#the jedi code

[valenteal]

The story of Anakin Skywalker is about how anyone can break under enough pressure. It isn’t a tragedy about an inevitable doom, it isn’t about how power corrupts or about how caring is dangerous. It’s about how no matter how good and kind and selfless and seemingly invincible someone is they still have needs and they can still be hurt.

Maybe this is because Phantom Menace is my favorite Star Wars movie and so I have rewatched it a million times, but for me Anakin is the most genuinely caring and selfless character in Star Wars. He wasn’t just an innocent kid (kids can be cruel and selfish and they’re usually better when they grow up not worse) he was compassionate and kind and despite growing up surrounded by some of the worst scum in the galaxy he knew nothing of greed. That says so much about his character.

Anakin’s fall to the dark side took over a decade of carful manipulation that culminated in cascade of tragedy and loss. It wasn’t an accident. Every bit of the emotional trauma, physical trauma, and mental trauma from the moment Anakin met Palpatine and on ward was planned. We don’t see the decade he spent between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones but immediately in the second movie we see how much Anakin has changed. Where he used to be confident he’s insecure, where he used to bold and fearless he is now arrogant, where he was once inquisitive he is now cautiously enthusiastic, where he used to build he now destroys. Every change in his behavior and outlook is the result of either the teachings of the Jedi Order which are pretty much the antithesis of his entire personality, the result of Sidious’s manipulation, or the result of the toxic attitudes of many Jedi towards him.

Now I know a lot of people have… misconceptions about what the Jedi Order is and what they stand for. It’s understandable, since I guess a lot of people think of Luke as an everything a Jedi is supposed to be but he is NOT, he wasn’t even taught their philosophy! Yoda and Windu and Luminara are everything a Jedi is meant to be. They take an impersonal approach to justice, they treat others coldly, they believe themselves to be above petty things like emotion and pain and human connection. There are Jedi who take a more progressive stance like Obi-Wan and Quinlan and Qui-Gon but you have to understand that they are not model Jedi and have their own struggles with the Order and its teachings. The Jedi code literally says “There is no emotion.” That is what Jedi strive for. And that isn’t even getting into the genocide or the politics. Focusing on how this affected Anakin. That’s what I’m doing.

Anyway, Anakin is a deeply emotional person. This is not a bad thing. It’s the source of his conviction and his empathy (which a surprising amount of Jedi lack). Anakin feels deeply, so he feels love and anger and sadness more keenly than Jedi who have worked their whole lives to shut off emotion. And he was never taught how to deal with it. The most the Jedi did was tell him to meditate, release his emotions into the Force, focus on the present or other platitudes that do not help! I would know. I’m also a deeply emotional person who feels things very keenly to the point where I had a full psychological evaluation when I was 6 years old. When a person deals with this it NEEDS to be addressed. I have wonderful parents who did everything in their power to help me from a young age and I still ended up suicidal! Anakin did not get help and was instead shamed for feeling so strongly and he ended up bottling it up. People complain about how he was “whiny” and I (a person who has also been called whiny) just go what the fuck do you expect?? Expressing his frustration verbally is literally the healthiest option he has! And we know what it looks like when he chooses other forms of venting! Anakin vented to Padmé almost immediately after reconnecting with her because she is literally the only person in his life who will listen to him (other than Sidious but he makes things worse on purpose).

So yeah. Sensitive people need to be taught how to deal with their emotions in healthy ways. Really everyone does but especially people with strong emotions.

But when Anakin isn’t overwhelmed by emotions he doesn’t have the tools to deal with, or surrounded by toxic people, or being actively manipulated by an evil dictator, that’s when you see who he really is. Which means pretty much all of Phantom Menace, a good chunk of the time he’s alone with Padmé, and… nothing else really. (I’m just going to say here that I am not including Clone Wars Anakin due to the purposeful butchering of his character. I still consider the show canon in everything but Anakin’s characterization in a lot of specific instances.)

Anakin has never been a selfish person. The things people perceive as selfish are his needs. He needs unconditional love. He needs Padmé because she is the only person who gives him that. Even without getting into his psychology and bpd and what a splitting episode is, it isn’t hard to recognize that when he places Padmé’s safety above other people’s it’s an act of self preservation more than self interest. He knows that he would literally go crazy without her. After years of being systematically isolated and traumatized she is the only thing keeping him together. In his desperation to save her and consequently his own sanity he lost both those things. But it’s important to note that he tried to do things right, that he went to Yoda for help, that he told Padmé so she could take her own steps to ensure her health. He did everything he could think of before getting desperate enough to go to Sidious. Not to mention he did everything right after discovering Sidious’s identity. It wasn’t until he was presented with a false dichotomy that boiled down to choosing his mentor and confidant of over a decade and his wife’s life or the man who has scored and distrusted him since he was child that he made the objectively wrong choice. And that was after not sleeping for weeks and having a traumatizing realization that triggered a splitting episode so he wasn’t in a head space to understand what was going on in an objective way.

