When I was younger, I thought Star Wars was just silly science fiction for people that wanted to live in the land of fantasy and pretend.
As I’ve gotten older though, I’ve come to realize that science fiction often times explores the question of reality with more of an open mind, and genuine curiosity, than any conventional authority would probably ever dare try.
The Star Wars filmography is one such series. It uses clever philosophy, thought provoking allegories, and entertaining special effects to open the minds of their viewers to profound lessons about this mysterious experience we call life.
In this blog, I decided to share 10+ philosophical quotes from the movie, with my own personal interpretation of what they mean…
1.
We are born with powerful creative, and wild imaginations, as well as the desire to question everything, which are the two key ingredients for creating a better world — Question and locate the problems, and then use creativity to solve them. But as we get older, this all begins to change, particularly when we enter the school system.
Here we are taught to blindly obey authority, seek their approval, and conform to the system rather than intelligently question it. Those who struggle to fit in and obey the dictates of the established authorities, either receive bad grades, some other form of disciplinary action, or get placed on pharmaceutical drug medications. Those who do well, “learn” how to get a “good job” serving the empire, rather than challenging its corrupt power.
Of course, there are other forces at play too, like organized religion, dogmatic cultures, television, social media, celebrity worship, and the usual suspects associated with indoctrination. But ultimately it results in the same thing — a brainwashed mind, that was once limitless in its potential.
To state this case in scientific terms, there was a NASA study conducted on a group of 1,600 children over the course of 15 years. What the researchers found was that prior to entering the school system, 98% of these kids scored in the top tier which is considered genius level. 5 years later they tested the same group of kids again, by now they had started school, and there was a massive drop to just 30%. And then they tested them again in 5 years, the kids by now in high school, and that number dropped all the way to just 12%. Since that time, these studies have been given to more than a million adults and less than 2% scored at genius level.
In an unrelated study, but with equally shocking results, professor Paul Bloom of Yale University decided to conduct a series of experiments to discover whether children have an inborn moral compass, or if it’s learned from society. What he found was we naturally have a sense of morality, integrity, compassion, empathy, kindness, and a sense of justice — things that seem to degrade as we grow up in this backwards, selfish, and often times cruel society that we live in.
Thus wise Yoda was indeed correct, you must unlearn what you have learned.
2.
It has already been well established, and even acknowledged by the United Nations, that there is more than enough food to feed the entire world, and it has also been proven that there is more than enough water. In addition to all this, award winning statistician Professor Hans Rosling, has proven the world is not overpopulated.
In other words, we have everything we already need on this planet to survive and thrive, and it has been provided to us all for free. So life itself is not actually unfair my friends. Life has given us abundance and freedom.
What is unfair, is this inhumane system of exploitation, and how cruel we can choose to be to each other at times. But through the power of choice, we can also change these things.
We can choose to treat one another with more kindness and respect. We can choose to spread laughter and happiness. We can choose to challenge this system and stand up for justice. We can choose to stop listening to music made by people who deserve to be ignored.
We can choose to buy from ethical corporations, instead of corrupt ones. We can choose to stop looking for a corrupt leader to save us, and teach ourselves how to work together and become our own leaders. In short, we can choose what type of world we want to live in, because everything we need has already been given to us for free. It is simply up to us now, to make better choices.
So before we look to the sky asking why, we need to look in the mirror. No one can do everything but everyone can do something.
3.
When we make a decision to do something, we need to be serious about it. The only person that can actually compromise with us on our chosen pursuit, is ourselves.
As the saying goes, if you really want to do something, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse. And in the age of information, we can always research and discover how to take that next step.
Do or do not, there is no try my friends.
4.
It might sound a bit new agey, but because it is the mind that actually interprets reality, and not the eyes, of course what we focus on will eventually come to dominate our lives.
To put this into more scientific terms, all of us have something called the Reticular Activating System (RAS), which is a part of our brain that focuses on what is important to us, while blocking or degrading that which is not.
