*amused* Hey, someone beat me to it. I was going to say, there is somewhat of a religion based around the force that goes beyond the Jedi themselves and force users. It's not very organized or ritualized, seems to vary from world to world and of course there are people like Han Solo that don't believe in it at all.
The force being a guiding and unifying life essence, it functions as something of a Higher Power in and of itself, shaping lives and events by giving them purpose and meaning and direction, 'destiny' or fate being seen as the will of the force. There are examples of this in the original trilogy, although they are pretty subtle. Han is the most obvious. He refuses to believe in anything having a hand in his actions other than himself, until he runs into Luke and is confronted with incontrovertible evidence. When he later says to Luke as he's leaving, 'May the Force be with you', he's at least acknowledging that whatever it is is there for Luke.
That phrase has been picked up and run with in several forms by other authors, and some of the short stories in particular do a great job of showing the galaxy from a non-Jedi point of view. It's more of a general blessing/farewell, something like the old English 'Godspeed'. It doesn't seem to indicate interaction or knowledge on a personal level for the majority of the galaxy, but merely an acknowledgement that a supernatural guiding force/presence exists and is generally beneficent, if not self-aware.
And um. There's a lot more I could say about that, but there are also culture specific religions in many places that may or may not be related to the force at all. Naturally, most authors preach tolerance and inclusion of any and all personal beliefs, coexistent. And. Hmm there's a lot more, but I dunno how much any of it would apply. Religion is something that definitely interests me in the SW universe, and it's surprising how often it's incorporated into plotlines and events, but there's a lot of subtle scattered things and especially with certain authors, they get liberally mixed into the SF/F aspect of the force as magical energy, which in my opinion it actually is not.
I have a lot more opinions about this, but this comment is long already, so. ;D If you want to know more, I'll probably be on AIM later.
no subject
Date: 19 Mar 2006 09:30 pm (UTC)The force being a guiding and unifying life essence, it functions as something of a Higher Power in and of itself, shaping lives and events by giving them purpose and meaning and direction, 'destiny' or fate being seen as the will of the force. There are examples of this in the original trilogy, although they are pretty subtle. Han is the most obvious. He refuses to believe in anything having a hand in his actions other than himself, until he runs into Luke and is confronted with incontrovertible evidence. When he later says to Luke as he's leaving, 'May the Force be with you', he's at least acknowledging that whatever it is is there for Luke.
That phrase has been picked up and run with in several forms by other authors, and some of the short stories in particular do a great job of showing the galaxy from a non-Jedi point of view. It's more of a general blessing/farewell, something like the old English 'Godspeed'. It doesn't seem to indicate interaction or knowledge on a personal level for the majority of the galaxy, but merely an acknowledgement that a supernatural guiding force/presence exists and is generally beneficent, if not self-aware.
And um. There's a lot more I could say about that, but there are also culture specific religions in many places that may or may not be related to the force at all. Naturally, most authors preach tolerance and inclusion of any and all personal beliefs, coexistent. And. Hmm there's a lot more, but I dunno how much any of it would apply. Religion is something that definitely interests me in the SW universe, and it's surprising how often it's incorporated into plotlines and events, but there's a lot of subtle scattered things and especially with certain authors, they get liberally mixed into the SF/F aspect of the force as magical energy, which in my opinion it actually is not.
I have a lot more opinions about this, but this comment is long already, so. ;D If you want to know more, I'll probably be on AIM later.