Star Wars Meme, Day 20

[ladyofleithian]

Day 20: Jedi or Sith

Personally, that's a very good question. I mean, I have my share of problems with the Jedi Order, such as how they treated Anakin's separation from his mother (yeah, one might argue that I'm biased towards Anakin, and maybe I am a bit, but to no doubt badly quote Sirius Black, if you want to see how a man -- or in this case, an organization -- really is, take a look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. *) as well as the concept of attachment being greedy (which...no, it's not. It's a normal human thing to have. We can't...not be attached, not love, any more than we can stop breathing. And sometimes we need attachment to survive in one way or another) and to simply let nature take its course when a loved one is dying and that grief, basically, is bad. I just have a feeling that whoever composed the Jedi Code really doesn't understand how people want. That and the fact that the Jedi took their beliefs too far, such as Atris, or just took the Code too far in a way, such as Obi-Wan. To quote SF Debris, "A rigid philosophy is no substitute for human compassion and clear reason." I mean, really, what is so terrible, Jedi Order, with simply "Thou shalt be a good person"? When did a rigid code become favored over compassion and reasoning, and being not necessarily perfect, just the best of everything that you could ever be?

Then again, all things considered, the Code could be less rules and more guidelines. I guess combined with other aspects, such as taking Force sensitives as infants and not letting them see their families again...yeah. And some seeming to subscribe to the idea of "the Sith are unworthy of compassion", even though really, compassion isn't deserved. It's for everyone, no matter who they are.

And on the other end, you have the Sith. I don't think I'd want to live in an environment like the Sith's. Backstabbing, betrayals, etc. So maybe I could be a Jedi, just living up to what the Jedi should be, and not who they are, if that makes any sense. Kind, open-minded, creative, open to change and adaptation, not shunning human nature, and just generally being noble. Doing good things, and being willing to do what one can to save the galaxy and protect it, while still sticking to basic morality. Not perfection, simply doing what is right, nothing more.


* And yeah, perhaps they were scared of him as well, but it really doesn't justify anything.

Comments

[leia_solo]

You made a lot of good points about the Jedi Order. I said Sith on mine but that's just a fangirl bias haha. But I do have problems with the Old Republic's version of the Order.

[ladyofleithian]

Well, definite thanks. :) And yeah, the Old Republic Jedi Order had a heck of a lot of problems. Not a bad concept, but there were some issues with how it was set up and such.

[arkan2.livejournal.com]

No, I think it's pretty clear from the movies that the Jedi Order's rigidity-verging-on-dogmatism and consequent failures of empathy (trying to mold people, most notably Anakin, into their own ideal rather than meeting people where they are) is a significant exacerbating factor in their downfall.

I've also run into stuff that's reminiscent of the principle of non-attachment in a couple of real life scenarios (including a very little reading about Buddhism). I admit I'm finding it an awfully difficult concept to wrap my head around - the best I can figure so far is that it's okay to love people so long as you're prepared to let go of them completely on a moment's notice, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I don't really have much time for the non-attachment principle, but apparently it does have some amount of real world precedent.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Makes sense, really. It sort of makes them more tragic that way, in a sense -- a sort of inability to change, molding people into their own image, etc. ultimately destroying them.

And that's really very interesting! I never knew that. And yeah, I like that version of attachment better.

[acts_of_tekla]

There's an interesting aspect of EU canon, where the official translation of the code has changed over the millenia to become more rigid. The backstory is that after the war with the Sith roughly a thousand years before the movies, the Jedi started discouraging behaviors that they felt could lead to the dark side (like having families, and wearing non-neutral colors). Yoda was trained during that first wave of changes, and so it became further entrenched because of him, because his long life essentially granted his opinion more weight than was necessarily a good idea.

With regard to non-attachment, the central tenet of original (i.e. from the mouth of Siddhartha) Buddhist philosophy is balance, but the Jedi, being space samurai, seem to be practicing Zen Buddhism gone wrong.

Traditional Buddhist teachings understand that people grow and change, and that a person cannot instantly have universal compassion for all humankind, but must instead learn compassion on a smaller scale and build up. There is a saying that one should first live for one's self, then for one's family, then for one's country, and then for the world. I think of it as: it is absolutely right to care about your own family and friends, but the problem with attachment comes when you prioritize *your* family and friends over others, because all people are of equal value.

...sorry, that got a bit rambly.