A perfect example of this, is how certain people care more about certain social issues than others. If you are focused on animals rights, for example, this will come to dominate your reality. You will see strays whenever you drive your car, you will see animal abuse, and animal rescue stories in your news feed online. You will probably have pets, or even volunteer to help them. You will probably have dreams about them, and you will probably research how to take positive action to help them, and it will become your reality because it has become your focus.
This rule applies to everyone; What we focus on, will come to dominate our reality. So don’t get swept up into external propaganda, or manipulative marketing techniques that plan on using you like a fool. Rather ask yourself what type of a life you would like to lead, what type of reality you would like to pursue, and then come up with a plan on how you can focus on a path that will lead you there.
5.
One of the most misunderstood words in the human language, is failure.
When we hear it, we think of being a loser, being made fun of, and having to hang our heads in shame because we weren’t good enough to achieve a certain goal. But this is nonsense, failure is only failure if we choose to give up. Otherwise, it is literally the road we must all walk if we want to reach success, because each time we “fail,” what we actually do is we learn.
This is a common theme shared by every single successful person I have ever researched (and I have researched more than I can count); they are not scared of failure, because they realize it’s just another word for learning.
So don’t be afraid to fail my friends, be excited to learn, because they are literally one and the same thing. Next time you hear failure, simply think of the word learning.
As the expression goes, the difference between the master and the student, is the master has failed more times than the student has even tried.
6.
It’s been said that man’s great sickness is that he alone believes that he possesses the Truth. And almost all of us are guilty of this, where we delude ourselves into thinking we know everything there is to know, and everyone else is just a fool.
We see this in various forms of religion, atheism, philosophy, and the overwhelming majority of mankind. But how many of us have studied every belief system under the sun? How many of us have been to every planet in the milky way? How many of us have been to the 2 trillion different galaxies in the known Universe? How many of us have even been to every country in our world, or experienced every culture, and every free thinker beyond that culture? How many of us have read the ancient histories of all of these different people? How many of us have researched all that there is to know?
Always keep an open mind my friends, although there are certain immutable Truths that do indeed exist, most of our beliefs are rooted in subjective prejudice and bias.
7.
The only constant in life is change my friends. It cannot be prevented, it can only be accepted.
This may not be what we want to hear, but it is what it is. Life is unpredictable at times, it’s normal, so we can either try to resist it — which will exhaust us and stress us out — or we can make peace with it, accept it, and then find a way to adapt intelligently and move forward.
In the beginning it is difficult, but the more you do it, the easier it will become. The key is to realize that change is inevitable, and then focus your precious energy on adapting as quickly as possible. Those who do this in life will thrive, those who resist, will not. Very simple.
You can also train yourself to learn how to adapt in advance, by forcing yourself into demanding situations or tackling your personal fears. For example, I knew that my path would eventually require me to become a better public speaker, so I joined a public speaking group about a year ago to help me overcome my anxiety of standing in front of a crowd.
Until we learn to not fear change, we will never be free. So stop resisting, and instead dedicate your precious energy to adapting to the changing of the times.
8.
Training yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose, does not mean you turn cold, indifferent and apathetic towards the world around you my friends. It doesn’t mean you block out family or friends, or refuse to ever get close to someone or something, ever again. Doing this only imprisons us to fear, and robs us of what it means to be human, and is therefore not the solution.
To let go of everything we fear to lose, is to simply make peace with the uncertainty of life. As the saying goes, If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it, and if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry about it.
It is an absolute certainty that our loved one’s material bodies will pass away, we will know pain, we will feel loss, and we will encounter heart break, and what undoubtedly makes life feel unfair. It is a part of our journey my friends, and it cannot be avoided indefinitely. But when we fear loss, or resist the uncompromising changes and different seasons of life — and obsess over their inevitable encroachment — we lose more than we should, because we allow fear to steal the beauty of this timeless moment from us, which would otherwise be full of gratitude, freedom, and peace.
