For those of you who have seen the first three Star Wars movies, do you believe "The Force" (and the Jedi's relationship to it) is an accurate description of Source Energy, that which we tap into when we meditate or pray?

asked 04 Dec '09, 07:23

Vesuvius's gravatar image

Vesuvius
32.7k951201

edited 02 Feb '12, 21:17

Barry%20Allen's gravatar image

Barry Allen ♦♦
11411


Star Wars - A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back both had a profound effect on me growing up in a culture otherwise dominated by orthodox religion (of which I was not a fan, even as a child).

No, The Force is not an accurate illustration (there is no Dark Side) but it's not far off.

I think the great value of these movies (and I don't know if George Lucas deliberately had this intention) is that they have made mythology, mysticism and spirituality cool again :)

The Universal Laws never change but our human cultures do and re-inventing new ways to look at these old subjects is always to be welcomed.

By the way, I retract all my previous comments about there being no devil...the devil definitely exists and goes by the name of Jar Jar Binks ;)

link

answered 04 Dec '09, 08:07

Stingray's gravatar image

Stingray
93.6k22130370

edited 05 Dec '09, 09:04

+1 It's a good thing I wasn't drinking coffee when I read the last sentence, because I would have sprayed it all over the monitor. :)

(04 Dec '09, 08:29) Vesuvius

Do you think the Jedi powers are genuine?

(04 Dec '09, 08:30) Vesuvius

If you think about it, any thought you can imagine must be manifestable. Because any thought can focused upon in your reality and made into a dominant thought, and dominant thoughts must manifest into your physical reality eventually. So you can form your own conclusion :)

(05 Dec '09, 06:28) Stingray

Great post, @Stingray...and close to my heart; Star Wars was the first movie I ever saw and the series had a profound influence on me as well. I fully agree that the devil is Jar Jar Binks. :)

(13 Dec '12, 12:18) lozenge123

@lozenge123 - For those who wish to join the noble cause...The Death to Jar Jar Binks Home Page :)

(13 Dec '12, 12:34) Stingray

@Stingray, AWESOME. Thanks for that. Too bad it didn't "completely" sway Lucas...he still inserted a shot, I believe, of Binks at the end of Episode 3...I speculate that this was his stubborn way of thumbing his nose at the critics one last time. :)

(13 Dec '12, 12:52) lozenge123

Awh @Stingray , how could you , I LOVE goofy Jar Jar and I momentarily visited the page you indicated , what heathens abound there , lol ;-)

(14 Dec '12, 03:40) Starlight

@Starlight - Alas, I fear you have crossed to the Dark Side ;)

(14 Dec '12, 10:44) Stingray

I don't know about that , but it was certainly dark when I read this @12.23am in West Aussie ;-) Nice to see a little fun in here ♥♥♥

(14 Dec '12, 16:44) Starlight

@lozenge123 @Starlight - It was almost destined to to happen sooner or later... Gungan Style :)

(19 Dec '12, 04:54) Stingray
showing 2 of 10 show 8 more comments

I believe The Force is only one aspect of God, "God All Mighty" but what of God All Merciful, God All Knowing, God All Loving? These don't seem to exist as portrayed in Starwars it seems to just portray the Power Energy aspect of God, which that is good to recognize but God is so much more than some impersonal energy that everything is made of and is all around us. There is infinite intelligence there, love, mercy, power, all of these and more.

I believe The Source is a much better description than The Force.

link

answered 04 Dec '09, 07:56

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

Great Pun, and meaningful, too!

(04 Dec '09, 08:01) Jaianniah
1

Is this question closed? I can't answer except here as a comment. First I must point out you asked two different questions here. First the topic question compares Force to God or Spirit. But then in the body of the question you compare Force to Source Energy. These are both different things. One is the energy of God or existence while the other is much more. It is the sum of energy, intelligence, consciousness, love, peace, happiness creativity, so it is much more than just The Force.

(14 Dec '12, 01:42) Wade Casaldi

Yes, the source energy - a self-sustaining script, developed by highly intelligent alien race from another universe, from which our universe was created. Still, like a beacon of creation, sending out an encoded signal from the very beginning point of all the creativity throughout our universe, which causes its expansion and evolution.

The idea of God is but one tiny part of that script. ;>

(14 Dec '12, 02:00) CalonLan

Interesting you say God is only a part of Source Energy, I say Source Energy is only a part of God.

(14 Dec '12, 02:56) Wade Casaldi

I said it's all creation of beings from outside of the universe we are part of. Which, yes, implies that our universe ends somewhere and is in fact contained within another universe we know of not. =))

And just hypothetically, imagine a sphere (our universe) ever slowly expanding (until it bursts) just like a balloon. Even if we travel to the edge of sphere which holds it all together, we'll be never able to go through, just like a drop of water can't go through sphere of the balloon...

