Star Wars is one of the most succesful franchises of all time, it has produced millions of books, comics, movies, TV shows, toys, trailers, money, role playing, parodies, fan art, legoes, fandoms, references... what else? For some people it's even a religion. No, yes, seriously, Jedism is a real religion, just as Palmarianism, the Novus Ordo sect, Feeneyites and more.
That's because Star Wars "spirituality" is far more deeper than most of the things coming from "pope" Francis or Ratzinger, and instead of getting pederast novus ordo priests, wannabe popes and clown masses you get wonderful CGI, feeling "the force" thorugh you and memes.
But it's a false spirituality. Perhaps your children will watch this thing, and grow over it. But perhaps they won't. Perhaps they will become blubbering soyboy fans who spent dead hours reading comics and geek blogs. Or perhaps they will allow the "force" to enter their beliefs...
Most of you know that this thing is Zen-Buddhist, kind of occult thing, but this is not the only problem star wars has. Consider what I will say.
Meet Your Jedi Master: Carlos Castaneda
Carlos Castaneda was a peruvian who self-identified as a Toltec Shaman. Carlos Castaneda influeced the new-age movement and the hippy counter-culture, including Jim Morrison, John Lennon, The Eagles and Oliver Stone. For their fruits you shall know them.
Carlos Castaneda met a Yaqui shaman named Don Juan Matus, who introduced him to the world of peyote (psychoactive drugs), toltec magick, shamanism and more. Carlos Castaneda wrote books about training and gaining enlightenment. His website proclaims that society has forced us to see truth in a certain way since babies, and we must overcome this. Gnostic trascendentalism and "The Matrix" - style postmodernism all in once.
George Lucas was inspired by this guy too.
A meme exposes some of Star War's faulty logic. Why to make the "force" logical if eberything is an illusion?
Castaneda was very elusive and little is known about him, but that does not mean some people may have taken inspiration from him even if he disagreed whit their interpretations.
Garry Jenkins's "Empire Building" tells us: "in search for his fantasy, he read Grimm`s Fairy Tales and CS Lewis`s Narnia Chronicles, JRR Tolkkien and Frazier`s Golden Bough. He also read Greek, Islamic, and Indian mythology and the works of modern mythologists like Carlos Castaneda and Joseph Campbell" (Empire Building, page 38)
"Lucas had by now simplified the mysticism in his script. Obi Wan Kenobi would be a guardian of the wisdom of the Jedi knights and the force, a mysterious power "that binds the universe together". Lucas had found the inspiration for the idea in a story in Carlos Castaneda's "Tales of Power", in which Mexican Indian mystic Don Juan, described a life force " (Empire Building 62)
Furhter inspiration from Carlos Castaneda:
"The idea of using another person, perhaps an alien, for Luke to play off came up during story meetings. George Lucas and Leigh Brackett thought that an alien could be an Indian Desert Type, very childlike even though he is an old man" This characteristic fits with Castaneda's Don Juan, who acts like a child even though he is an old yaqui shaman. From the Annotated Screenplays, page 183, Yoda was meant to be smoking from his gimer stick, a short little twig with three branches at the far end. A reference to the shaman's ingestion of psychotropic plants, or just a "pipeweed" style cigar? It was not located in the movie, perhaps because they thought it would remind viewers of marihuana.
The Dark Cave's test seems to be a test of the self, meaning, one needs to fight against his own passions. Read the following exert from "Cosmic Trigger", an alchemist book from Robert Anton Wilson: "One eventually faces a crossroads of mythic proportions (called Chapel Perilous in the trade) ... once you are inside it, there doesn?t seem to be any way to ever get out again, until you discover that it has been brought into existence by thought and does not exist outside thought. Everything you fear is waiting with slavering jaws in Chapel Perilous, but if you are armed with the wand of intuition, the cup of valor, you will find there (the Legends say) the medicine of Metals, the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher?s Stone, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness". (Cosmic Trigger I, page 6)". See that Yoda tells Luke that he will only face what he takes with himself, and he sees an hallucination inside the cave. The "Chapel Perilious" exists only inside of your mind, just as the "Chapel Perolious".
The "Man of Knowledge" Don Genaro Flores describes his encounter with the "ally". The ally is mean, but once you overcome him he is well, your ally. Luke overcomes the Force, and then he can control her. The Ally is my force, and a powerfull ally she is. You can imagine who the "ally" is.
