When you think about it, balance is the only philosophical concept in all of history that has never been tainted by fanaticism or sophistry. You can't corrupt balance, because corruption is inherently imbalance. And if you deceive or are deceived, then pursuing a state of balance will naturally correct your impressions over time.
But then I remembered being puzzled in the Star Wars saga about the statement that Anakin Skywalker would "bring balance to The Force." Surely the Jedi would want someone who would further pursue their ideals, not drive something as seemingly nebulous as balance in relation to destructive forces?
But apparently there is a (surprising, to me) level of wisdom in that conception. One could say that balance is the deepest manifestation of the good, creative, life-infusing side of The Force, as it is in real civilization the one incorruptible virtue.
Love can be turned to hate, and is thus vulnerable to The Dark Side. Curiosity can be turned into a form of greed, a grasping after the power of knowledge, as in Palpatine's story to Anakin about Darth Plagueis The Wise. The desire to create can be perverted in the form of monstrosities like The Death Star.
But balance seems to be the absolute antithesis of The Dark Side, against which it has no long-term recourse, and thereby showing that the Dark Side is simply - against its own desires - part of a greater and benevolent whole. A whole that the Jedi serve and the Sith deny in self-delusion.
I never gave this line from the prequels much credit, but I now realize it has tremendous wisdom.
Submitted December 15, 2017 at 06:50AM by KubrickIsMyCopilot http://ift.tt/2yuHPHO