(14 Dec '12, 03:16) CalonLan

@Wade Casaldi, we now only allow one answer per question from each person to prevent abuse of the voting system. Since you already answered here, the system prevents you answering again. If you wish to add more, please edit your existing answer instead

(14 Dec '12, 03:21) Barry Allen ♦♦

And in the light of such imagination, all that we stand for, think, believe, all that surrounds us, or the interconnections between our own kind and all the different kinds, renders itself meaningless.

Whoever is serious about anything then, has but a limited imagination within which he traps himself.

(14 Dec '12, 03:26) CalonLan

@Wade Casaldi, well wade God and source energy is the same thing. only two different word among many to call him. and God as a personnality and inteligence about everything from the beguinning to the end eternal. you also have your own personnallity wade i would not call that meaningless. you are made in the image of God. God is waiting for you to grow to share more things with you. is it really meaningless?

(14 Dec '12, 04:08) white tiger

@white tiger, I guess you meant to address the comment about meaning to me. Well white tiger, if you cannot step over the boundaries of your beliefs and allow possibility of the idea of God to be meaningless, then it is your own prison made of these limitations you live in.

Can you stretch far enough and proclaim that every word and idea you have ever uttered or have come in touch with was just another nonsense restraint ? Just something to ponder about.

(14 Dec '12, 04:25) CalonLan

@calonlan for me it is not a belief. experience the truth and you will not be in belief. also you might be the one that is trap in a prison of your own belief from your own limitation that you live in. did you think about that?or pounder about that? saying God is meaningless is like saying everything is meaningless. if everything is meaningless why waste time with annything? just go kill your self it will come to the same thing and have no meaning. do you really thing that everything is-

(14 Dec '12, 04:36) white tiger

meaningless the simple fact that you interact with other and that you are able to create and understand the words that you are reading right now as meaning. if it would not have anny meaning we would not be talking right now. also i will say this to you you are trying to go against common sense. it was the same thing last shoot with i have no obligation and responsibility. is it to irritate me? is that what makes you happy? come on you are better then that.

(14 Dec '12, 04:39) white tiger

@white tiger, every meaning is just a sum of beliefs, which are nothing but limitations. Only in meaningless can you become limitless. Not bound to any reason or judgement.

You talk about common sense and say things fall down because of gravity, but I tell you it is not trait of those things to fall down. In space they would float, but it is not their trait either. We relate everything to conditions we live in, unable to see past them. And this applies to idea of God and meanings as well.

(14 Dec '12, 05:19) CalonLan

@calonlan but to see past condition then you need to understand them and how they relate to each other that is the truth. they might float in space but even then they will fall down if they come close enuff to a planet.gravity still exist in space. look at satelity and meteorite that are in space they fall on the earth.what you do not seams to understand is that you cannot throw away parts that you do not want to see,and say we will by-pass them. try to pass through a concrete wall using-

(14 Dec '12, 06:03) white tiger

@calonlan imagination saying i do not accept the truth that the wall is there. try it. it will not work. using the truth that you know about the wall you will create something to make this possible. then it will work. also it is not the trait of things or condition of those things that make them fall down,it is gravity. how do we make things fly and work in harmony with gravity? using energy to counter act the gravity.

(14 Dec '12, 06:08) white tiger

@white tiger, I agree with you that to see past limitations you have to understand the limitations, that is the truth. But it is often the we way understand them that betray us. Our way of understanding is but one of many.

And so even the idea of God can be understood through meaninglessness. And if we don't understand a thing in every way it can be understood, then we don't understand the thing itself at all, but only our way of understanding it. Which is what limitations are.

(14 Dec '12, 06:48) CalonLan

Tao Te Ching: Chapter 1 translated by Ursula K. Le Guin (1998) The way you can go isn't the real way. The name you can say isn't the real name.

Heaven and earth begin in the unnamed: name's the mother of the ten thousand things.

So the unwanting soul sees what's hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.

Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all mysteries! The door to the hidden.

(14 Dec '12, 07:05) ursixx

@ursixx exactly my thoughts ;>

(14 Dec '12, 07:19) CalonLan

@Barry Allen I didn't remember I had answered here. Thanks and I agree, I do usually just edit or add a comment. Thanks for changing my new answer back to a comment,I see my original answer was superior.

(14 Dec '12, 09:56) Wade Casaldi

calonlan, there is an alternative when you/one get/s to the outer boundary, find the gate and pass through it

(14 Dec '12, 16:53) fred

@fred i agree with you. one needs to strive to enter the narrow gate,with out fear he can cross the door and know the truth. then he will not need to belief or imagine he will know the truth and will be set free. strange that those meditation teacher that say it takes a life time to reach samadhi,have not found that gate. since jesus and budha reach it in 40 days.

