Star Wars and Spirituality

but both as part of a whole

 

I hope you're not callous enough to share such "wisdom" with a bereaved family at funeral.

In such a monistic framework, there is no basis for distinguishing good from evil.

This is hardly consistent with the Hebrew Scriptures.

 

Huck, that wisdom has seen me through the death of 2 very close grandparents. When one understands that the body is only a sheath, that it is temporal, but the true identity of man is in the soul, the atman, then there is no question of death at all. only the body dies. We are so much more than that.

Good and evil can be clearly defined. We all have the same source of power, our own life force, our consciousness. IF we use it to torment others, cause pain and suffering when it can be avoided, then it is evil. If we use it to help and do good for others, it is noble.

The basis for sin in hindu and buddhist thought runs thus: Anything action or thought that drives you away from the experiential knowlege of your true identity and towards body identification, that is a sin. Serves as good basis for judsging good and evil.

 

You think it is "self-indulgent" to miss them?

In Eastern thought, we are nothing. The individual identity is an illusion, right?

You said before that good and evil were equally intrinsic to the nature of ultimate reality. How can you say that it hampers knowledge of one's true identity? How would you even define this?

 

nice one. i've been pondering on this for a while now. i believe that good and evil are equal and opposite parts of a whole, but i dont know how this relates to life. if we believe the path of good to be the right one, then we only come to understand half of the whole. but if we seek to learn both sides of the whole, it seems we must be both good and evil - where do you draw the line?

maybe the answer lies not in BEING good or evil, maybe it is more that one should know and understand both sides instead of just blindly choosing one.

i am reading the tao te ching at the moment to try and help me understand this

 

Its like this: Darkness in the night and Light in the day are intrinsic qualities of our world, but in darkness of the night we don't see many things we see in the light of the day, but both (dark nights/ bright days) are okay.

 

Wrong.
Right answer: Depends on what eastern thought you were talking about even though they are all every similar.

Buddha said: There is no self, he did not say "we are all nothing" .

Hinduism says: We are all parts of the supreme, your nature is essentially the Supreme truth.

Taoism talks about similar things but more dealing with yin/yang and all that stuff.

but they all agree that there is no point in crying for things beyond our control. That does not mean you do not miss your loved ones, that means that you are going to be aware that they are not gone anywhere. You will not let your loss interfere with whatever you do. Your pain might lessen... thats what it means. However, you can take it as something completely opposite to get this discussion going. I just wish at the end of it all, we all learn something.

 

You beat me to it, jedi and explained it better than I probably would have.

 

I just don't see how evil could be an intrinsic quality of the supreme.

 

Evil is not a quality of the supreme, the supreme is nirguna, without qualities and attributes. The same supreme self is in all things at all times. Evil and good are actions that take one closer to, or further away from realizing that identity with the self. The same self powers both.

 

One of the main themes in the new star wars i found to be most stunning was the theme of the jedi ( who are good) against the sith (who most portray as bad). If anyone has seen the new movie recall when the emperor says "and we shall have peace". Isn't that a good thing? The only difference between the jedi and the sith is the two ways they use the force. And they are both after the same damn thing. Control. The sith are the sworn enemies of the jedi. And jedis are the sworn enemies of the sith. what im trying to get at here is that one thing i got from the movie was that its all about taboos. Anakin said "from my perspective the jedi are evil". This movie is most definitely applicable to our lives. If any of you have found any thing applicable or a deeper theme post it and id enjoy elaborating

 

You can really feel for Annakin during that part of the film where he's getting bombarded from all sides with different points of view of the truth.
I find release in letting go of power and control, I think that makes me a jedi. Others find comfort in taking control, I think they are Sith. I think the important thing to remember ius that there are only two Sith, whilst there are hundreds of Jedi. Also the Jedi serve the force and the elected government. The Sith are the dictatorship. The force is their servant, and as a result so are the people.
When it comes down to it though, I think if someone said to me "look, I can shoot electricity out of my fingers, and I can show you how too" I would probably be on their side.

 

get with it. man, star wars is the best thing to happen to entertainment.

 

You guys check out supershadow.com? Great Star Wars sight .