Teachings,+Sith+Assignment+I

=Sith Assignment I= (By Miles) (Return to Teachings)

Assignment I

Darkness, the antitheses of creatures who rely on sight to perceive the dangers of the world, is a magnificent allegory for those aspects of the force that we as a society have shunned within ourselves. Given our survival mechanism of creating social groups to best defend against the threats to our survival, we have over time developed many ideas and beliefs, ingrained in us from birth through education and instruction, of how a social order is best accomplished. The goal of the social order, originally established for protection has always had as a core center of its belief, that there is safety in numbers. It follows, therefore, that the greater the numbers, the more successful the safety.

But after a while, the numbers accumulate and become so large that abstract rules need to be created to ensure the safety of the society from itself and its membership. This is the foundation of the establishment of law. Many of the difficulties a society finds in staying unified are the manifestations within the membership of the more primitive thoughts and feelings, biological defense mechanisms to assure the success of the individual, coming into conflict with the harmony and security of the greater societal whole. As a result, many laws in the form of rules, customs and societal norms of “acceptable” behavior develop. Often these laws shun or suppress the primal desires of the individual animal. Over time these primitive desires and reactions are divided into those that are beneficial to the unity of the whole and those that are not. They are given the labels of virtues and sins. That which is virtuous is that which benefits the whole over the individual. That which is labeled a sin is that which places the self over the whole, to the detriment of others. We are creatures that rely on light to protect us from the unseen threats that lie in wait in the darkness. This has over the millennia developed a primal reaction to the darkness of fear, which manifests in many very physical ways. We are more cautious in the dark, our imaginations screaming visions of nightmares that would leap out at us at any turn. This is most easily found in children who have not learned from experience that the darkness is not as threatening as it was once imagined.

With this view of darkness, the dark side of anything would be a lable ascribed to that which should be feared, and therefore shunned. I see the Dark label as a word chosen by those who view “sins”, or those actions and behaviors not in line with the greatest benefit of society, as something to be avoided at all costs rather than explored responsibly, for it is our role as a day time creature to fear the dark, and thus a “dark” label is to inspire fear. I do not believe that a nocturnal creature would have the same feeling about the “dark” side of anything.

All this said, the dark side of the Force is but a collection of aspects of the force, or a collection of manifestations of the force that are deemed by those who chose the label “dark” as things to avoid, things of great danger, things of high risk. It is simply another word for “sin” in the societal construct.

So what does all this resolve to? The force is a single existence, as much light as dark, and yet no judgement comes from the force itself. Any label of good or evil, light or dark, comes from ourselves as we apply our societal definitions to this abstract energy of self perpetuating life. But being one of these day time creatures, as subject to my primal instincts as any other, do ascribe those traits that are counter to the societal good as dark, and I accept the fallacy on the simple basis of being able to communicate with a common vocabulary.

The dark side is that part of the force that deals with individual survival, those primitive desires, fears, and activities that best perpetuate our own survival. These are interpreted most often as physical reactions to chemical stimuli and we rationalize them as emotions. The dark side pertains to a certain subset of the overall emotional experience of man, those considered to be counter to the greater benefit of society. Emotions such as Hate, Fear, Anger, Rage, and Lust are all considered generally counter to the good of the societal whole, and therefore are ascribed to the dark side.

It is natural form a societal preservation viewpoint to see why these would be negative and undesired emotions, as they manifest into actions that, for the individual may be satisfying, but for the larger whole would result in chaos. We have learned this as a species rather clearly through endless manifestations throughout history. There is nothing new here. The Society prefers that other alternatives be pursued.

For me, I feel that we as a society have somewhat thrown the baby out with the bath water. This denial outright of our primal selves has taken a turn of avoidance. We are taught to suppress and avoid that which would develop those primal attitudes. Fortunately for me, I was a soldier, and still am in spirit. As a soldier we are taught how to use some of the passions less desirable in civilian life to great benefit on the battle field. This is coupled with a strict structure to ensure that things are still controllable but the strict structure is necessary, nay, essential to the success of organized chaos, which is what military life is. It is an exchange. But in that experience I have seen things and experienced things that have led me to believe that to deny, suppress or avoid these emotions is to disregard the benefits of their power.

I see a very dangerous razor’s edge to following a path of darkness, and that is the forgetfulness of some to take responsibility for their passions, understand them, and that embracing them does not mean surrendering to them in entirety. That would be a mistake in the other direction. (Return to Teachings)