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The Nature of the Force


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Everyone knows what the Force is capable of. Healing, damage, destruction, creation, & so forth. Some Force users have even been known in legend to be capable of creating Lightsaber blades through the power of the Force. But what is the true Nature of the Force? Is there a Light Side & Dark Side to it? Or is it more simple than that?

 

On one hand, there is the Light Side. The side of healing, of peace, tranquility, & good deeds. But even then, it can be used to cause harm, to destroy things or defeat enemies. Though because of the Light Side's biased morals & teachings, it is also viewed, when being taught, as the more strict & restrictive religion. For some, they take it so far as to believe rash & naive things.

 

Satele Shan for example - in short, she believes that if someone or something is capable of using the Force, but it is just of the Jedi, then it is evil. Surely a belief such as this is foolish & harshly judgmental. The Voss are a perfect example - their Mystics use the Force, & powers even beyond it, so that they might perform their healings & visions. Though just because the Voss already have their Utopia & their way of life, & just because they want nothing to do with the Republic (or the Empire for that matter) does not make them evil.

 

The Dark Side - powers of the Force, that in the words of one who mastered it, some consider to be unnatural. Power in the raw, drawing from the emotion & passions of the user, & twisted into damaging creations which symbolize fear, domination, strength, & so on. Though even at that, the users of the Dark Side can heal, they can create, they can do beautiful things, just as the Light Side does, & just as the Light Side can destroy.

 

 

But does the Force truly have a Light Side or a Dark Side - does the Force ~want to have a side? People constantly speak of the Nature of the Force, but do they truly know what they mean when they say that? My best argument for this would come from Darth Traya, AKA Kreia, & when she taught Meetra Surik, the Jedi Exile, the ways of the Force.

 

Throughout their long endeavors across the galaxy, Kreia did her best to teach Meetra that the Force has no bias towards the Light or the Dark. The Force lives, & it desires to be used as a neutral power, not focusing towards one aspect or another. The Light Side restricts the Force to use only certain aspects, & the Dark Side uses the Force to create horrible & devastating powers, the Thought Bomb being a prime example. Kreia used the Force as a neutral power - she could use it to Heal or assist in ways of the Light Side, or destroy & annihilate in ways of the Dark Side. But to her, there is no Light or Dark for it. The Force simply is - it exists as a being which binds all life & powers together, & it can be wielded to do a great many things. Though, because the Force does live, it has its desires, & the greatest of all, is that the Force wishes to be used as it is naturally. A force with no side, a power with no bias, & a being without cause, until given one by the user.

 

Why then, do so few practice this method? The answer is simple - look at what it does to the user if wielded improperly. Darth Traya, Darth Nihilus, Darth Sion, Revan, Meetra. The mysteries of the Force shroud its true power so deeply, that even when tapped into just a trifle amount, it can overwhelm & decay everything, destroying unworthy or unprepared users completely.

 

So what is the true Nature of the Force? If you ask me, in short, the Force desires to have a purpose, & so the user must give it purpose, utilizing biases from neither the Light or the Dark, though even the intention may be, the power itself is derived from the Middle Way, from the Force in its most natural & untainted state.

 

What does the Community think of the Force's true nature? =]

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I believe it's a bit more complicated than that, there are pockets of Darkside corruption on planets, like the one Yoda sent Luke into in The Empire Strikes Back, these exist independent of a Force user, and indeed corrupt wildlife. If a Lightsided Force user uses the Force inside one of these Darkside he feels the Darkside corruption, and can eventually be corrupted by them.

 

Which is why Jedi used to stand watch over them, and even slowly destroy them, Nomi Sunrider was briefly under a Master who had banished the majority of one of these Darkside zone into a lake (it had covered most of the planet, and the Lake was it's origin point).

 

In the majority of the universe though, it's down to how the user uses the Force that determines whether it's lightside or dark.

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Oh of course. There is no denying that there is some entity that makes up the Dark Side & the Light Side of the Force, but from what I've gathered after all this time of Star Wars is that the Force itself desires neither side. It wishes to be kept neutral & used thusly, even though that may include powers which may be the parent of the Light or Dark.
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I believe it's a bit more complicated than that, there are pockets of Darkside corruption on planets, like the one Yoda sent Luke into in The Empire Strikes Back, these exist independent of a Force user, and indeed corrupt wildlife. If a Lightsided Force user uses the Force inside one of these Darkside he feels the Darkside corruption, and can eventually be corrupted by them.

 

Which is why Jedi used to stand watch over them, and even slowly destroy them, Nomi Sunrider was briefly under a Master who had banished the majority of one of these Darkside zone into a lake (it had covered most of the planet, and the Lake was it's origin point).

 

In the majority of the universe though, it's down to how the user uses the Force that determines whether it's lightside or dark.