Lucas's original ideas had the Jedi's making a sharp shreaking scream before attacking. This is similar to Castaneda's writings were he describes how wizards and sorcerers screamed and cried.
Mescalito is the creature that appears to you if you want to be an apprentice for sorcerer. Robert Anton Wilson describes a "man with warty warty green skin and pointy ears". Castaneda describes him like this too. Wonder who this Mescalito is. Yoda was meant to have pink skin, but why wouldn't they have been inspired by Mescalito since the conception of the character?
Kenneth Minogue, Professor of Political Science at the University of London states: "Castaneda's is entirely in the occultist tradition".
That the "Force" is anti Catholic is not much difficult to prove. I paraphrased the following from Introibo Ad Altare Dei (the mention of the creed, the code and the cult, however, are mine)
The Force is religious: Creed in the Force, Code that requires you to be peaceful, Cult which is the Jedi meditation. Tarkin tells Dart Vader "The Jedi are extinct, you, my friend, are all that's left of their religion".
The Force is impersonal, God is personal
One is a cosmic force, the other is a loving Father
Lucas's force is both good and bad, unlike God who is Perfect
The Force is generated by living things, God is the Creator of al things and distinct from them
The Force has a fate, a destiny you can't avoid, (this is reinforced with the Jedi's resignation when the Sith took over them) God does not negate free will
Jedis are absorbed into the Force, God lets His followers into Heaven without them being merged.
I also believe Star Wars to be slightly Manichean. They believe there is no good God superior to the devil: they believe in two gods: evil god and good god, who constantly fight against each other. How is this different from the “dark” side and the “luminous” side? This is even reinforced with the Disney movies, since this conflict moves on even after the end of the empire.
The dualism of the Jedi (top) and the sith (below) is perfectly explained in this piece of fan art. The "ying-yang" is a taoist symbol representing opposites.
Star Wars is also Buddhist.
In the book "Skywaling", Dale Pollock says: "Yoda's philosophy is entirely Buddhist - he tells Luke that the Force requires him to be calm, at peace, and passive; it should be used for knowledge and defense, not greed and agression. (pg 140)
Death for the (update: old rite) Jedi is similar to nirvana, a buddhist concept which is basically the lose of individual consciousness at the end of the cycle of reincarnations, and which may be understood as the merging of oneself with the universe. When the Jedi die, they will live as force ghosts to then became one (read: merge) with the force. "when peple die their life spirit is drained from them and incorporated in a huge energy force... joining the ethereal oneness of the Force".
Jedi meditation consists in the Jedi trying to achieve inner peace and serenity, like in yoga.
You may argue that George Lucas does not believe in all this nonsense; rather, he only happened to read about them and thought it would be cool to add this to his fantasy as a story element. However, when you consider that George Lucas describes himself as a "methodist-buddhist" it looks like he actually believes some of this things. Your fantasy reflects your worldview; why wouldn't Lucas wish to teach some of his beliefs to the people?. And even if he didn't, that does not mean you can be influenced by the philosophy behind Star Wars.
Star Wars on it’s Own Words
Luke: I don’t.
I don’t believe it
Yoda: This is
why you Fail
Luke: I can’t.
Its to big
Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. (Yoda worships the Force) Life creates it, makes it grow. (This is, Force is generated by living things) Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. (well, actually Yoda is a marionette) You must feel the force around you: here, between you, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.
Yoda: "Luminous things we are, not this crude matter".
This is reminiscent of Castaneda's belief that we are not matter, but "luminous beings that look like bubbles of whitish light" (The Fire from Within, page 66). He claims "Men of Knowledge" see "fibers" coming from the luminous beings: the type of the fibers tells the Shaman if someone is bad, or good, or mean, or weak, or sick, or strong, or if he could be a good shaman. This is reminiscent of Qui-Gon-Jinn's need to keep Anakin to himself as soon as he meet him. Ever heard of "The Force is strong in you" nonsense?
Yoda: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.
We can make a conection with buddhism in here. Anakin feared losing his mother, and he had an affection to her. Remember affection is the cause of suffering for the buddhist. Of course, for Yoda, anger and hate are related to this. Which i find ironic because you need a healthy dose of anger to fight against evil.
