"You must learn the ways of the Force if you are to come with me to Alderaan"
Obi-Wan to Luke in ANH

In Ben Kenobi's hut, Luke and Ben watch Leia's holographic plea for help and sit in silence for a few seconds thinking about what she just said. Then Kenobi blurts out the above line to Luke. And Luke is taken completely by surprise. He had no intentions of getting involved, let alone learn the ways of the Force of which he has no idea exists.

"You must do what you feel is right"

I don't think that line was meant to feed Luke a guilt trip, but it was his first informal instruction from Obi-Wan in learning to trust his feelings.

Now you may be wondering why I'm referring to this scene to set the premise of my entry. In my mind, at least, this scene sets up the notion that there are some things in life (be it Star Wars, or our real world) that are beyond our control, be they good or bad. And that these things are meant to happen for a reason, again for good or bad, and that we need to trust our feelings, or instincts, to see them through.

In Luke's case, he had no idea what was about to happen. That he would stumble across the Jawa sandcrawler which had been attacked by stormtroopers which led him to believe they were after the droids, which would have led them back ... home. Where the reality really sets in.

Ben's statement alarmed Luke at first, and he crawled back into his shell of insecurity that his uncle had built around Luke. Owen didn't want Luke to get involved with any Jedi business, that much he made clear. And he made it even clearer that he didn't want him associating with Obi-Wan. But fate has a way of sending us messages in what may seem like a trying time. Sure, Luke didn't want to stay on the farm forever, and he pushed aside Ben's invitation to learn the ways of the Force and to go to Alderaan because of "his uncle talking", but he quickly changed his tune when the reality of the situation sunk in. He now trusted Ben and gave himself over to a new teaching, despite having no idea where it would land him. This was an event beyond his control, but still worked out positively, despite Luke's losses. But it also showed his true character ... to be unsure of the unknown, but to still forge ahead with trust.

And with realizing that some things are beyond our control comes a fear of the unknown. That it might not work out. This was the case of Anakin. He had much fear of the unknown and allowed it to chew him up on the inside until he could only do what he thought of as taking fate into his own hands, which isn't all bad because of course we all have a hand to play in our own lives. But he soon realized that one cannot always do this. He discovered that some things happen for a reason, and they are beyond his control ... his loss of Padme, his loss of most of his physical self, and his loss of his freedom. But, again, as some things happen for a reason beyond our control, he was saved by the very person who really did accept this notion ... his son.

Throughout the saga, Luke learned to trust his feelings as Ben had instructed. This means to trust what you feel is the right thing to do, and also to trust that things will work out if you follow your feelings, even it it seems beyond your control. This is where Anakin failed, and Luke succeeded. They both had suffered losses due to events beyond their control, and each had their individual outcomes. But in the end, both were saved by trusting their feelings.