So yeah. That’s my rant about Anakin Skywalker. If you want to comment or debate know that I will reply with an explanation of my thoughts that could be just as long as this post and that I will not stop until you do. You will not get the last word. I feel very strongly about this and if you’ve gotten this far you have to know that I have thought very deeply about this as well. I have heard every argument. You will not change my mind. I have done research. Engaging with this post to disagree will only lead to me expanding on this even more because this is really a brief summary of all my thoughts and feelings on the matter. If you’re just curious about the rest of my thoughts and feelings just ask.

Don’t try to attack my own morals and character because of this, I am NOT condoning Anakin’s actions or behavior, I am completely aware that he is a deeply damaged and unstable person. The point of this is not to deny that but to explain why Anakin is not naturally like that. The scariest thing about Anakin’s fall is that it happened to Anakin, a paragon of compassion and selflessness. Anyone put under the amount of pressure he was would go crazy. I doubt many people would last as long as Anakin did. He was insanely strong to resist for as long as he did.

[shinhatisgirlfriend]

Happy Oshecki Week 🧡🧡🧡

[darth-jess]

Hello ! Here's a Star Wars question. What's your opinion on "love isn't attachment" interpretation of the Jedi Code that has been going around?

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to answer this!

Short answer: Love and attachment often go hand in hand, however, they are NOT the same thing.

Long answer:

At the end of the day, this question hinges on how you define love, and what kind of love you are talking about. The English language is quite limited when it comes to love, because there are many different kinds love. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we need to bring back all the Ancient Greek words for all the different kinds of love, they were on to something.)

Love in general is not forbidden for Jedi, which means that there are at least SOME kinds of love that do not require attachment.

As Anakin puts it:

Compassion/agape/unconditional love is essential to being a Jedi. And this kind of love is not attachment. This kind of love expects nothing in return. This kind of love is never jealous, is never possessive, and does not hinge on ego or desire. This kind of love is not physical or sexual. There is no "I love you, I want you, I need you," and instead, there is self sacrifice, there is generosity, and it transcends personal desire.

HOWEVER.

When it comes to romantic love, there is always some aspect of attachment. This kind of love (when shared between two people) does come with expectation: I expect you to support me emotionally, I expect intimacy, I expect communication, I expect commitment, I expect loyalty, etc… (might sound demanding, but put it this way: would you be with someone who didn't care about your emotions? Who never wanted to be intimate with you? Who refused to communicate? Who refused to commit to you? Who cheated on you? I hope the answer is no because that would be very unhealthy).

Romantic love without attachment can come off as very cold, and uncaring. If your romantic partner said, "Hey, I love you so much, but if you left me for someone else or died, I would let you go and get over it and be fine, it's just the way of life," you might be slightly hurt.

Romantic love is deep, biological (not only in the sense of "it's for procreation" because it's so much more than that, and so much deeper, it fills a need for human companionship, friendship, someone you can trust beyond trust, someone to share everything with), and at its core, romantic love requires some level of attachment. It comes with all that "I LOVE YOU, I WANT YOU, I NEED YOU" passionate emotional insanity which is also inherently possessive. Romantic love requires an acknowledgment of the ego, it feeds the ego: I love you, AND you love me, and that feels great.

Romantic love centers around the self. Romantic love stems from what you want. (I'd never tell my sister, "On your next date, don't think about what you want or what you are looking for, think about what the guy wants and be selfless" because that is the worst dating advice ever.) Romantic love is inherently selfish- you want to end up with the person that makes you happy!

AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING.

Unless you are a Jedi. (If you need a reason why, please just watch the Star Wars Prequels and you'll have your answer.)

IN CONCLUSION

Love is NOT attachment, however romantic love inherently comes with attachment.

Footnote: while attachment, possession, selfishness, and jealousy are all very normal of romantic love, every romantic relationship needs a balance. There are levels of possessiveness and selfishness and attachment that have to be worked out in every relationship and people have to find what levels of these things they are comfortable with. Not ALL manifestations of possessiveness in a romantic relationship is good/bad, etc. just clarifying.

[absolxguardian]

This random passage from Into The Light gave me a realization about the so-called Jedi Code.

