The Jedi and the Messianic Hope

This post first appeared at the amazing Coffee With Kenobi.

This is my Christmas post.  Trust me for a bit on that.

Allow yourself to rise up.  Meditate on what it means, or the process by which, you can become greater than you have ever thought you could be.  Leave behind ideas of materialism, or even what pop culture offers as spiritualism.  Identify not with the crude matter, but give great psychological effort to becoming one with the Force, that the Force may become one with you.  If we can find clarity enough to look inside of our own souls we will find that there is a secret hope there, implanted by the Creator.  While the Jedi hoped for the Chosen One, we have a hope for the messianic.

The Hope of the Jedi was the Chosen One of the Prophecy.  Mace Windu did not speak broadly, but specifically.  Of all of the prophecies that the masters of the Force had uttered, this was THE ONE.  And it called for one knight who would rise up and bring balance, securing peace and tranquility for all.  True, George Lucas maintains that Anakin was the Chosen One, but that bothers me.  It affronts my desire and need for the redeeming messiah figure (which, I have said, is innate to humankind).  The messiah of the prophecy must fulfill the prophecy and cannot fail.

Seeing Star Wars Anew Again

This article was originally published at the venerable Coffee With Kenobi

Attack of the Clones was on TBS the other day. I dutifully and joyfully put it on. This under-appreciated episode of the Saga is much maligned, and I think that is wrong. While viewing this visually stunning masterpiece, I realized that I was reciting all of the lines along with the movie. Like some people sing along to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Sweet Caroline” or “Frankenstein,” I find that speaking along with these movies is comforting and helps me to find new depth in them. So then the question arises: How can we see these movies for what they are, and not what we expect them to be? By this I mean an even more basic question. Can we ever see these movies new again?

For the past decade we have been treated to The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, each of which has offered new insights to Episode II (among other things); and I would say that it has made it an entirely different movie. So, I ask myself, can I see this movie fresh, or is it constantly going to be colored by preconceived notions that I, myself, bring to each viewing? What if I had seen Episode II after the various cartoon series? And if I had, what would have changed? Certainly not the cinematic output, but me. I would have changed with more insight, or having been at a different stage in my life.

Sympathy for Maul

 

Please allow me to introduce my subject.  He is a man of power and strength.  He’s been around for long, long years, and laid many a Jedi souls to waste.  Staring into our souls from every poster, every toy store peg and the merchandising for The Phantom Menace was this red devil instilling fear and unease.  His presence in the rise of the Sith is palpable, though his loss of usefulness caused his expulsion from the Sith.  But in the end, he is a cautionary tale for us who are buffeted by the pains of this world. 

The Royal Majesty Points to the New Hope

 

This past weekend saw a television and historical event that will be remembered for a generation or so — The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markel, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.  And in our modern echo chamber, you either loved it, had disdain for it, or did not even notice that it happened.  I would like to offer that most of us missed the point of why it mattered.  And it mattered because the fate of the Galaxy hangs in the balance, though not for reasons you may be thinking.

For 40 years we have been following the exploits of a Princess – how she saved her rescuers, how she rallied a Rebellion against evil, and the life we followed in the Legends novels.  We were thrilled when her King and father appeared in the prequel trilogy (and later!).  These admirable examples are the scope through which royalty, monarchy and headship ought to be viewed.

The Joy in the Force

 

We are quite blessed in this renaissance era of Star Wars creativity.  When once we suffered through dark times, we are now embarrassed by riches and opportunity and a wealth of material.  These things make us happy.  Usually.  And the happiness can be expressed in our homes through killer posters or sweet action figure displays.
But each of these things is topical.  Either that is the depth of the engagement for a fan, or there is a potential rebirth of the soul, a nurturing of mankind’s inherent creativity available through finding the joy in the contemplation of this great mythology.
This is the chasm between happiness and joy.  Ice cream makes us happy, Porgs make us happy, and so on.  But each of these moments is fleeting, and does not necessarily leave a lasting sense of joy in our souls.  To find joy in happiness, one must enter deeper into the mysteries and lessons of a thing.

Luke Returns to Life as One with the Force

All that I have learned in my line of work is this:  Wisdom is eternal, truths are unchanging, and yet they find their eternal expression in temporal ways that can only be perceived by the limitations of mere humans.

Throughout my life, all stages, I had looked to Luke for a way to understand some family dynamics and other personal concerns as well.  But then recently, I met this grizzled old-timer on a harsh island that threw something besides salt over his shoulder.  He threw out the legacy of the past, the weight of which was crushing.  Now what do I do?!  On the heels of major family upheaval both in my own home and in that of my close family members, what do we do now?  Look to the eternal, look to what is inherently good, while participating as well as we can, acting out of profound lessons borne of anguish and effort.  How will Luke be judged in his eremitic state?  For me, as with the entire movie (and saga), I am challenged, called beyond my myopic vision, disabused of prejudice.  His actions are more highly evolved than I have even had a chance to give words to.