Besides, how can Yoda say hate leads to suffering? Everything leads to suffering in this world, even love. Anakin does not hate when he is told this things, but he is indeed suffering the fear of loosing his mother. Duh!
Qui-Gon Jinn: Remember: your focus determines your reality.
Qui-Gon Jinn is promoting existentialism, the belief that everyone’s beliefs, personality and experiences determine their reality.
Qui-Gon Jinn: Feel, don’t think. Trust your instincts.
More wisdom from Qui-Gon Jinn. Perhaps he trusted his instincts when he fought against Darth Maul and was killed.
Qui-Go Jinn: His cells have the highest concentration of midi-clorians I have seen in a life form. It was possible he was conceived by the midi chlorians. – Midi clorians are a microscopic life form that resides within all living beings. Anakin being conceived by "midi-clorians" brings us to the next topic:
Anakin and Jesus Christ: A Blasphemous Connection
We are told Anakin is “the chosen one”. This makes Anakin be an alien Messiah. When Qui-Gon-Jinn asks Anakin’s mother, Shmi, who is Anakin’s father, she replies “There Was no father. I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him. I can’t explain what happened”. Shmi, like the Blessed Virgin, has conceived without losing her virginity. The comics reveal that Anakin was conceived by the force.
Like Jesus Christ, Anakin is looked down by the religious authorities. Anakin seemingly dies by burning, then resurrects as a cyborg and builds the galactic empire. Jesus Christ died a viciously cruel death by being crucified, then gloriously Resurrected, and builds his empire: The Catholic Church. These three last relationships may be accidental and absolutely unwilled by George Lucas, and I expect that. However, you can’t have a galactic Virgin Mary and expect that we think you are a good guy.
In fact, the Disney sequels add to this nonsense further, as various characters, including the villains, act as incarnations of the force. The Skywalker family is some sort of "Luminous Family", in which the Light side is incarnated, while Palpatine and his granddaughter Rey are the "Dark Family" in which the dark side is incarnated. Of course, the dark and light side must be equilibrated, that's why Anakin, who is "the chosen one", used both the dark and luminous sides, and that's why Ben Solo (Kaylo Ren, Han Solo's son), and Rey are "connected in the force", and both use the luminous and dark side as both sides are strong in them.
This is further emphasised when at the Rise of Skywalker, Rey claims all the Jedi ever to exist somehow flow on her, as a resurrected Palpatine claims the same about the Sith.
It seems that the reason George Lucas decided to include this aspects of Christian belief was because he brought inspiration from Carl Jung, who believed that all humans have "common unconscious", from which all the ideas of men are shared, particularly via stories and myths. By drawing from various myths and even Christian Dogma he wanted his story to appeal to the common unconscious, thus making his story "stronger". However, western man first thought when speaking about a Virgin-Birth is the Blessed Mother, and the association is seriously irreverent independently of his intention.
You have God, who becomes man for humanity, and makes a Virgin to conceive, which is a wonderful miracle, and then you have a nerd who copies and pastes this fantastic Miracle into a pop culture movie about some cosmic warriors in a fictional galaxy far far away. Absolutely ridiculous. Your children may lose reverence for this Sacred Mystery under the influence of the film.
The Skywalker's Incest Moment
The producers were imprudent, and perhaps didn’t make it with bad will, but I think we should be concerned about this subliminal representation of incest. Many times incest is non-consensual (abusive), and it’s a very serious sin against chastity, yet if in a film for children two alien humans kiss each other and later it comes out they were siblings it’s all right? Please.
The Existentialist Precuels
The precuels give us a bad example: Anakin, who eventually joins the dark side. Anakin is not a good example for your children, since after years of pagan jedi nonsense, he finally accepts Sith nonsense which leads to him building a tyrannical, genocidal empire, abandoning his two children, and serving the guy who couldn't save his wife - definetly someone to look up to.
Some people may argue that Anakin only shows the sadness of belonging to evil, but it is not safe to put this on a movie for children, since children look up to every protagonist you put in TV. Some adults may be able to grasp this message but then we don't need fiction for that: we already have the news, and history.
Anakin's Faust-style tragic story does not inspire those who look up to him to practice heroic sanctity, it may only teache them to be existetialist, and believe that Anakin's background would have make it impossible for him to resist the attraction of the dark side.
