For Yoda time was a fluid current with eddies and ripples in the process of continual change. This was a consistent belief in both the OT and the PT. He warned his students to stay in the moment of now. The future was irrelevant. Something intangible that changed with the currents. One could see many possibilities within the waters of time but an actual outcome was difficult to pick out. To follow the ways of the Force and become one with it was to surrender yourself to the flow and let it take you where it will. If you were wise enough, a force adherent could see the patterns of things to come and make an educated guess. A master may even learn to swim with the current charging forward without fear of the future. To a student this may look as though the master can make things happen. That they control their fate. This is only an illusion however.

I make an analogy of a river. Take the Mississippi river where I grew up. Many try to tame it and control it but the river always has its own design. It is in and of itself a mighty force. It is said that if you happen to get thrown into it you must relax and swim with the current and slowly make your way to the shore. If you try to swim against it or even straight to shore you will never make it. The rivers strong currents and wirlpools tire you and bash you around until it consumes you, taking your life.

Yoda tried to impart this knowledge to his charges. Anakin, a young man torn apart by visions comes to Yoda for advice. Yoda warns him of attachments in trying to console him on his visions. Some think Yoda was cold and was giving a pat answer here. In Yoda's defense he had probably said much to young skywalker over the years on this subject. How much more could he say. Also this is what Yoda truely believed. Anakin just could not understand that he was only seeing a possibility. Blinded by his torturous fears he began to fight the currents trying hard to control them but only became battered and broken against the rocks. His own thrashing causing the movements in the flow that brought his fears to be.

Fast forward to Dagobah. Trainning his newest ward Luke, The son of Skywalker, Yoda is passing on the ways of the force. Luke receiving a frightening vision loses his concentration. Yoda to Luke, "the future you see". "Will they die?" he asks and Yoda again tries to impart the wisdom of the Force and the passage of time. "Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is." This was more than just repeating Jedi doctrine. This is his experience his wisdom speaking. Trying and hoping that this Skywalker will heed the words and not let his passions, anger, and fears control him. He wanted Luke to see that his visions were a possibility not fact and that he needed to surrender to the Force and keep track of the bigger picture.

Bad things do happen but they are not the work of evil. They are part of the natural order. Giving to the bigger picture of life. Do we swim with it and see the wisdom delt through it or do we fight against the current and drown? One hint though there is no wrong answer but control is the illusion.