 

Alex and I had a friendly debate about this and I think i have a theory to that Nexus. I think just so many things died in that cave that over time all the death corrupted that nexus in the force and turned it dark. I think the force merely reflects what happens in nature. Cause if we look at nature, there are things that may appear dark, but it's simply nature.

 

I think this carries over into the force. Again I think the overall force, is just that a part of nature neither good nor evil. I think it comes down the person and what they use to access the force that creates the light/dark side.

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Alex and I had a friendly debate about this and I think i have a theory to that Nexus. I think just so many things died in that cave that over time all the death corrupted that nexus in the force and turned it dark. I think the force merely reflects what happens in nature. Cause if we look at nature, there are things that may appear dark, but it's simply nature.

 

I think this carries over into the force. Again I think the overall force, is just that a part of nature neither good nor evil. I think it comes down the person and what they use to access the force that creates the light/dark side.

 

Sounds reasonable.

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I think the Force was normally what it is as the Jedi perceive it, but beings like the Rakata, the Sith species and more had corrupted the Force itself, as these beings and the places that had been corrupted are still part of the forms, over the long millennia this eventually created the Dark Side, for the Sith spirits had also become a strong driving force for the Dark Side, over such a long time, the Dark Side became a part of the Force itself.
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Wow, this topic seems to be coming up a lot recently, I may as well repost my thoughts from another thread:

 

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...this is actually an in-universe debate. Talon [and you OP] seems to believe in the Unifying Force, to quote Bariss Offee and Wookieepedia:

 

"Jedi refer to the ‘light side’ and the ‘dark side’, but really, these are only words, and the Force is beyond words. It is not evil, just as it isn’t good—it's simply what it is."

 

The concept of the Unifying Force was that the Force is a single entity and has neither a light nor a dark side. The Unifying Force was viewed as a deity that neither had sides nor chose them, treating all beings equally.

 

I agree with this belief, however I feel it can be reconciled with the notion of the Living Force, that the Force is split into two parts - light and dark - and that the light is 'good' and the dark is 'evil'.

 

For one I reject that the Force is not inherently good or evil. And I agree with Talon [and you] that ultimately the Force is just the Force, it is not divided into two parts. However the Force manifests itself in either light or dark. When a Force user draws on the Force they either do so by achieving calm and inner peace, which causes the creation of light side energies, or they do so with their emotions, which causes the creation of dark side energies. Some powers are more deeply seated in the light and dark than others, such as Force Light and Sith Sorcery, but they fall into either category.

 

Yet despite this they are drawing on a singular, neutral energy - the Force. That said if too much light is generated or too much dark, the Force becomes unbalanced.

 

So in part Talon is right, however light and dark isn't decided by your moral compass, but how you draw on it. If you destroy a person using Force lightning, which requires aggressive emotions, you are using the dark side, and that doesn't change if your hitting a droid, as long as you are still using aggressive emotions to do so.

 

So its like this, we have the Force, and we have the Force user. The Force is a neutral entity, the Force user determines whether that energy is expressed as light or dark i.e. determines the alignment. The dark side in particular can exist long after a dark sider has passed, but its like radiation, the effects linger. Yet ultimately these are just effects, they are not self-sustaining and if not sustained will eventually fade.

 

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To add to this, I'm not entirely sure if its possible to draw on the Force 'neutrally', I think you either have to be drawing on an inner serentiy, or your inner emotions. Kreia's use of the Force raises an interesting question as I can't quite pinpoint which she would have used. She seems very calm and centered, and never encourages the the Exile to use the dark side. Yet she wields dark side powers. If I were to hazard a guess I'd say she uses both - but yoyo's between the two depending on which best suits the situation.

Edited by Beniboybling
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I think the Force was normally what it is as the Jedi perceive it, but beings like the Rakata, the Sith species and more had corrupted the Force itself, as these beings and the places that had been corrupted are still part of the forms, over the long millennia this eventually created the Dark Side, for the Sith spirits had also become a strong driving force for the Dark Side, over such a long time, the Dark Side became a part of the Force itself.
I would disagree, in part. I think 'in the beginning' there was only the Force - and that both the light side and the dark side manifested themselves with the birth of the Ones.

 

The Ones were Celestials who discovered how to use the Force and originally were just Force sensitives with no actual alignment, however the Son drank from the Font of Power and the Daughter bathed in the Pool of Knowledge giving them the powers of the dark side and the light side respectively. Basically they were the first to make the Force manifest itself as light and dark energies. But I still believe the Force is inherently neutral and beyond light and dark.

 

Which raises another question, was the Father a light sider or a dark sider? He seemed neither. So does that mean one can draw on the Force without creating light or dark energy? Does that mean you can be grey?

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A few additional thoughts on this:

 

The Force is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together, right? Its deeply connected to life itself, so it stands to reason that it would be deeply affected by the mental state of those who use it. Emotions must have a profound impact on the Force, as must a state of inner peace. Essentially the mindset of a Force user leaves an imprint on the Force itself, and that imprint is either light or dark.

