A Villian Redeemed, Part II

Freedom From Himself

Anakin needs to find freedom from himself.  He needs to find freedom from his own selfish impulses.  In fact, when he realizes that he can give great benefit to himself through his Force-blessed powers, his slide to the dark side seems almost inevitable.  It didn't have to be, but he was manipulated from the outside - and from a trusted friend and mentor no less!  To explore this idea, let's take a short walk through a Psalm that has some wild imagery and surprise ending (No, I am your Psalter!).  Psalm 136 is used in the Orthodox Church throughout the year, but most notably on the Sundays leading up to the beginning of Great Lent. 

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. Alleluia.

That venerable source, Wikipedia, says that Alleluia "is considered a joyful word of praise to God."  What a way to begin something so joyful!  This is a psalm concerning the Jews being taken into captivity in Babylon, a foreign land.  Remember that they thought of the Promised Land as being their land which was promised to them by God. 

On the willows there we hung up our harps;

On the willows there we hung up our harps;   Alleluia.
For there our captors demanded of us the words of songs;
and they that who led us away said: 

Sing to us one of the songs of Zion. Alleluia.
How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? Alleluia.
If I forget you ever, O my Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Alleluia.

Here we go with the hands.  Withering, being chopped off.  This is the sign of power.  Not necessarily power for its own sake, but the image of the active life of the heart and how it is enacted in the world.  Anakin had done much good with his hands.  He also did much evil with his hands - even before his apprenticeship to the emperor.  This is a warning for all of us.  We are given to hands with which we can choose to do good or we can align ourselves with evil.  At a certain point, we have made so many decisions in one direction or another that it would approach impossible to turn our lives in a different direction.  When getting ready for services, as the priest is putting on his right cuff (a garment that is just that - only a cuff), he says "Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength; Thy right hand, O Lord, hath shattered Thine enemies, and in the greatness of Thy majesty hast Thou overthrown Thine adversaries.

Let my tongue also cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you;

If I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. Alleluia.
Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem;
who say:  Raze it, even to the foundation thereof. Alleluia.
O daughter of Babylon, you are to be destroyed

Blessed is he who requites you with what you have done to us.  Alleluia.
Blessed is he who shall take and dash your little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

The last that the Master Obi-Wan sees of Anakin is lying on the molten rocks of Mustafar, battered to a pale shadow of Ani from Tatooine.  He was limbless, almost lifeless and screaming "I hate you!" with his scorched lungs.  He was definitely dashed against the rocks.  The young child, who 20 years or so previously had been full of such promise, who was sweet, caring and innocent had come a long way and was now dashed against the rocks of a distant land.  How was he blessed?  Well, I'm not going to stretch the metaphor and say that he was blessed through his duel with Obi-Wan.  There is redemption in the end, but that is despite our current situation being discussed.  The little ones mentioned here are those things we hold so dear that we are afraid to lose them.  For Anakin, it is first his wife and child - and he loses them.  Then it is his power in the Force.  This love of power in the Force is his ultimate undoing. 

            So what is the lesson for us?  Always ask yourself this question:  What do I hold so dear that I would be afraid to lose it?  What is so precious to me that I value it above everything else?  For some, it could be a car, a career, a status, or a reputation.  And when any one of these things are loved for the things they are in themselves, we will become possessed by them.  They will become our idols, our gods, the center of our lives.  So how do we get over these things?  How do we fight this spiritual battle?  We take that precious thing in a moment of extreme power (the sort which can only come through the grace of God) and dash it against the rock.  I like to imagine how they washed clothes in the biblical era to think about this verse.  They would take the clothing down to the river, get them all wet and soapy, and beat them against a rock so that all of the dirt would come out, leaving them with a nice clean garment.  Sometimes it took multiple strikes and a lot of time and energy to get the dirt out of the cloth.  Dutiful washers would stay at their task until it was done.  Here we see the connection to our subjects at hand.  Anakin must take his power and be willing to lose it.  He must take his attachments and desires and be willing to make them clean and gleaming, not monstrosities that serve himself.  For us, we must take our own will, our own thoughts and desires, our own self interest and beat it against a rock until it is clean.  And then, after this life long process, we hope to receive the gleaming white robes of the resurrection, which the Lord Himself has offered to us.  But here is our whole spiritual life:  to work to become better people, more and more concerned with God's creation and His children.  To do everything in our power to love and show His love to our neighbors, enemies, the despicable ones in society and then to our own selves once we understand our place in creation.