So we must do our best to not obsess over losing our loved ones, our jobs, homes, cars, etc. What will be, will be. Because if we do worry ourselves, we have already lost them my friends. You see, we value our loved ones and material possessions based on the level of peace, freedom, love, and happiness that they represent in our lives. But the moment fear begins to infiltrate our precious minds, it begins to steal that happiness, freedom, love and peace from us. And without these things nothing else actually matters; No relationship, no job, no car — nothing — because we are living in a state of fear, distress, and suffering.
So long as there is fear, the mind is imprisoned, and because the only thing that can actually give us the feeling of peace, or madness; fear or freedom, happiness or sadness, is our own minds — and not something outside of it — we need to focus on strengthening this battleground. Only then will be free from the fear of loss.
9.
Have you ever walked into a room and felt bad vibes? Have you ever been around someone with good energy? Perhaps you’ve had the feeling that everything was going your way? Or, conversely, everything was going wrong?
Maybe you’ve felt someone staring at you, or you’ve experienced a gut feeling that proved to be true? Perhaps you’ve experienced highly improbable events of synchronicity and strange coincidence? Has it ever felt like you were completely in tune with the thoughts of someone else?
In Star Wars, this great inexplicable power and energy, is simply known as The Force. It is a strange power far greater than any other in the known Universe, but it remains intangible and mysterious — and thus difficult for people to apprehend — or even vaguely explain.
Naturally, most do not believe in its existence because it extends beyond the comprehension of the 5 conventional senses; much like skeptics today that call anything which cannot be measured by our 5 senses pseudoscience.
But the Truth is, our understanding of reality, as a species, is still very much in its infancy. According to NASA’s own website, everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter – adds up to less than 5% of the Universe, which means we can only perceive a tiny fraction of known reality. Bear in mind that the “5%” mentioned here, has also only been vaguely observed, much like a 2 year old can only vaguely observe Mickey Mouse on a TV screen.
My point here is we need to keep an open mind. We need to remind ourselves that life is still very much a mystery, and amazing things do happen but most of us tend to sweep these events under the rug due to our programmed normalcy bias, and fear that our opinion won’t be accepted as plausible by our overly critical, and narrow minded society.
For myself personally, I have experienced numerous instances throughout my life, of what appears to be an intangible force that works in mysteriously beneficial ways, provided I am aligned with higher principles, and not distracted by the trivialities of society and all the madness that is in it.
Some would probably call this the law of attraction, but I believe that to be a distorted oversimplification that degrades something unprecedented and incomprehensible. It is much greater than that, and I believe it to be the Force of Life, Integrity, Truth, Knowledge, Justice, Compassion, Peace, Goodness, and so much more.
As Bruce Lee once said, “I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominant force which I hold in my hand.”
10.
Throughout history there have been people that I would consider to be the Jedi of our planet; those who have dedicated their lives to fighting for goodness.
These Jedi embody Justice, Compassion, Integrity, Humanity, Peace, Knowledge, Goodness, and Truth. And so long as this collective Force remains alive, there will always be hope and powerful opposition for the darkness to contend with.
In extreme cases, these Jedi have been crucified, assassinated, imprisoned, and worse by the proverbial dark empire. But their teachings — their seed — will forever remain, because you cannot kill the Force of Truth, or Justice, or Integrity, or Peace, or Goodness. It is an immortal Force that will always be with us.
Written by Gavin Nascimento, Founder of aNewKindOfHuman.com
Find me also on;
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Minds.com
If any of the images in this article have not been credited correctly, or you are the artist and would like them to be taken down, please contact me HERE or directly at NewKindofHuman@gmail.com
All my work is open source and I encourage it to be reproduced. I only ask that you give me credit, and include my social media profiles — as listed in the EXACT FORMAT above — in an effort to help me build a formidable following of people truly intent on learning and creating positive change. If you are not willing to do that, you are NOT permitted to use my work.
