I love Star Wars. It is fair to say that I was born and raised
a Star Wars fan. And even though my interest in the series
began to wane when I began to discover its weaknesses, as I studied philosophy
and theology (plus, my general disappointment with the prequels and multiple
edited re-releases), I still happily retain a great deal of the positive themes
and elements that can still be found, as well as simply enjoying years of
entertainment and inspiration. I’d be
lying if I said that my Christmas break (which I was blessed to have, as a full
time college chaplain) did not include three viewings of The Force Awakens, many conversations with friends and family about
it, and reading articles, reviews and analyses, ranging in perspective from
spiritual (here, here), to psychological (here), to fan-speculation (here). And I
enjoyed them all thoroughly and equally.
Among the key themes
that mark the imminent value of these stories, these three have often stood out
most to me:
1)
The Link Between Faith & Vocation: We all have greater potential than we often know
and were made to do great things in life.
Yet, realizing this great calling and becoming the hero we were made to
be involves beginning to believe in and entrust ourselves to something beyond
ourselves (although, we will discuss some important fundamental differences between
Christian faith and that portrayed in Star
Wars). And as we see boldly in the
latest installment, realizing that this faith is not a fantasy, but that “It’s
all true” changes everything.
2)
The “Father-Wound” & Family Ties: Many have
observed and written about the “Father-Wound” in human experience, from both
psychological and spiritual perspectives.
Its roots are found in Eden, when we rejected our Father and first
became alienated from Him, but reflections can be found throughout life
experience and almost ad nauseum in
stories found in pop culture. The
importance of this to Star Wars goes
without saying. Furthermore, other
family ties are very important to the story and to understanding the
development and growth of the characters.
While the pain of how these relationships are broken is strong, equally
strong is the pull these inescapable relationships have upon us.
3)
Hope of Redemption:
For me, this is actually the thing that stands out most powerfully. The story of redemption in Return of the Jedi still moves me to
this day, and I could not have been more thrilled to see it as a theme running
so strongly through The Force Awakens,
as we begin to realize how much pain and tragedy our heroes have experienced
since last we saw them on the big screen, yet they are moved forward in a
beautifully stubborn hope that redemption is still possible.
Amidst all of these
positive themes, however, I think it is also important to note some important
flaws in the understanding of reality presented, which I think has influenced
people in ways that deserves to be talked about a bit more often. So, while I continue to love Star Wars, I think it is important to
take an approach that I call discerning
the spirits of the force (consider 1 John 4:1). It is always important to take a critical
approach to what we take in. Many
stories and other works of art that are flawed in some ways still have great value
that should not be discounted. But, we
have to be very careful about sifting out the good from the bad, especially if
we are persons of faith. Otherwise we
may fail to notice that when we thought we were noticing similarities to our
faith, we were in fact adopting notions that are actually foreign to our faith,
philosophically flawed, and can have a negative impact when we apply them in
life. These flaws can actually be found
quite often in Star Wars. Much of the “wisdom of the Jedi” holds some
truth that is worth heeding. But, some
of these famous maxims are actually quite problematic. The errors essentially all flow from the
essential differences between Christian faith and “using the force” (which
constitute the reasons I’m always a little leery about comparing the force to
the Holy Spirit or grace):
1)
The Force is Not Personal: Our God is not a mysterious force or mystical
energy that we tap into and reach out toward.
He is our Father who endlessly reaches out to us, even when we neglect,
resist or ignore Him. He is our Savior,
Brother, and Friend. He is three Persons
in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, perfectly united in relation to one
another and seeking relationship with us.
This makes all the difference.
2)
The Force is Created: Some would contest this, and it may derive from
inconsistencies in how it is explained in the movies, but if you listen closely
to multiple descriptions in the movies, you are left with a distinct impression
that the force is not the Creator, the Source of all being, but rather derives
and flows from all living
things. This is quite different from our
God, who is the Source of all creation and holds the beauty, order and design
of reality, which He has imprinted upon it to reveal to us a glimpse of His own
Beauty and Wisdom.
3)
The Force is a Form of Dualism: I’ll be
honest. One of my pet peeves is when
people reduce the symbolic and thematic value of adventure stories such as
these by saying “it’s all about the struggle between good and evil” or “good
always triumphs.” This is not only
because there are much deeper themes that are being overlooked, but also
because sometimes it is precisely the “struggle between good and evil” that is
being presented in a way that is sometimes very intriguingly nuanced and also sometimes very seriously flawed. This is very true in Star Wars. The force divides
all of reality, including all reality that we may describe as “spiritual,” into
light and dark, good and bad. This is
NOT a Christian understanding of reality.