Go See This: Baptism in The Last Jedi

This is a very enthusiastic recommendation.

Monthly Blogger Ryder Waldron, over at the ever venerable Coffee With Kenobi, posted this excellent piece today.  Did you ever think about all of the water and fire imagery in Star Wars?  How it purifies, refines, and gives purpose to the heroes and villians?  Let Ryder illuminate it all for you in his excellent piece, Baptism in The Last Jedi.

We’ll Just Use the Force of Music: Review of How the Force Works

When I was a kid, I always went to sleep with the radio on.  Back then, it was the smooth sounds of an 80s synthesizer.  And today, quite often playing in the soundtrack of my routine, are the themes and motifs of Star Wars cinematic scores, of course.  When we were leaving The Force Awakens, I was absentmindedly humming Rey’s Theme, because it seemed unique and grabbed my attention.  And I am not educated in music at all. 

We are now blessed with Full of Sith's How the Force Works - Episodes I-III.  This highly recommended podcast miniseries, which breaks down the music of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is astonishingly powerful.  To come to a deeper understanding of the music, for several years we were treated to the likes of Rebel Force Radio's Star Wars Oxygen: The Music of John Williams.  And now, with the arrival of this new and wonderful miniseries of podcasts, the music of the great maestro and The Last Jedi is brought to life. 

The Cave of Wonders and Rebirth

This article was originally published at www.coffeewithkenobi.com 

There is nothing you know that can’t be known.  Eternity has invaded and fulfilled creation with its fullness.  Everything we learn is only that which has been passed on from some masters who found intimate and profound connection to the source of knowledge.  And this lesson is at the core of what Master Yoda has been trying to pass on to us younglings and padawans since 1980 or so.  Never stop educating yourself.  Never stop going to the source of goodness and growth and finding the lessons found in that long sought after place, for they are the beginning of eternal life.

Forgiving Anakin, Giving Thanks with Luke

This article was originally published at www.coffeewithkenobi.com 

Dear readers, I am preparing for quite a funk this coming holiday season.  My life is turned upside down.  Things are changing, and this is inevitable.  Changes have been coming for a while, but we all know that the holiday season can be taxing in such a situation.  And I want you to know that I am trying to remain thankful and hopeful.  Trying.  Will I succeed?  I’ll let you know in January.  Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the holiday season, and I intend to maintain and meditate on the hope that is imbued in the reason for the civic holiday.  I have blogged about hope many times.  I firmly believe everything that I have written for this grand community.  And the opposite of hope is despair.  This is a paradigm that has been central to my life for its entirety.  Let’s look at each in turn and see where that gets us. Read More

One Life Saved, the World Entire Saved: Schindler’s List & the Passing of a Survivor of WWII

This Article was originally published at www.thebeardedtrio.com

All of us who find or search for this page have something in common: a love of great movies, the joy they bring us and an admiration for the people who have brought amazing ideas to life.  I am a Star Wars enthusiast, and will watch anything by Spielberg when it is available.  Goonies, ET, everything Indy, everything Marty.  All of these fantasies fueled the emerging hopes of my childhood.

The fanciful and wonderful movies of my youth that led me to look for the great mysteries of this world.  And then I found a great mystery confronting my sensibilities, my stomach and my own relationship to the world around me.  When I was 18, I came across Schindler’s List.  It was only three weeks after my grandmother died, the matriarch of the family.  I often refer to her as St Granny because of the place her love has had in my life – even after her repose in the Lord.  I don’t remember the occasion, but a lot of the family was gathered together and watched the movie, which was aired without commercial interruption.  Drama of this sort was not something we generally did as a family.  We were into comedies, stand-up comedians, and family stories.  This was a special evening.  Read More

Life and Death of a Simple Leaf

I just watched a single leaf fall from a tree outside.  It is autumn, we saw temperatures in the 30s last night, it was beautifully brisk.  That leaf has done its job since late spring.  The bud showed itself sometime as the last icy patches were receding.  The yearly tiny glaciers that give rise to a new short age.  The shoot pushed out of the branch, arcing toward the sunshine, toward the source of the light.  Soon after Pascha, the full young leaf revealed its inherent splendor. Still smaller than its potential. I have heard in many nature documentaries that the deer love young leaves the most.  So being young was risky, but necessary.  As we all tumbled through the end of the school year, or to the early days of outdoor life reawakened, that leaf reached its full stature.  Broad, green, its lines placed there by the finger of God Himself.  We didn’t notice.  That leaf became one of thousands on one tree in a stand of thousands of trees in a town that is more green than anything else. It offered shade to the world below, it fed us the air we breathe.  It worked in concert with its elevated neighbors in a fragile yet powerful system.  The canopy above us, that is the sky, is unreachable by our tiny selves.  So the Lord put the canopy a little lower so that we might know that His loving care is also reachable, and condescends to meet us and provide in our need.  The leaf was a part of that plan.

