In the previous post, I quoted some lines from the Stars Wars movies substituting the word, Tao, for the words, "The Force." One of those lines pertains to the dark side of The Force/Tao in relation to the "creation" of Darth Vader. This may lead some of you to ask: Do you believe Tao has a dark side?
The answer to that question is not straightforward. In an absolute sense -- for lack of a better description -- the answer is a resounding NO. Tao simply is or, put another way, Tao is neutral. Tao is not good or bad, love or hate, goodness or evil. It is we humans who put valuations on Tao.
That stated, in terms of the human ability of comprehension (making distinctions), Tao is multi-sided. Tao is both good AND bad, love AND hate, goodness AND evil, light AND darkness, life AND death. Tao is everything that can be possibly conceived and more.
When we fully embrace the mystery of mysteries, we can choose to embrace those aspects which are entirely selfish or selfless. Of course, as a human being, we don't completely embrace either -- we embrace both. How we judge each other depends on which "side" we embrace the most. If selfishness is our prime modus operandi, then we have embraced the darker elements of all. If, on the other hand, we more thoroughly embrace the lighter elements, then we say the individual is a paragon of the better aspects of Tao -- virtue.
In most cases, each of us dances with the dark side from time to time. We embrace those elements that bring us into alignment with disharmony. We may long for enlightenment, on one level, but the Darth Vader aspect in each of us pokes through.
The answer to that question is not straightforward. In an absolute sense -- for lack of a better description -- the answer is a resounding NO. Tao simply is or, put another way, Tao is neutral. Tao is not good or bad, love or hate, goodness or evil. It is we humans who put valuations on Tao.
That stated, in terms of the human ability of comprehension (making distinctions), Tao is multi-sided. Tao is both good AND bad, love AND hate, goodness AND evil, light AND darkness, life AND death. Tao is everything that can be possibly conceived and more.
When we fully embrace the mystery of mysteries, we can choose to embrace those aspects which are entirely selfish or selfless. Of course, as a human being, we don't completely embrace either -- we embrace both. How we judge each other depends on which "side" we embrace the most. If selfishness is our prime modus operandi, then we have embraced the darker elements of all. If, on the other hand, we more thoroughly embrace the lighter elements, then we say the individual is a paragon of the better aspects of Tao -- virtue.
In most cases, each of us dances with the dark side from time to time. We embrace those elements that bring us into alignment with disharmony. We may long for enlightenment, on one level, but the Darth Vader aspect in each of us pokes through.
not only that, but our feelings and our inclinations, although "dark," are still a natural and not "evil" part of ourselves. i do believe our actions can be evil, by disregarding other beings, but our feelings themselves are not evil.
ReplyDeletethat's where star wars and tao take different paths. whereas in star wars, strong emotion is to be feared because it leads to rash action, tao doesn't say what feelings to avoid. it's our actions that determine if our life is lived wisely. it's perfectly natural to have so-called "evil" thoughts, and that does not make us evil.
I was going to make a comment on the previous post before I read this one...I think the dark side thing has more to do with yin and yang, and the force that is flowing in the Jedi is more like qi, not tao. Yoda is about to merge with or attain tao. I have never doubted that there were taoist themes here, but it's not just tao...there are other concepts, the taiji, wu wei and qi, that are probably more accurate in referring to Star Wars' force. And I don't think tao is "an energy field created (?) by all living things." That's qi. Tao is something else unspeakable.
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