It is my opinion that the majority of Christian commentators on these
stories who neglect this point do so because they take for granted that people
already understand this, as it has been pointed out time and time again. Yet, I think it is a very subtle
misunderstanding that creeps often unnoticed into our ways of understanding
reality, including in Christian circles, leaving behind a trail of damage. Reality is not composed of “good” and
“bad.” On the contrary, He (see point 1) created all things (see point 2) good. Evil is a privation of,
a lack of, or a departure from the proper good that God wills for all of
creation, as dark is an absence of light.
Even Lucifer (Satan) was created good, but chose evil, by choosing to reject
the good that is God’s will. There are
many problems with the dualistic understanding of reality. Besides being an over-simplification that
causes us to fail to appreciate the goodness and beauty of God’s creation,
including the goodness and beauty of every person, however evil their actions,
it can also cause us to fail to understand the subtlety of how evil actual
works, as it leads to a failure to recognize lies as lies. Inevitably, this
dualism leads to an understanding that these two sides of reality are “held
together” and destined to be “in balance”.
It becomes increasingly difficult to choose the truth and reject the
lies, as these two realities begin to be revealed as simply opposed to one another – even though one is called “light,”
neither one is actually clearly established as Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Thus, this dualism also leaves one vulnerable
to moral relativism.
As I said, flowing from
these essential differences, a number of flaws can be found in the so-called
wisdom of the Jedi, while some other snippets are still quite good. The most significant problematic statement is
perhaps Yoda’s famous quote, “Once you start down the dark path forever will it
dominate your destiny.” Admittedly, this
might be intentional irony purposefully built into the story, since Luke
seemingly proves him wrong in Return of
the Jedi, both by reclaiming his father and by the fact that even Palpatine
doesn’t argue with him when he claims “I’ll never turn to the Dark Side,” after
succumbing to the temptations of two Sith multiple times (not to mention that
Jedi seem to be okay with telling their apprentices what they feel they need to
hear, even if it is effectively a lie, which could also be an indication of
intentional irony).
But, the example that I
want to focus on – as I finally come
to the point of the subtitle of this entry – is another insistence of
Yoda. Multiple times in different forms,
Yoda tells us that fear, anger, hatred and suffering all lead to the Dark Side,
that they belong to the Dark
Side. On the contrary, Christian faith
teaches us the redemptive value of suffering, which we begin to understand more
deeply every time that we meditate prayerfully on Christ upon the cross. Furthermore, the notion that certain emotions
are essentially dark and always lead
to evil is neither a psychologically nor a spiritually healthy approach to our
emotions. Here, we find the dualism of
the Star Wars universe applied even
to one’s emotions. Part of the journey
toward the point when we can finally experience
the redemptive value of our suffering is that we must give ourselves, or be
given, the permission to feel what we are feeling, however uncomfortable or
“negative” it may be. We have to learn
to not simply reject certain emotions, but to process them – acknowledge them, relate them to God in prayer, and
perhaps to a trusted spiritual guide, and follow His guidance in how to respond
to them in a healthy manner.
Furthermore, Catholic spirituality would promote virtue, in which we develop habits of moderating our passions
(especially through temperance) and ordering them toward the Good, rather than
simply rejecting those deemed as negative.
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| U of I's team of FOCUS Missionaries (and friend) recreating Inside Out for Halloween |
Meanwhile, one of my other tasks for Christmas
break was to start on the “Father, you should watch this” list. This led me to finally watch the recent Pixar
film Inside Out, which personifies
our emotions in a way that is simultaneously charming, delightful and
hilarious, but also incredibly
meaningful. Not since Up have I watched an animated movie and
immediately thought, “I’m going to want to watch that again… often.” The point that I think Inside Out gets right, where Star
Wars gets it wrong, is that the film is a delightful little parable about
learning how to understand and navigate our emotions. At the beginning of the film, Joy wants to
run the show, yet she also understands that Anger, Fear and even Disgust serve
a purpose. Even more strikingly,
however, is the climax of the movie. In
the midst of a very difficult trial, and at a key stage of growth and
development for the child, Joy begins to understand the purpose of Sadness, and
it becomes clear that both of these emotional experiences serve a purpose and
can coexist. Beautiful! This ability to allow Joy and Sadness to coexist,
and the ability to understand the purpose of even our less comfortable emotions, and to navigate them accordingly can all
be signs of both emotional and spiritual maturity.
How often do we have
difficulty understanding and navigating our emotions? If it’s more often than we would like, maybe
we should ask ourselves what kind of view of reality we bring with us. Is it possible that we are a little bit
influenced by a dualistic worldview, like that of Star Wars? If so,
thankfully, that same story also teaches us the hope of redemption never
dies! May our Loving Father,
who has made all things good to allow us to glimpse His Goodness, restore and
heal whatever has been broken and lost, in order that we may better reflect His
Goodness and Beauty to the world.