Since Anakin had to leave his mother alone in a planet full of gangsters to fulfill his dream of being a Jedi and protecting the weak, he was deeply traumatized when she died in his arms. This lead him to fear for his wife's life, and eventually become a Dark Lord. Your child could be later heavily influenced into having every suffering turned into trauma-based mind control that will prevent them to become Holier.
It is true that those in the good side can be hypocritical and uncompetent, but why put this in a movie for children? As I said before, children may need to understand the objectivity of good and evil before they understand this aspect of human nature.
The Pathethic Jedi Counsil
The "good guys" - the jedi - tend to be absolutely pathethic, probably under the influence of the restraining energy of the Jedi Counsil and the Republic. There are constant mentions over the precuels about how the jedis are being affected by the dark side & their pride. Perhaps this is a critique of organized religion, as the producers believe in a more free-style spirituality.
In fact, "Episode Two: Attack of the Clones", can be seen as a critique of celibacy, since Anakin breaks the celibacy laws of the Jedi to marry Padme - too strong for the "chosen one"?. The whole movie is full of courting between both lovers, and this makes episode two some sort of alien Romeo and Juliet. It's true that this breaking of the celibacy law was on of the reasons behind Anakin's falldown, but it's also true that the tagline was "A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love". It's also true that their courting is quite intense, suggesting maybe Anakin couldn't with so many rules unethical to the "force".
Also: The "good guys" send two handsome young members of the same race together to a romantic planet; gee, what could go wrong? They could have sent a horrible female alien, there was no way the two of them would fall in love, or at least "someone strong in da force". Duh!
Star Wars' Logic Strikes Back!
Disney: When You Wish Upon The Force
There was not a enough scandal when two characters from the show "Star Wars Resistance" were forming a sodomite relationship. Lucasfilm was bought by the Walt Disney Company in 2012, and as the world departs further from God, the Star Wars franchise becomes worse and worse, that even the "elements of truth" depart from it.
Some people have noticed that the recent Star Wars movies have super-strong, feminist-style female heros in the movies.
In "The Empire Strikes Back", Luke discovers Darth Vader is his father and it takes him two films to recover from this fact. In "The Rise of Skywalker", Rey discovers she is Sidious's grandaughter and that grandpa killed her mommy and daddy, and it takes her a few minutes to recover from this horrid fact.
Rey is a young woman who grew up an orphan, unlike Luke who was at least taken care of by his uncle and aunt. In real life, because of her sex and lack of guidance, she would have it harder to control her feelings, and even if she managed to destroy Sidious she would still have a lot to learn and heal.
Rey is a Mary Sue, an over powered character who is able to do great things without learning them. It's not only femenistic as you have an over powered woman, but it teaches the audience that the power is within themselves.
Disney's fantasy has added lots of gibberish to the franchise, making it an "everything is possible" kind of story.
- Rey and Kaylo Ren are somehow "connected" in the force - a "dyad"
- The ghosts of dead Jedi tell Rey that generations of jedi are with her.
- In the "Clone Wars Show", there was an arc (a series of conected episodes) in which Anakin, Obi Wan and Ashoka Thano get lost into a plane called Mortis. This planet is inhabited by three creatures: the "father", the "son" and the "daughter". The daughter is the incarnation of the light side, the son incarnates the dark side and the father is the incarnation of the "dualism" of the force, who tries to keep peace between the two.
- There was an arc in which Yoda needs to undergo a "force test" similar to the one Luke had in Dagobah. He needs to go against an evil version of himself, and can only overcome it when he accepts this version is an intrinsic part of his soul. Gee, the Luminous side of the force won't help him to perfect himself? The be yourself message is found here too.
- In fact, various episodes of clone wars are based around the acceptance message, which is fine alone but together with all the acceptance movies is way too much. One of the episodes was about "accepting" an ancient monster named the Zillo Beast. It was too huge and too agressive, but you gotta accept him. Toxic environmentalism. Yes, it was the last of it's kind, so what? They were going to save clone's lifes with it's hide. A character suggests it may be sentinent, which may be true of the star wars galaxy, but its not true of our planet.
In the past, the bad message was introduced with a fantastic story, phenomenal acting and wonderful effects. Now, as the world mives further from beauty, the story doesn't even have such elements. Various geeks throw conipitions about how bad the Disney sequels are, including a 3 hour video about how bad The Force Awakens is.
