The last time we saw our Jedi Master, he was in triumphant
celebration of the destruction of Death Star II. He was also in mourning
for his newly-reclaimed father. His journey as a Jedi and as a man was
headed in a unique direction after these events. In the poster for
Star Wars: The Force Awakens,
Luke is conspicuously absent. We do not know why, but speculation
abounds. We do know that Mark Hamill was seen filming at a remote
location in Ireland. This location will become part of our enduring
fandom consciousness, just as the desert of Tunisia, the glaciers of
Norway or the redwoods of Northern California have. We are talking about
Skellig Michael, an ancient island in Ireland that was once home to
Christian monastics.
I’ve
never been to Ireland, though it certainly is on my short list of
things to do when I am able. My family left there in 1839, and has never
been back. But there is a bit of a yearning to see the ancestral land,
to see where I came from. Perhaps some of my grandparents’ witticisms
would make more sense in the right context. However, I have found a
suitable tutor for the things that Irish lands teach inherently. Within
my Church, and especially during my years at seminary, I developed a
healthy admiration for the monastic lifestyle. I did not become a
monastic, nor did I ever fantasize about it, but I was enlightened by
its way of looking at the world, untainted by material cares and the
avarice of our modern society. I developed a love for its simplicity and
desire to know God in His creation. These are some of the things that
my family sacrificed as they escaped starvation and looked to the New
World.
With filming of
The Force Awakens being done on Skellig
Michael, we have an amazing opportunity to center down and contemplate
the lives that were lived over there.
In a nice little book entitled
Wisdom of the Celtic Saints
by Edward Sellner, the author enlightens the worldview of those who
settled Skellig Michael. I offer these, not to convince you of their
truth, but to give it an opportunity to compare to what we know about
the Jedi. Celtic Christian spirituality has a love and respect for the
physical environment. There is a deep love of learning (see
How the Irish Saved Civilization).
The land led them to an innate yearning to explore the unknown. While
being a generally gregarious and joyous people, they have a love of
silence and solitude. There is the feeling that time is a sacred
reality, created and redeemed by God. In fact, there is an Irish saying
that “When God made time, He made plenty of it.” This spirituality has
an appreciation of ordinary life. There is a great value placed on
kinship relationships. For them, life is about communing with and
preparing souls for the world to come.
For reasons to be revealed (maybe) in a few weeks, Luke Skywalker has
fled to this remote location. We do not know why, nor even where the
land is in the galaxy (though there was a huuuuuge hint in one of the YA
novels released on Force Friday). Perhaps in the story, it is not even
an island, though I can’t imagine why the producers would go to such
extremes, were they not to use the natural beauty of this ancient
settlement.
Skellig Michael is a crag that is situated 12 kilometers off of the
Irish mainland, perched on the edge of the European landmass. With
dramatic heights of stone and forbidding eddies of water, there were no
inhabitants here until several monks sought refuge from the world in its
clefts. Sometime between the 6
th and 8
th
centuries, they took up residence here and coaxed the environment to
support their aesthetic endeavors. This small community, never numbering
more than a dozen, lasted until the thirteenth century. It continued to
be venerated as holy ground for many years afterward, since the mortal
remains of so many holy men are buried there, awaiting the resurrection.
The seclusion of the monastery was no surety from attacks from the
outside world. At least once, in 823, the island was plundered by the
fierce Vikings. The sacred implements were carried off, and one monk was
kidnapped in order to be plied for information about greater treasures.
This brave monk named Etgal maintained his silence unto his own death,
protecting his brothers with his very life.
Normally, monastics live on a vegetarian diet. This is still true in
my particular Church’s devotion – I do not know about other traditions.
This palate could not be maintained in such a harsh environment. The
monastic brotherhood of Skellig Michael lived off of some amount of
gardening, which was hard-won, as well as the fish, birds and eggs that
were laid on the island.
As
the island was tamed, three terraces emerged through the labor of the
residents. On one were the gardens. Imagine the wind whipping their
robes as they tilled unwilling soil and as sea spray seemed to come from
all directions. To be a monastic is a heroic effort. Further up, there
was a terrace that housed the oratories (monastic chapels) and beehive
shaped huts for living. More secluded hermetic living spaces were
established even higher on the two peaks of the island. From here, the
monks could both physically and spiritually leave the bounds of the
earth and strive toward the God above. From here, they could also
provide protection from invasion, since they had a view of the sea for
miles around. One monk, contemplating the storms surrounding his cell
penned these lines in the 9
th century.
The wind is rough tonight
tossing the white combed ocean.
I need not dread fierce Vikings
crossing the Irish Sea.
We
cannot be sure at this time if the history of the island enlightens the
story of Luke Skywalker. For years, the Jedi have been likened to monks
and a religious order that contemplates and communes with the
otherworldly. From time to time, they have lived in community at the
Jedi Temple. Occasionally, they lived in solitude to touch the Force
more deeply in their lives. In all things, they are concerned with
spiritual fulfillment and the spread of the knowledge of truth. In times
past, the Jedi were more in touch with the galaxy. It was Sidious’
machinations that led to their involvement in galactic politics and
their service as generals in the Clone War. He brought them out from
their cells and contemplative life and laid waste to them as they
abandoned millennia-old traditions and teachings. For the monks of
Skellig Michael, they believed themselves to be fleeing just as
destructive a power – the world.
To say that monastics flee the world is not inaccurate. In Christian
monasticism, those men and women leave every day society and the
comforts of modern convenience to live as the angels do – in the
undistracted presence of God and away from all earthly cares. There is
no desire to gain wealth, power or prestige. They desire to simply live
in perfect love with God.
None of this is to say that they hate the world. Far from it. Some
have said that monastics spend their time apart for the life of the
world. They see the beauty of this creation. When we think about Skellig
Michael, and other dramatic landscapes, we can see the inherent beauty
and grandeur of great and small things. The high promontories of the
island, down to the delicateness of the grasses that find purchase in
the clefts, each are imbued with beauty. In this, the monks saw God’s
hand in creating that beauty.
In the literature of
Star Wars, we hear about the beauty and
culture of Alderaan, and the care that the Wookiees have for the trees
of Kashyyyk. We see the contrast in the sterile halls and bleak
landscapes of the Empire, destroying beauty for the sake of power and
domination. We can be sympathetic to the Rebels here, and see that the
same love of beauty is available in our own lives.
Today,
Skellig Michael still draws tourists and pilgrims to its rocky shores.
It can be visited for a few months out of the year, though tours do not
run when the weather is excessively cold or windy. I imagine that is a
lot of the time on this ocean refuge. Still, it is possible to visit and
see the place where men toiled for 700 years and where our Jedi Master
sought his own refuge.
A division of the UN, UNESCO has designated the island as a World
Heritage Site. They say that “heritage is our legacy from the past, what
we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our
cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and
inspiration.” This provides protection for the monastic settlement and
recognizes the enduring value of the community. May we treat this site
with care and respect in the years to come, while also contemplating
what lessons it may offer to us in our personal lives.
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