Maybe other Jedi would benefit from this insight. Dez had done without, and he hoped he had nonetheless done well. From past experience, he knew that the queasy, unsettled feeling within him could be quieted through meditation, certain koans, or the far more prosaic method that had always been his personal favorite. -The High Republic Into the Light, Claudia Grey

My first reaction was "wait, isn't koan a specific religious term". And it is, the dictionary definition is "a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment". Which sounds a lot like "There is no emotion, there is peace" etc. Actual koans are presented as riddles, but I feel like the so-called Jedi Code (since it's not their actual law code or even a statement of faith, a lot has been written about how its a meditation aid instead of being the code that is referenced in the prequels) is close enough for the purposes of reusing a specific historical term in a speculative fiction context.

This passage quoted from a book on koans in the wikipedia page for koan also aligns very well with the focus on duality:

[K]ōan after kōan explores the theme of nonduality. Hakuin's well-known kōan, "Two hands clap and there is a sound, what is the sound of one hand?" is clearly about two and one. The kōan asks, you know what duality is, now what is nonduality? In "What is your original face before your mother and father were born?" the phrase "father and mother" alludes to duality. This is obvious to someone versed in the Chinese tradition, where so much philosophical thought is presented in the imagery of paired opposites. The phrase "your original face" alludes to the original nonduality

[swtorpadawan]

The Code of Ashara

[yourfreindlynighborhoodspycrab]

[vampirepuppyboyfag]

not gonna respond to the post that inspired this because im not in the mood to debate over trivial matters

that said welcome to my star wars autism rant

the jedi are not good, the sith are not bad

the light side is not good, the dark side is not bad

the war corrupts

both sides are corrupt

both sides believe they are in the right

such is the nature of war

both sides of the war are bad which is also why the emperor is in charge of both to show the futility of the war and how it actively corrupts

there is no good and bad side thats the whole POINT its an anti-war franchise at its core

the jedi are corrupted by the internal politics of the war and do not serve as peacekeepers any longer thats literally the point

they began as monks, they became soldiers

the jedi actively gatekept the force from others

they stole children from their families to "train them"

even though before the jedi, everyone utilised the force

and we know the force is within all living things

they just aren't taught about it anymore

before the jedi, the force was just a way of living

the force is just existence like

its fully morally neutral

the mitochlorians are basically just atoms

the force is neither light or dark

it is living

it is life-force

thats literally why anakin "brings balance to the force" by destroying both the jedi and the sith

because BOTH SIDES exercise a control over something that should not be gatekept

well meanings beginnings do not a good person make

not to mention that the jedi are not inherrently good or peaceful for avoiding negative emotions and not allowing human connection

in fact id argue that belief has caused issues consistently

because you can't just

avoid connections to people

did you forget about every corrupt jedi ever? the way that the council consistently don't step in to help because of the politics around it?

remember the mandalorian arc where the jedi refuse to step in because mandalore is a neutral system in the war so it would cause a political rift when though the entire planet was basically being genocided

the best jedi are the ones who don't follow the code for a REASON

obi wan consistently breaks the code to save people, he did in the mandalore arc; ahsoka leaves BECAUSE the jedi became more of a symbol of fear and created soldiers rather than peace keepers

she talks about how the jedi were meant to keep the peace yet she's always been a soldier its like her entire season six arc

the concept of the neutral jedi / grey jedi is literally what the force is meant to be

the force IS neutral

always has been

the jedi are known to have a strong connection with animals because animals never had the force forcibly stolen from them

[capnseamus]

My spicy Star Wars hot take is that the reason we have issues with Star Wars stories now is because the lore and the world building of the prequels was specific for that story.

George didn't care about consistency, he could never imagine how pedantic we would all be. He was writing a mythology, his world was tailored to the story he was telling, in the case of the prequels that story was the fall of Anakin Skywalker.

So, the rules of the Jedi established in the prequels exist to be a thing Anakin can't do first and world building second.

It's a little clunky too, a bit of telling rather than showing. Sure, there's some philosophy there, that speaks to the broader themes of Star Wars, but at its core Jedi in the prequels can't get married, or build their world around people because Anakin is a guy who wants to get married. Jedi don't rescue Anakin's mom cause she needs to die. Jedi only take very young children so it can be too late to recruit Anakin. It's sewing the seeds of the tragedy.

That's the real reason Yoda doesn't lay them out in the OT. When people are like "these rules don't work!" Yeah, it's cause they were tailor made for one story.

That misconception has gummed up the works, because they have to address fans expectations about this thing or that thing when they were never really interested to be the axis around which the narrative pivots.

It's also hilarious, because that is also how mythology works - we all see it through our own lens, we all bring our own baggage. Also, the narrative of the prequels is that Anakin is the axis around which the narrative pivots, so even when people are trying to not make it the Skywalker saga, it still is.

