The Wisdom Of Yoda
I understand that this post may immediately divide people. Star Wars and Sci-fi haters may already have scrolled past the title and the picture of the little, green dude. If you are still here then thank you — this post is most definitely not just for Star Wars fans and you don’t even need to know anything about the films.
At the end of the day wisdom is wisdom, whoever it comes from.
For beginners though here is a really brief explanation as to who and what Yoda is/was. Grand Jedi Master Yoda, the little green dude with the comb over is among the oldest and most powerful known Jedi Masters in the Star Wars universe. A Jedi Master was the highest formal rank obtainable by a member of the Jedi, and a Jedi is a Knight who studied and used the mystical energy of The Force. That’s all you need to know and you don’t really even need to know that.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda
Probably Yoda’s most famous quote, said in response to his young apprentice Luke Skywalker who was struggling to ‘try’ to master elements of his training. The quote speaks directly to us about our constant struggle with ‘trying’ to do things, ‘trying’ to achieve things, ‘trying’ to be something. Yoda’s response is just 8 simple words.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.
You either do something and do it completely with the entirety of your being or don’t do it at all. Don’t be worrying about the future or thinking about the past. Don’t do it for any specific goal or gain or end result. As Nike would say JUST DO IT.
It’s also reminding us to be totally present.
Essentially this quote could be a slogan for mindfulness, and not even just a slogan but also a how-to guide, a manifesto all rolled into one. It’s all in there. Nice one Yoda.
“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” — Yoda
Another great line from the little green man. This quote doesn’t even need a context within the film explaining because it stands up so well on it’s own.
This little nugget contains essences of all the best advice from some of the greatest spiritual leaders to have ever walked this Earth — Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King.
It essentially reminds us that our choices while we are alive are actually very simple — we choose love or fear. Everyday, in so many ways, we get presented with choices, and whilst so much of life is out of our control, we can always control our choices and how we respond to life’s situations. Those choices when distilled right down are always a choice between love and fear, good and bad, dark and light. Sometimes it might not be so obvious that it is those choices we are being asked to choose between, but if we look a little deeper into our intentions then we can always find our decision is either based on love or fear. Always.
Yoda’s point is how choosing fear is all encompassing. When we are acting out or feeling angry, hateful, lost, depressed or any other negative feeling or experience — ultimately it is fear we are feeling. Fear manifests itself in a multitude of ways, it’s never obvious to us that it is directly fear we are experiencing and we justify, blame, moan, argue, fight in order to deal with our feelings and thoughts but behind all that is fear. It is fear that causes ALL the suffering. Fear of death, fear of life, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of pain. Fear, fear, fear.
“Luminous beings are we…not this crude matter.” — Yoda
This quote in many ways answers the previous one. It very much reminds me of the famous saying ‘we are not human beings having the odd spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having the odd human experience’.
The answer to fear is love and light. Darkness is just the absence of light. In a dark room even the tiniest light from a match dispels the darkness immediately. So in much the same way a loving choice can dispel fear, anger, hatred.
It sounds so simple, and in many ways it is, but it isn’t easy to do. We get so caught up in this ‘crude matter’ and we lose awareness that our choices are actually very simple. Without awareness we are lost in the fear and the suffering, with awareness we can begin to see where we can be more loving in our choices, our actions, our thoughts and our intentions.
“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us.” — Yoda
Whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, the all encompassing theme of the films is good versus evil, light against dark, love or hate. A mystical energy called The Force runs throughout everything in all the films.
To some people The Force is just sci-fi mumbo jumbo, but George Lucas, the films’ creator, had drawn from the mythology and scriptures of all the religions, ancient texts and ideas handed down since the beginning of time. The Force is what we might know as consciousness, love, light, spirit, God even.
We all have access to The Force. You don’t have to be a Jedi. You just have to be you. It is our birthright and we claim it back and RE-discover it everyday, and indeed every single time we choose love over fear or light over dark.
Star Wars is the most successful film series in movie history and it will probably never be eclipsed in the future. The reason for that is because it speaks to something deeper within us, right across the generations and the ages, and it allows us to experience something profound and spiritual without us even knowing that is what it is doing. It re-connects us to a part of ourselves we have lost or forgotten. It reminds us of our real ‘force’, of our own consciousness.
And if you don’t buy all that, it’s just a jolly good space romp featuring a little green frog, a princess and a tall carpet creature called Chewbacca.
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