 

I feel this would explain why its impossible to simply be grey and just draw on the Force, to not have an alignment. I mean try and clear your mind of everything, all your emotions, even a state of calm. Its impossible. At least for a mortal being. Perhaps by being immortal, by being a Celestial i.e. the Ones one is able to draw on the Force without leaving an imprint on it. Which in turn is why its perhaps possible for the Father to be neutral.

 

One things for sure, this topic is fascinating.

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The Ones are impossible to reconcile with the Force, because the Ones are literally manifestations of it, but only one set of manifestations, there have been others, many others that have appeared through time besides them, I stand by the clear evidence that the Dark Side was created in the beginning by the mass usage of hate and anger, by mass killings committed with it's power, this was mirrored in the Force and manifested as the Dark Side itself.

 

Taking into account beings like the Celestials and others muddies the waters far too much.

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The Force is simply a white light. The Force user or nexus is simply a lens that reflects, refracts and filters that light and we see light and dark side in the colours and patterns that result from the lens. The light is always the same.
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The Ones are impossible to reconcile with the Force, because the Ones are literally manifestations of it, but only one set of manifestations, there have been others, many others that have appeared through time besides them, I stand by the clear evidence that the Dark Side was created in the beginning by the mass usage of hate and anger, by mass killings committed with it's power, this was mirrored in the Force and manifested as the Dark Side itself.

 

Taking into account beings like the Celestials and others muddies the waters far too much.

Clear evidence? The Ones came before the Rakata, the Son used the dark side, therefore the Rakata cannot have created the dark side of the Force by corrupting it - its simply impossible. And as far as I'm aware they are unique.

 

But surely by being literal manifestations of the Force makes them closest to its nature?

 

Regardless, the Ones are the first recorded Force users in galactic history. And given that the Celestials are pretty much the first sentient species, and more importantly theorised by the Jedi and the Sith to be in control of the balance between light and dark, coupled with the fact that the Ones are a George Lucas creation makes them impossible to ignore. Whether they muddy the waters or not is irrelevant, they happened.

 

That said I don't really see your point, the Ones are a pretty clear cut metaphor for the Force itself - which clearly states that the Force requires balance between light and dark. If the dark side was simply a corruption of the Force, why is balance required? Surely balance would be eradicating the dark side altogether.

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Oh the rainbow dudes? :D

Ben well twice now you've put it in much better and clearer terms than I ever could.

 

You nailed it spot on. But there are IMO many different ways to look at the force. Fallenassi with the White current, which if you read the books, luke thinks that is just the river flowing from the Ocean. Or the Ang Ti and the rainbow.

 

There are many disciplines that can look at how the force work.

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My biggest philosophy about the Force, in short, is that yes, there are indeed a Light & Dark side to the Force because of its usage or natural corruption in some cases. But what are the actual desires of the Force itself? For me, I believe that the Force would want to be used as an unrestricted power, without bias to the Light or Dark. How could this be possible though? Well that is the mysterious part. It's only truly been talked about with Kreia, & that is why we never see that type of Force usage anywhere else or with anyone else. It's blasphemy in terms of looking at it from the point of view of the Dark or Light, & the practice itself would be incredibly dangerous, & one might even say impossible for a mortal to comprehend or control.

 

So, in short, the Force (at least from what we know now) would be impossible to control as the Force itself desires.

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My biggest philosophy about the Force, in short, is that yes, there are indeed a Light & Dark side to the Force because of its usage or natural corruption in some cases. But what are the actual desires of the Force itself? For me, I believe that the Force would want to be used as an unrestricted power, without bias to the Light or Dark. How could this be possible though? Well that is the mysterious part. It's only truly been talked about with Kreia, & that is why we never see that type of Force usage anywhere else or with anyone else. It's blasphemy in terms of looking at it from the point of view of the Dark or Light, & the practice itself would be incredibly dangerous, & one might even say impossible for a mortal to comprehend or control.

 

So, in short, the Force (at least from what we know now) would be impossible to control as the Force itself desires.

I agree with Kreia, that the Force has a will and that will strives to keep balance between light and dark. We have several examples that point to this being the case:

 

 

  1. The great many wars that have occured between light siders and dark siders.
     
     
  2. The fact that after Sidious and Plagueis enacted a ritual that sent the Force out of balance - shifting towards the dark side - the Force struck back, creating the Chosen One, destined to restore balance to the Force.

 

But in turn the very fact that the Force has a will and seeks balance indicates that it is beyond light and dark and in fact very much a singular, neutral entity that favors neither side. Likely if the Force had its way there would be no light or dark, but the very existence of Force users means that these energies manifest themselves.

 

P.S. Like I said before this is a fascinating discussion and I always enjoy having it.

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