[darth-jess]

THIS. YES. For so long I have wanted to write an explanation like this but I have never found the right words, and this person does it so well. This is a wonderful way to look at the Jedi Code, and I think this is absolutely the way it is meant to be understood. Love this.

There are no trash takes on Jedi philosophy, there is contextual analysis.

As may be obvious from the title (humorous--I have gone through several common misinterpretations myself), this is about that infamous scrap of poetry,

There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.

And the other version,

Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.

I've seen quite a few interpretations of these along the lines of "the second version is reasonable but the first version is crazy and stupid," so here's why I think both versions are actually communicating the same idea, and the wording doesn't really change the meaning much at all.

So just like I did in my post about "do or do not there is not try," let's start by asking some questions to establish context before we look at the text itself.

Is it THE Jedi Code or just a mantra? Legends says it's the Code, canon says it's a mantra. The fact of the matter is that no matter what, it's really a scrap of poetry which couldn't encompass the entire philosophical basis of a culture even if it was trying, so we'll consider it a mantra.

Does the fact that it's a mantra rather than THE Jedi Code mean that we can't get anything deep or meaningful out of it? Of course not. Just because it's not the whole of or a full explanation of Jedi philosophy doesn't mean it's just a nice sounding string of words.

Who is saying this to who? This mantra is often used to focus a meditation, with the first phrasing used by adults in the culture, while the second phrasing is more often used by children.

What were George Lucas' inspirations for Jedi culture that relate to this mantra? (borrowing from this post) A combination of christianity, buddhism, and his interpretations. I'm not an expert in any religion, and definitely not in buddhism, but I know enough to know I'm about to make some sweeping generalizations, so take this with a grain of salt. Disclaimers aside, this mantra, and the way it is phrased, indicate it is being inspired more by buddhism. The way christian texts, specifically the Bible, are written typically goes "here is a story about people doing something, and here is how big G god and/or Jesus reacted." There are metaphors sprinkled in, but they are mainly there to clarify for readers. Buddhist texts on the other hand (and lots of other eastern belief systems as well, like daoism, hinduism, etc. It's an important note that these belief systems don't necessarily conform to the western idea of what a religion is, and often their original languages don't even have a word which is equivalent in meaning to "religion") use metaphor in often deliberately contradictory ways, to make the reader think about things which are difficult to express in words alone. The ongoing struggle to reconcile contradictory descriptions is the point. This doesn't mean those texts can be interpreted however a reader would like. There may be multiple right interpretations, but there can also be wrong interpretations.

What the mantra does NOT mean:

"There is no ___ …" =/= "The experience of ___ is fake news."

"There is no ___ …" =/= "___ is not a useful concept."

"There is no ___ …" =/= "We should totally ignore ___ and pretend we've never heard that word before."

The mantra is not realy a set of advice on how to act. It's a set of statements about Existance. And I do mean capital E, philosophical, epistemological, weird, deep, think-y, Existence.

Temperature Metaphor

You know the first time someone tells you as a kid that cold isn't real, it's just the absence of heat and you're like… "but I'm touching something right now and it feels cold???" It sounds wild the first time you hear it, but as you think about it more, maybe learn about it a second time in science class, get some more context about how molecules work, etc. it begins to make more sense. It gets easier to grasp, until eventually the knowledge feels intuitive--especially if you're a STEM person who thinks about it a lot. We still talk about cold as a concept, because it's useful to us as well--lack of heat can have damaging effects on our bodies after all, and a cold drink is great on a hot day--and it's more efficient to say "cold" than it is to say "lack of heat." But there are some situations, like developing refrigeration or air conditioning, where it is not just useful but essential to think of temperature as it really is--heat exists, cold doesn't--and thinking of it colloquially can only hold us back (if this isn't actually intuitive to you, that's fine, it's just a metaphor--you could also think about dark being the absence of light, vacuum being the absence of mass, any number of things mirror this).

Probably the easiest like to get one's head around, imo at least, is "there is no ignorance, there is knowledge."

Taken hyper-literally it would mean "why seek out knowledge ever when everyone already knows everything?" But if we say knowledge is to heat as ignorance is to cold, then we can understand the real meaning--knowledge is real, where ignorance is only the name of an experience.

