The force awakens

[goldent]

Because of the obvious connection between "the force" and religion, I imagine this has been discussed at length since the original star wars in 1977.

After seeing the latest movie I was wondering, is there a non-religious explanation of the force? As a very casual fan of Star Wars, I really don't know what the force is, besides what we saw in the movies. I didn't see the prequels so maybe I missed something.

I thought one of the most dramatic scenes in the latest move is when Rey asked Hans about the stories of the Jedi and Hans replying "It's true, all of it." Now you would think that she would know all about the Jedi and the force, since it had only happened 40 years previous. But then again, it might be that the facts of the battles were common knowledge, but that "the force" was only known to a few people and never discussed much publicly, and so it became more legend than history.

[rug]

1. I haven't see the new Star wars but I think The Force is a poor parallel to religion.

Western religion at least. Classic Buddhism does have a kind of impersonal force, Karma and Saṃsāra, that leads to enlightenment or "awakening" but it doesn't have the dualistic light and dark side of Star Wars.

Western religions have a personal deity, or force, that that is far from an impersonal concept like The Force.

As to what mysterious knowledge Rey and Han have about The Force, that sounds like the eight movie will have a Gnostic twist. Box office death.

[goldent]

2. I wasn't comparing it to existing religions so much as to comparing it

to religious concepts in general. Although I have to say I think with Christianity there is some sense of the power of the "dark side" i.e. that the devil has a certain power over people.

As you mention, there is no sense of a God - it is not clear what is the origin of the force. And also I think the force is pretty obvious at least in some cases - if you were an observer you would clearly say there is something supernatural occurring.

I imagine things like the force are attractive to authors as it gives them something very flexible to work with. I think they also use it to play on the audience's sense of religion and spirituality. I know there was an episode of the original Star Trek serious that did that very directly.

BTW, the conversation between Rey and Hans was that Hans was the old guy who observed first-hand the force "in action" whereas Rey was the young girl who had heard stories about it, but was didn't know whether it was true. Based on the set-up in #7, I think #8 will be pretty good - I might even go see it. As the grand finale, I think #9 is doomed.

[rug]

3. Yeah, duality is an old strand in literature.

What Jar Jar Binks is doing in the middle of it, I have no clue. I'll probably see # 7 soon.