Hello everyone!

I recently finished reading a blog by Jade Sabre777 titled Balancing the Force, and I couldn't fit all of my thoughts into the comment boxes.

Unfortunately, this blog isn't going to be what I originally intended, seeing as I wrote over a page of material and somehow I deleted it (don't you just hate when that happens?!?!) But I'll try to recreate the masterpiece... () here goes!

I like to think that I am a fairly balanced person, however I think I lean pretty heavily towards the Jedi philosophy of things (as opposed to the Sith). I think that we should always try to accomplish our goals peacefully, with as little bloodshed and pain as possible. The Sith obviously don't do this - they use as much brute force and aggression as they see fit to get what they want. I do think it is important to point out, however, that not only the Sith can do 'evil' things. The Yuuzhan Vong destroyed countless planets and enslaved millions - maybe billions or trillions - of people, and they didn't even exist in the Force (mostly), and the Empire (despite the fact that it was controlled by a Sith) destroyed Alderaan and was violently racist to pretty much any non-human.

For that reason, I think that the majority of people would lean towards the Jedi side of things, because I like to think that people aren't capable of the monstrosities the Sith committed (despite the fact that I think selfishness and conflict are the natural states of the universe, as depicted in the Force Heretic trilogy... but that's another blog all together).

Also, I think that we can accomplish so much more by using diplomacy and peaceful negotiation instead of aggression and fear tactics. The Sith use their lightsabers and their force lightning to accomplish their goals, and I obviously think this is wrong. When you use aggression and fear to control the outcome of a situation, I think that's what you will receive in return from your opponent/enemy, ultimately leading towards you experiencing the same amount of pain that you originally inflicted upon you enemy (anyone say Return of the Jedi??).

The Jedi also have something else going for them, in my opinion... I think that the Jedi suppressing their emotions is a very good thing. In my experience and opinion, I think that we can accomplish so much more by using our heads over our hearts. When we tuck away our selfish emotions and think objectively about the situation, I think we can accomplish much more, in a more effective manner.

That being said, I think there should be a BALANCE of emotion and logical thought. Clearly the old Jedi philosophy of no outward emotion didn't really work, as they were defeated by the Sith, and apparently the Sith philosophy of intense emotions didn't work, because they were defeated by the Rebels. The New Jedi philosophy, however, is a prime example of this balance, as JS demonstrated. Forgetting about the NJO for a second, I think we have to acknowledge the fact that both philosophies (Sith and old Jedi) have plus sides to them, and the Jedi (Old or New) aren't this shining display of perfection (which I don't think anyone actually thinks... I just had to say it). So, in summary, I think there has to be a balance between tons of emotion and none at all.

In the blog from which my ideas sprung, JadeSabre commented that: "For the Force to be balanced, there needs to be some kind of "in-between" order - neither Jedi nor Sith." I completely agree. But I think there are already some examples of this balanced order in the form of individual people, namely Mace Windu and Vergere.

Okay, let me explain... Windu, through his use of Vaapad, embraces the darkness within him and harnesses it to his benefit. I think this acknowledgement of the 'dark' emotions within him is very important to the balance that I am talking about. He has these emotions, as do all the Jedi, but he focuses them to be useful to him, and through him the Jedi Order. (Now I know what you're going to say - that this harnessing put him perilously close to the Dark Side, but I say good! To be close to the Dark Side, one has to embrace part of it, and I think that seeing and using both sides of something is very good).

Now for Vergere, which I'm finding a little harder to put into words. Through her training of Jacen, she said that he has to embrace all of his emotions (she sorta said this... kinda). Her main point was that the Force was one flat blanket, without a dark and a light side - that it was your actions that discerned 'good' or 'evil'. This way, neither the Jedi nor the Sith are right, which, in my opinion, signifies a balance. If neither is correct, then this has to be something totally different - a balance between the two.

In conclusion, I do agree with JS on many things, but I'm still not convinced whether or not Anakin actually did bring the Force into balance... however I definitely think that Luke did by bringing about the New Jedi Order and having a healthy BALANCE in it... that's not to say that it's perfect though. I think there shouldn't necessarily be an Order, per se, at all. The physical grouping of people is definitely going to cause rifts between them and society, and moreso with other groups (Jedi vs. Sith).

But not having a Jedi Order? I don't know if the galaxy could handle that... and the Force sensitives may have wrought much more destruction had they not been trained in some way. And besides, what would SW be without a Jedi Order!?!?

Anywho, I hope I haven't been too confusing... after reading this over, I kinda did just reiterate a lot of what JS said, but I'll post this anyways. As always, comments are more than welcome (if you made it this far down the page!!)

May the Force be With You!