The Whole Mantra

This is the way the Jedi are understanding of emotion, ignorance, passion, chaos, death, etc. They are introduced, as children, to the idea that whilst they may feel all of these things, what they are actually experiencing is the lack of the other things--peace, knowledge, serenity, harmony, the Force. That's why they start with the "___ yet ___" phrasing--it introduces them to the first steps of understanding:

They can feel emotions, yet peace is still real and out there to reach for no matter how overwhelming those emotions may be at the moment,

They can feel ignorant or unknowledgeable, yet knowledge is out there to find,

They can experience passion (meaning suffering or pain in this context), yet know that serenity will return to them,

They can find their surroundings chaotic, and yet look for the harmony in the noise,

They can understand that death happens, yet be comforted by the fact that the person dying is still as much a part of the Force as they ever were.

Eventually they move onto the full mantra:

They will always feel emotions, but if they always reckon with those emotions and pass through them they can always return to a place of peace,

If they feel ignorant, they must seek out knowledge, rather than acting rashly. Also, their own knowledge is not the limit--others may hold knowledge in places they consider clouded,

They may experience suffering and pain--it may even feel like a good thing--but there is no wisdom in pain, it is the distraction from serenity, which is where truth can be found,

No matter how chaotic the world appears, it is actually a part of an underlying harmony that makes up all the patterns and the beauty in the world,

Death is not an ending, no matter how much it may look like one. It is a natural transition back into the Force, the place all life comes from.

A Jedi youngling is someone for whom this understanding is an essential part of the culture they are being brought up in.

A Jedi Padawan is someone who is beginning to learn to apply this understanding outside the confines of the Jedi temple, in a world where not everyone shares it.

A Jedi Knight is someone who has learned to apply this understanding on their own, without supervision.

A Jedi Master is someone for whom this understanding has become intuitive and automatic, no matter their surroundings.

All this is to say,

[valenteal]

Since I got into a debate about Star Wars I just wanted to tell everyone who may have missed it in the super long meta debate that most people won’t have the patience to read:

It is not selfish to want or need to be loved unconditionally.

It’s completely normal and natural. Unconditional love, love that expects nothing in return, is beautiful. It’s the best remedy for mental instability in my opinion. Anyone who watched Star Wars and came away with that message obviously didn’t get it. That’s literally the plot of the entire series. The original trilogy is how the unconditional love of even one person can be enough to redeem a terrible person and the prequel trilogy is about how the loss of unconditional love can drive a person insane. So I’ll say it again.

NEEDING UNCONDITIONAL LOVE IS NOT SELFISH!

[flyndragon]

I love the idea of jedi babies with psychometry just.... latching onto random things that have good memories attached and carrying it around like a teddy bear. Like baby Quin found a spatula with a memory of a kid and their parent lovingly making cookies in it and he slept with a dollar store spatula for the next 3 years. Cal found some silverware that a happy group of friends used for all of their special occasions, so his pockets end up full of comfort spoons. and forks. and butter knives.

[stealingpotatoes]

luminara after barriss coming out: oh, my darling. i'm so proud of you

*wears a shirt with "my kid is a they/them lesbian!!"

anakin after ahsoka coming out: OH MY FUCKING GODDDD THIS BITCH IS GAAAAAAAAAAY----

LMAO YEAH i mean its just realistic "coming out to your brother" vibes

(donation doodles! // tip jar)

[the-far-bright-center]

#the whole point of the prequels was how the Jedi’s hypocrisy and adherence to religious dogma alone was what caused Anakin to turn#because he dared to care about his mother#because he dared to fall in love#because he dared to be human (via @cleopatrick94)

look, the Jedi code that forbids love doesn’t just forbid possessive love or selfish love. It forbids love, period. It’s an important plot point, and while it casts the Jedi in a pretty bad light, it’s actually supposed to do that. Non-film media that tried to retconn that love is allowed and non-attachment is actually just healthy boundaries misses the point in order to produce a less-nuanced story where the Jedi order is unambiguously heroic.

[nescio7]

One thing I like about the Sith Code is that it reveals a core belief when you contrast it with the Jedi Code, specifically the way it’s written. The Sith codes uses a lot of me’s and my’s, showing that it’s a very selfish ideology. It doesn’t say that “Our Chains Are Broken” and not even “The Chains Are Broken” but “*My* Chains Are Broken”

The Jedi Code, by contrast, doesn’t even use pronouns. Like the Jedi, it’s very focused on something beyond the self. It doesn’t talk about what the speaker gains from their force abilities, but how the force is used to make the galaxy a much safer and more enlightened place.

Edit: typo

[girlrandomstuff]

“ The Jedi Code meant something more real, more substantial,

than any set of rules I'd been taught by the house tutors.

I told myself that if I couldn't live by Jedi virtues myself

I would assemble my own set to be proud of. ”

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

Friendly reminder that emotional mindfulness and regulation are not emotional repression, but a fundamental part of being a member of any kind of society.