The Geek That I Am

I’m a Star Wars junkie. I grew up on it and even had my very own personal Luke Skywalker figurine.

As I entered my adulthood I never grew out of my lust for sci-fi. When I jetted into my 20’s George Lucas brought out the prequels to this trilogy and I was back in exo-politics heaven again.

Thankfully, my husband is also a total Star Wars fundi (a South African word for ‘expert’), so we have sci-fi marathons on the couch together and totally geek-out. We just recently had one of our back-to-backs and it got me thinking.

Poking About the Dark Bits

So, in the movie, the ‘Dark Side’ is still part of The Force (God/Source/Universal Energy Field or whatever else you want to call it) but it is the negative scale of emotions — giving into anger, fear, betrayal, vengeance, etc.

Those emotions spiral us down a path that leads to great suffering and pain.

So what can we get out of our darker side?

Fumbling in the Dark — We all experience great loss and sorrow but to linger in the past does not serve us (nor did it serve Anakin Skywalker who later became Darth Vader). The good news is that life’s hardships often make for life’s most important lessons and elevating stepping stones to self-realization.
Peering into the Dark — It’s okay to face our dark half and experience our darker emotions. We all have to face the dichotomous nature of self at some point. The key is to accept our selves, be in a place of non-judgment (especially when we face our shadow self — read more about that HERE) and rather adopt an attitude of compassion and understanding. Know that we all have our moments but what defines our character is how we act upon them (unfortunately ‘ol Darth took the path to destruction).
I’m Not Afraid of the Dark — Then the ultimate lesson we can take from Darth Vader is acceptance of what is — not being afraid of the cycles of life and death and acknowledging the eternal nature of spirit. This is something that Vader the young could not adapt to, especially when facing the death of a loved one. His rage, fear and anger overtook him — everything seemed so ‘unfair’. Vengeance was all he sought and the fear of loss (caused by unprecedented attachment) clouded his vision. At the very end of his life his own son showed him that love, compassion and forgiveness was the only path to true freedom.

Yoh! Thanks George Lucas for bringing us this silver-screen gem.

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