"Since the fall of Darth Bane more than a millenium ago, there have been hundreds of thousands of Jedi - hundreds of thousands of Jedi feeding the light with each work of their hands, with each breath, with every beat of their hearts, bringing justice, building civil society, radiating peace, acting out of selfless love for all living things - and in all these thousand years, there have been only two Sith at any time. Only two. Jedi create light, but the Sith do not create darkness. They merely use the darkness that is always there. That has always been there. Greed and jealousy, aggression and lust and fear - these are all natural to sentient beings. The legacy of the jungle. Our inheritance from the dark." ~ Jedi Master Mace Windu

Since The Phantom Menace we've all been wondering what it means to bring balance to the Force. We know that Anakin Skywalker is the Chosen One, we know that he fulfills his destiny when he emerges from the abyss of Darth Vader to cast down the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious on the second Death Star. We know these things. Yet we do not know what it means to bring balance to the Force... what the stakes are in the game. Does this imbalance in the Force, this leaning towards darkness, mean the possible end of the universe? Is this a cosmic thing? Are we talking about the Force being imbalanced on the scale of the entire existent universe and without Anakin Skywalker, one lone Jedi, toppling Darth Sidious, one lone Sith Lord, that the entire universe as known/experienced would cease to be? Or is this a more localized phenomenon?

Previously I've written on the existence of the dark side of the Force, as we were left with some serious questions regarding the very nature of the Star Wars universe by the end of the New Jedi Order series. So if you haven't read the previous blog it might be helpful to take a look at it here: Does the Dark Side exist? I want you to be familiar with my point of view on this matter. To sum it up, I believe the dark side "exists" in some manner and is present as an energetic reality but it does not have any substance of its own and is likely a produce of illusory perception of individual beings as having existence of their own apart from the Original Force which is absolutely existent with no possibility of non-existence.

So, starting with the assumption that the essential nature of the Force is to be positive and light it seems only logical that the essential nature of existent beings is to be positive and light. Somewhere along the way beings come to think of themselves as seperate from the Force, as having an existence apart from the Force, and that leads to the conversion of the positive original energy of the Force into negative energy. It leads to the veiling of the Original Light of the Force and the casting of a shadow into the web of energy known as the living Force ie the original energy of the Force refracted by the myriad of beings into various types of energies the primary being positive and negative, light and dark.

Perhaps I'm rambling a bit, if you're not lost keep trying to follow along, if you are lost... have faith I'll bring us to the destination in due time. Bear in mind the Hua Hu Ching quotes from the previous blog regarding the dark side.

At any rate, the opening quote from Mace Windu suggests that the Jedi Knights have a role in keeping balance in the Force; through their actions they align themselves with the essential nature of the Force, the Light. They continually reflect that light into the world through the mirrors of their hearts through good actions, good thoughts and such. They are, as the ending statements of Hua Hu Ching Chapter 57 says, integrating the positive influences, and consciously reconnecting themselves with the primary energy ray of the Subtle Origin(Unifying Force) by adopting the practices of the Integral Way(Tao). Then all the rays in the net around them merge back into harmonious oneness. Their own harmony with the Force helps to draw other beings into harmony, just by their very presence.

How, then, did the Force even become unbalanced... if there were so many Jedi feeding the light for a thousand years? Well, firstly we can pretty safely say that the Jedi were successful for most of that millenium after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan and Bane's occultation of the Sith Order and institution of the Rule of Two. Unfortunately it was at this time that the Jedi adopted the more strict interpretation of the Jedi Code that we see frustrating Qui-Gon Jinn and later a knighted Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon, as we all recall, had an intimate connection with the Living Force and as such an ability to relate to even the most wretched of beings(I'm looking at you Binks! ). Hence why he even bothered to look at Anakin Skywalker and see in him the Chosen One. Qui-Gon's connection to the Living Force made him more down to earth than the average Jedi of his era, and hence why he was able to achieve something that had not been done by Jedi for a very long time, perhaps thousands of years... to retain his identity in the Force.

The disconnection of the majority of Jedi Knights and Masters from the Living Force must have occurred approximately 200 years before the Battle of Yavin, for this is when the Jedi High Council first noticed a shift towards the dark side in the Force. Was this shift universal, or was it more localized in the Galaxy Far, Far Away? I'm going to go with it being localized to the Galaxy Far, Far Away and not be more universal. Why? Firstly, because it seems to be far to massive an undertaking to expect a few thousand Jedi Knights in a single galaxy to balance the Force on the scale of the entire universe(or multiverse). I don't think the imbalance which the Chosen One was to correct was of a cosmic scale, but rather the "eco-system" of the GFFA.

According to Master Windu the Sith used the darkness already in existence, they don't create it with their works... they manipulate the darkness emanated by other living beings and projected into the Living Force. The Sith attune their own inner darkness with the negative energies in the web of the Living Force. They embrace disharmony under the false assumption that they are perhaps independent of all other beings and even independent of the original Light of the Force. This off sets the balance that the Jedi were striking... the harmony that they were striking by attuning themselves to the original light and influencing other beings to become more attuned to that light.

Their influence only works on the energies directly around them, it's very local. It is because the Jedi had become increasingly isolated from the comman being that they lost connection with the Living Force, and because they lost that connection and awareness they stopped to be a significant influence on other beings to living in harmony. Greed and selfishness increased and the Jedi were at loggerheads to stop it. It is at the point that the shift towards darkness has become too much for the Jedi to stop themselves, and their own inability to do so because of their stagnation and disconnection from the Living Force, that the Chosen One was born of the Force. Or rather, of the midi-chlorians.

I want to sidestep the debate of the origin of the Chosen One and just say that I don't much buy into the idea that any Sith was responsible for his coming into being. I favor the notion of the Force bringing this being into existence who would be intimately connected with the Force in ways that average Force-sensitives couldn't fathom. Connected with both the Living and Unifying Force, when the Jedi were highly disconnected from the Living Force and common people. Here we have the Chosen One coming from the most wretched of existences... childhood slavery... to be raised among the Jedi and the aristocracy of the galaxy. He never lost his connection to his humble origins, and that is why he was so focused upon the moment. For all his flaws, he had an uncanny connection to the Force in its cosmic and momentary manifestations and the Jedi could have learned to be more closely aware of the Living Force through him. Balancing themselves and thus being able to be a force for balancing the galaxy around them.

The balance in the Force has nothing to do with balancing light and dark, or having equivalent numbers of Jedi and SIth. No, rather it has to do with harmonious existence and awareness of the influence of energies in the Living Force and harmonizing with the Unifying Force and its Original Light. Being aware of how the projected energies of other beings can influence the individual, starting with the individual Jedi or Force-sensitive, and aligning the positive internal qualities with the original positive light ray from the Unifying Force and ignoring the influence of dark, negative energies projected into the Living Force. Balance was achieved when the being who was feeding the inner darkness of other beings, which projected into the Living Force. When that influence was eliminated even the light of the lone remaining Jedi Knight was enough to beat back the darkness and being to bring things back into harmony with the Original Light. As beings become increasingly harmonized with each other, and with the Force, negativity and darkness would gradually decrease until they cease to be at all. This, however, requires constant vigilance on the part of the vanguard of the Light, the Jedi Knights. And their equivalents in the myriad other galaxies in the universe(and perhaps in the myriad other galaxies in the myriad other universes).