(14 Dec '12, 21:18) white tiger
showing 3 of 20 show 17 more comments

More on this topic from the source, for those interested:

Discussing the development of the idea of the Force, Lucas said: "The Force evolved out of various developments of character and plot. I wanted a concept of religion based on the premise that there is a God and there is good and evil. I began to distill the essence of all religions into what I thought was a basic idea common to all religions and common to primitive thinking. I wanted to develop something that was nondenominational but still had a kind of religious reality. I believe in God and I believe in right and wrong. I also believe that there are basic tenets which through history have developed into certainties, such as 'thou shalt not kill.' I don't want to hurt other people. 'Do unto others...' is the philosophy that permeates my work."

More from producer Gary Kurtz:

'Comparative Religion is one of the things I studied in university,' says Kurtz. 'I also studied the Buddhist and Hindu sects, and studied Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, and also Native American spirituality; shamanistic methods and so on. I got out a lot of my old books and we talked about it. If you trace back most religious thought to the teachings of the great prophets, whether Judeo-Christian, or Muslim, or even Hindu or Buddhist, you start to see a lot of similarities. The core philosophies are very very similar...

'I saw Ben Kenobi as a shaman, really, rather than a character tied to any conventional religious background. The American Indians look upon God as the Great Mystery -- that's what they call him. [Their religion] is about the universal energy you can draw on through individual effort. You draw on the energy of the Great Mystery in the dances and tribal prayers. [I thought] this would be a good way to connect with this, since it's simple enough that you don't have to go through weeks and weeks of explanation trying to get some sense of what the religious philosophy is. And it's true enough, in the sense that it's based logically on a real belief system. We wanted to avoid that problem of imposing some sort of religious messiah on our characters so that we could have some sort of religious history. So there is a Joseph Campbell connection, but it's just one of many.'

There recently appeared an excellent interview between Oprah and Lucas in which he discussed the origin of "The Force" as well as his views on spirituality. I can't seem to find the entire video online (the whole thing is about an hour), but here is a clip, and those more internet-savvy folks might be able to turn up the whole interview somewhere:

http://www.oprah.com/own-oprahs-next-chapter/Director-George-Lucas-Shares-His-Visionary-Process-Video

link

answered 13 Dec '12, 12:33

lozenge123's gravatar image

lozenge123
6.9k22162

Star Wars was created by George Lucas whom is a Jew (God's chosen people). The force he's depicted in his Star Wars trilogy is a fictional concept he devised in his youth. The concept is a blend of fiction and nonfiction. The nonfictional aspect of the force is our ability to directly and indirectly affect the world around us, good or bad. The fictional aspect is the moving of objects with our thoughts, flipping and somersaulting with a light saber destroying galactic beings throughout the universe. If this is what you would like to see happen, then know that most fictional movies come true after a time of development has occurred.

link

answered 29 Jan '12, 11:11

Constantine's gravatar image

Constantine
(suspended)

1

Just to set the record straight, George Lucas was raised a Methodist and he has often described himself in his adult life as a "Buddhist Methodist."

(13 Dec '12, 12:15) lozenge123

Oh lol, I didn't notice this the first time. "God's chosen people". That's funny. Well, I was appointed emperor of the universe and the appointment was so holy that no-one ever dared to put it down into words, so you of course won't find any record of it. Nonetheless, I'm happy to learn that I have my own army of worshipers, which should now stop doing w/e they're doing and go build me a palace of gold and nephritis that will surmount heights of Mount Everest. lololol

(19 Dec '12, 05:14) CalonLan

i will give you answer that might surprise you but everything that exist as some part of truth about it.god is truth.god is spirit.god is light. is it completely like in star wars no. are some parts like in star wars yes. look in the world how things relate to each other. everything is connected. but can you relate and see how they are connected? and yes like in star wars when all the master are there as light in physical form. well yes you still exist as light(spirit)soul(mind/heart) once you drop the body but not in a physical form. but some that still feel like they are physical could keep a physical form. or might take a physical form to appear to someone,from this world or that as just left this world. when you meditate it is to know the truth about your self.and solve the division in you mind and heart and how everything relates to each other in truth. when you pray it is like having a phone conversation from the soul you send you listen and you receive. but it is not something that you do for other but for your self. that is why it is said in the bible to not pray like the hypocrite to be seen by other. or to not repeat vain words over and over again.

link

answered 13 Dec '12, 23:38

white%20tiger's gravatar image

white tiger
21.9k115116

edited 13 Dec '12, 23:41

Click here to create a free account

If you are seeing this message then the Inward Quest system has noticed that your web browser is behaving in an unusual way and is now blocking your active participation in this site for security reasons. As a result, among other things, you may find that you are unable to answer any questions or leave any comments. Unusual browser behavior is often caused by add-ons (ad-blocking, privacy etc) that interfere with the operation of our website. If you have installed these kinds of add-ons, we suggest you disable them for this website




Related Questions