. It is simply that passions such as hate and rage are easier to use.

 

First, the Sith Code is not a guide to the Dark Side any more than the Jedi Code. In fact, the Sith Code, if taken to its logical conclusion, is an internal struggle to master and better yourself.

 

The final line: The Force shall free me. This means that through the mastery of your passion, strength, power, and through victory over yourself, you will know Freedom.