Force and Faith: Luke's Lonely Exile and Hopeful Return

Some very fun and creative parody accounts are on Twitter, spoofing Kylo Ren’s maudlin behavior, or the loneliness that Luke must be feeling.  Whichever comic geniuses were behind them, they had me laughing many times.  (And I make no endorsement of any blue material I may be overlooking).  They took these iconic characters and looked into their psyches for incredible comedic results.  But the online world of Twitter, Facebook and the like can actually lead us to feeling isolated, which is very similar to the loneliness that Luke must have felt on the heights of Ahch-To.  Luke was a man who grew up in a family, surrounded by friends, and joined the vast rebellion with its camaraderie.  In his exile, he must have experienced a profound loneliness that affected him.

To Rebel is to be Truly Human

“I rebel.”

Very simply put, this is the most important thing you can come to grips with, and become part of.  And yeah, me, of the first estate by vocation, I will teach this to the bitter end.  There are evil and nefarious forces in the world masquerading as goodness, trying to steal the inherent beauty in each of us.  There are greedy people trying to gain unlimited power through the theft of the beauty each of us possesses.

Abundant Life in the Blooming Desert

The Star Wars community tends to boil things down to a lowest common denominator.  While we all have Wookieepedia bookmarked and a vast knowledge TIE fighter models, we find the conversations being whittled down to likes or dislikes, goods or bads.  We polarize our conversations instead of finding deeper levels of understanding through true understanding, dialog and compassion.  If you think I’m nuts, have you ever persuaded someone with your theory about who Snoke is?  When talking to someone with an opinion on midichlorians, have you changed your mind?  There is a call to something greater, though.

Jyn and the Woman of Hope

The joy of being a Star Wars fan knows no bounds.  To be treated to the latest epic adventure just days before the celebration of Christmas is like an embarrassment of riches!  Let’s take a short spoiler-free look at Rogue One, and see what we can draw out of it.

StarWars.com offers this as a synopsis of the movie: “In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction.”  While this is an ensemble cast, the story has an iconic heroine in Jyn Erso.  Through her, the story is moved, the task is completed (don’t be surprised, since we have known since 1977) and all of the soldiers aboard Rogue One find their fulfillment.  That is all I will say, in case you haven’t seen it yet.  But seriously, why are you reading my ramblings if you haven’t seen the move yet?  Put this down!  Run to the theater!  Then, come back and finish up here.

Forgiving is the Way of the Light Side

Some might say that it has been a rough couple of weeks for us here in the United States.  Others will be happy because a contentious season has passed.  Still others may be indifferent to the imposed emotional frenzy.  No matter where we find ourselves on this spectrum, it is necessary for each of us to live with each with grace and forgiveness.

Some think the Galactic Empire is being channeled, and some think the Rebel Alliance has emerged victorious.  Honestly, I think the rich are still getting rich, and I’ll still be in relatively the same place in 4 or 8 years regardless of the larger political world.  And that is as it should be.  My life should not be dictated, controlled or overly influenced by politicians.  I still have neighbors and family members by and through whom I hope to become a better man.

Can Jedi Be a Religion?

How do you identify yourself?  When you meet someone new, what facets of your life do you mention first as an introduction?  For some, it is relationships, children, employment, favorite Star Wars movie, hat size.  Whatever.  One thing we are always shy to ask about is someone’s religious background and preference.  I think this is a newer phenomenon, actually.  Nevertheless, in the new millennium, crazy answers to all of these questions are offered.  Quite often, we get stories about people listing Jedi as the religion of choice on some form or another.

My D'Qar D'iet

Almost a year ago, I was at a convention and had to have my picture taken for a directory, which I resisted for 6 years.  It could be put off no longer.  A few of my buddies and I got in line and had a ton of fun trying to look professional.  A week or so later, the picture came back and I was confronted with something that I had already known: I had let myself get way too big.  Jabba big.  Pergill big.  I should be Han average, but it seemed that I had taken Malakili as my patron saint.  Something had to be done about it.

Boshek returns from the Far Off Land

I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see…
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home. – Amazing Grace

Did you ever lose something of dear importance?  Car keys when you are late, a child in a packed department store?  We all have, to one degree or another.  Then the friends mobilize and work to find the missing person or item.