In Cloak of Darkness, Ahsoka is faced with a difficult decision: to follow orders and remain guarding Nute Gunray or follow her instincts and aid Luminara. Ultimately, this is a question of right and wrong, a question we face every day.

The opening maxim for this episode is: "Ignore your instincts at your peril."

Zen is real big on instinct. Or, to be more precise, intuition (in colloquial terms the two seem interchangeable). Intuition is an immediate insight into what is right, right now. It is the "feeling" part of the Jedi phrase, "Trust your feelings." Intuition is the gut hunch that gives us direction in a way that is different from-and much clearer than-logic or mental calculation. Obi-Wan told Luke, "Let go your conscious self and act on instinct." This is intuition.

We don't usually listen to intuition, but make decisions based on a whole host of beliefs and hopes for producing an outcome that we think will be most advantageous. If we achieve the result we are looking for, then we call it "right." If not, then it's "wrong." On the other hand, intuitive decisions are just made-there is no right or wrong about them. But there is a rightness to them. They are right in a way that goes beyond the black and white of "right and wrong." This intuitively "right" choice is simply the right thing to do right now. Like eating when you're hungry or putting on a coat when it is cold.

When notions of prescribed duty and what others may think of us weigh on our decision-making, the voice of intuition is drowned out. We hear Jedi talk about quieting the mind. When the mind is quiet we hear the intuitive voice more clearly and solutions present themselves without any attempt by us to manufacture them.

To recap: Ahsoka decides to ignore a direct order and, instead, leaves her post to assist Jedi Master Luminara in her fight against Asajj Ventress. From this choice two major events ensue. 1) Ahsoka saves Luminara from death. 2) Argyus-who is secretly colluding with Ventress-is left without a Jedi to stop him from freeing Gunray-the prisoner Ahsoka was tasked to guard.

Before she made her choice, Ahsoka weighed her options and received input from Argyus, Gree and Gunray. She was trying to understand the right thing to do. Her intuition was clear: Luminara was underestimating Ventress and would need help. But she hesitated because her choice wasn't that simple. She had Gunray to worry about and retaining him was vital to the war effort.

She may have been duped, but in the end she went with her intuition and saved Luminara. Of course, this opened the door for Argyus to free Gunray. So, did she make the right decision?

The question is certainly debatable, but let me give you my take. To make any decision, to act in any way is to do something wrong. In other words, everything we do is a sin. No matter what we do in this life we will always, from a certain point of view, sin. Now, to sin isn't as bad as some would think. In ancient Hebrew (from which the word derives) sin simply meant to miss the mark. It was a term used in archery. If a bowman's arrow didn't meet the bull's-eye, the spotter would yell, "Sin!" The archer had missed the mark.

So every time we make a decision and act we sin, because we always miss the mark. Why? Because there are multiple marks! Ahsoka can't both save Luminara and stop Argyus. By going to Luminara, she sins against her mission to guard Gunray. If she'd stayed with the Viceroy, Luminara would've died. It's a quandary she cannot solve. Such quandaries we face every day.

With multiple targets before us, we must pick one and go with it. The practice of Zen meditation, or quieting the mind, helps us hear our intuition, which in turn provides us with insight that will help guide us (usually by showing us that the targets aren't as different as we believe). There's nothing strange or special about this. It is like making a decision when you are calm as opposed to hysterical. The calmly made decision will always be better. And so we go with it, knowing full well we are sinning. But because we cannot escape sin we do not hold on to regret.

In Cloak of Darkness, Ahsoka exhibited this beautifully.