What We Can Learn About Enlightenment From Yoda And Star Wars

It’s no secret that philosophy, mythology and religion influenced the creation of Star Wars. The whole ‘light side’ ‘dark side’ concept most resembles an ancient religion called Zoroastrianism which combines “a cosmogonic dualism and eschatological monotheism a manner unique… among the major religions of the world”. But the light and dark side also has elements of Taoism, in particular, the “yin and yang”. However where it strays from these beliefs is in the ethical elements in Star Wars, where the evil or dark side is viewed as wrong or bad.

According to this passage in “Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly imagine”, Yoda appears to be the ultimate Jedi sage.

“To recap, the virtues the Jedi shares with the Stoic sage are patience, timeliness, deep commitment, seriousness (as opposed to frivolity), calmness (as opposed to anger or euphoria), peacefulness (as opposed to aggression), caution (as opposed to recklessness), benevolence (as opposed to hatred), joy (as opposed to sullenness), passivity (as opposed to agitation), and wisdom. Given all these virtues, Yoda certainly resembles what the ancient Stoics described as the sage — the ideal person who has perfected his reason and achieved complete wisdom.”

Yoda is my one go-to reference for everything in life. Do I stop to consider that people might not get the reference I’m making? Never. For Yoda is life, and life is Yoda. He gets the Force. He’s cool with hanging out in a swamp hut by himself if need be, but can also socialise when someone drops in unannounced (ahem Luke). He would get excited about his little swamp snacks, teaching Luke about the Force and had even trained Jedi for over 800 years.

Recently while re-watching Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, I realised that Yoga’s role in this film was to teach us, way ahead of his time, about enlightenment, or “Space Enlightenment”, as it’s now unofficially known.

Yoda’s name may be derived from the Sanskrit word for warrior: “Yoddha”. It could also be connected to the Hebrew “Yodea” which means “one who knows”. Spelt backwards, Yoda’s name reads as Adoy. This last one doesn’t mean anything, I just thought it sounded hilarious and therefore, worthy of inclusion. Yoda speaks with a hilarious and infamous object-subject-verb order. Another incredible aside is that his appearance was based on Albert Einstein.

Since many people in the census identify as Jedi in their religion, it speaks to the power of Star Wars and Yoda’s teachings, that actually we can find some semblance of spirituality if we look hard enough.

I tried googling to find out what species Yoda is, you can see my attempts here, but nobody really knows. I did some research on Wookieepedia (yes, yes I know it’s brilliant) and here’s what OG George Lucas had to say, which, like most things concerning George, tells us absolutely nothing about anything:

“So he’s a mystery character, he’s a magical character. He has no background. He comes and he goes. He’s the subversive secret mysterious stranger that enters the film and then exits at the end.”

Unlearning what you have learned

Yoda: Always with you what cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say? You must unlearn what you have learned.
Luke: All right. I’ll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try Not. Do, or do not. There is no try.

Pfft, Luke, buddy, you walked right into that one. Everybody knows there is no try, keep up. Yoda is all about unlearning, which is a crucial element of this oft-misquoted famous line. It’s about building awareness around the idea that we don’t know what we don’t know, and therefore, must keep striving towards action. Yoda wants us to let go of what brings us down. He wants us to renew ourselves in the process of giving it a go.

Yoda loves giving it a go. There is no other option.

Good things come in tiny packages

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. 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. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”

I cried when Yoda said this, it was a combination of the iconic music in the background, the eeriness of the Yoda swamp and the sincerity and wisdom in his words. Remember: if you want to lift a spaceship out of a swamp, you have to believe in the power of the Force. And the force is everywhere, in all things. This is also a very popular Christian concept, as well as in other religions, the idea that God is in all things. We are luminous. Our bodies, the vessels of our souls, should not limit what we are capable of when we harness the power of the mind. Most importantly, everything is connected — we are connected to the earth, the land and the spirits and the beauty there contained.

Contemplation and Meditation are where it’s at

Yoda spent a lot of time contemplating and thinking about the Force. How else do you think he got so wise? He put the work in and searched for wisdom at every available opportunity. He didn’t waste time with meaninglessness. He had probably never even heard of Netflix, bless. But Yoda also knew that sometimes you need to give your mind a break, give it some breathing space, so he often spent time not thinking about the Force at all and just meditating like a boss. Meditation is cool because it’s a chance to silence the brain’s white noise, to alleviate us from distractions and allow us to be 100% aware of what’s going on, lest a sith lord tries to take you down. Without the calming, peace and clarity that comes with meditation, Yoda could not have been so wise. So we need both contemplation and meditation to balance us out in the pursuit of enlightenment.

Taking a chill pill

“Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.”

So many of the world’s problems can be traced back to anger management issues. Yoda knows this well. Who knows, maybe Yoda has seen too much in his long life. We need to better manage our moods, so the dark side cannot take over. It’s a constant battle, keeping our emotions and feelings in check. It’s especially difficult for young men like Luke Skywalker, who grew up not knowing his father, and who now has the huge burden of saving the galaxy. Tough break, kid. Fear, anger, hate and suffering — that’s the quadruple threat we need to squash with our Jedi mind powers.

The Jedi way of non-attachment

You may recall throughout the series, the theme of Jedis not being allowed to get it on with anyone. Yoda is also a Jedi and the rule is they’re not allowed to be too emotionally attached to anyone, since attachment leads to fear of loss, and this fear leads to the dark side. This idea is strong in many religions, but especially in Buddhism.

Even though it’s difficult to put this into practise, the point is more about attachment to harmful things — like the views we were raised with, our actions and beliefs, which become harder to change as we get older. It’s also about letting go, embracing change and being open to new ideas and beliefs.

Yoda: forever the pacifist

Yoda: Help you I can. Yes, mmm.
Luke: I don’t think so. I’m looking for a great warrior.
Yoda: Oh! Great warrior. Wars not make one great.

OOH SLAM DUNK ZINGER. You tell that battle hungry Skywalker what it’s all about. You’ll never find greatness at the bottom of the war barrel. You can only find greatness deep within yourself.

The choice is yours

Yoda: To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness … Be a candle, or the night … but choose!”

In other words, stop being so indecisive, you guys. This is an interesting one to finish on because we can contain both lightness and darkness, and sometimes it’s true that two opposing ideas can both be true. This idea of absolutes and either/or is not a new one. But I would challenge Yoda that even if you do choose one or the other, the struggle doesn’t end there. It’s a constant battle between the light and the dark.

But always try to be the candle. It’s what Yoda would have wanted.

Originally published at The Vocal by Sheree Joseph

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