CONCLUSION
I don't see what is the purpose of watching this thing after reading this article. Maybe some nostalgic adults who only want to remember the 1970's and own the discs already may look at this thing without danger for his Faith. After all, the CGI may distract you from the nonsensical force stuff. Yes? But I am reminded of this quote by Fr. Frederick Faber:
"I can't understand the strange anomaly of peoples of salon, who quote with eulogy men like Milton and Byron, manifesting at the same time that they love Christ and put on Him all hope of salvation. They Love Christ and the Church and they praise in society those who blaspheme Him; thunders and voices against impurity as something hateful to God and celebrations towards a being that has been saturated by it. I can't comprehend the distinction bewteen the man and the poet, between pure and impure passages. If a man offends the Object of my Love, I can't receive from him consolation or pleasure, and I can't conceive how somebody who loves our Savior may like the writings of his enemy. Intelgence admits ditinctions bu the heart not. "
Think is to hard? Well, but then remember that you defend "Star Wars" under the pretense of it's "elements of truth", mainly, self-sacrifice, working hard for the good, and detachment from the things of the world. Why can't you do this things for Jesus Christ? It seems that Master Yoda`s "elements of truth" have not worked for you. So throw them under the bus and maybe try to learn from St Francis de Sales. Yoda said "You must unlearn what you have learned". Yes I agree that you should unlearn everything Star Wars has “taught you”.
Links & Sources
Screenshots from You Tube
Photos & Memes from Duck Duck Go Search
An essay from The Force. com, which quotes from the books Empire Building, Skywalking, and some of Castaneda's writings.
Carlos Castaneda.com
Wookiepedia (Star Wars fandom)
Introibo Ad Altare Dei: When Strangers Come Knocking part 3, November 2019
Introibo Ad Altare Dei: Spaced Out (march 2019)
At IMDB
Star Wars: The Clone Wars fandom (I used to watch the show)
Liberalism is a Sin, by Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany, quoting Fr. Frederick Faber (you will gave to scroll down)
Far be it for me to defend Star Wars but it is in the context of 'certain cultural trends'. Anything which is the not the Catholic Faith may pose a danger to the soul, but the Faith cannot exist in a vaccuum. So everything that comes along must be judged or interpreted in that light.
ReplyDeleteIt is only a work of art, and like all man-made things, is flawed; and according to one's lights (or lack of Faith) all such things can have undue influence. For instance, I see it as taking place in some other universe. But I digress.
The point I want to make is that the "spirit" behind the Disney sequels is quite different from the originals. Neither of them is the Holy Spirit, of course, and I am not prone to any such confusion. Rather (as is seen in many other recent things) the spirit is one of animosity towards white male characters and the cultural icons they represent. In particular I refer to what was done with Luke's character, and the undoing of all that was done in the original trilogy, and the usurpation of the heroic role of Luke's story arc with the Ma-Rey Sue.
The thing is, the tearing down and usurpation of white male heroic characters is a stand-in for the final communist push to absolutely erase the remnants of Christendom in their descendants. This is,in part, what is meant by the references to the "Accuser" in Apocalypse Chapter 12, cast down to earth (who accuses white men of everything today) and the dragon of 12: 17 "making war with the rest of her seed" - whether by descent or by those who still keep the Faith. I believe that era began in 1965, beginning with V2.
Yes indeed, I noticed that the Disney sequels destroy whathever was good with the original saga. Luke is an heroic character that would be worth imitating if he were not a pagan jedi; yet Disney takes away from him his determination, and turns him into a depresed loser who tried to kill his nephew because he liked the dark side - the same Luke who could inspire his father to become good again.
ReplyDeleteAll three main characters die in the Disney sequels, which suggests to me that it destroys the original saga and perhaps thats the reason they are so unpopular.
As for the tearing down of good, white male heroic characters I agree too. How many times the "hero" is someone like Michael Corleone, Walter White or James Bond? It's because our society loves "realistic" characters with multiple, significant flaws - I think they feel they can relate to him unlike a hero like say, King St. Louis, who recriminates their defects. I personally have no problem with some movies having heroic black men or women, but when it's the only thing you see in movies it becomes annoying and destructive.