Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series) - Kevin Decker [103]
In A New Hope, Luke is given his father’s old blue-bladed lightsaber; he accepts it as willingly and unquestioningly as he accepts Obi-Wan’s story. In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader slices off the hand holding that blade, an action as harsh and brutal as the truth he then speaks. Instead of joining Vader and constructing a new lightsaber under his instruction, Luke chooses to build one on his own and (presumably) without instruction. Luke’s choice of a green blade (representing life and growth), rather than a red blade as the Sith all use (representing blood and death), is certainly not accidental.
Later, Luke confronts the spirit of Obi-Wan, who finally tells him the full story behind Anakin Skywalker’s fall and transformation. Interestingly, Luke’s response (once past his initial bitterness) is to insist that there’s good left in Vader. Obi-Wan disagrees: “He’s more machine now than man. Twisted and evil.” But Luke is through with accepting the words of others unquestioningly. Obi-Wan and Vader have given him only part of the story. The rest comes from his own intuition, the “feelings” that Jedi are told to trust above everything else.
This is the truth of the heart, a truth beyond mechanistic facts or even shades of meaning, the final step in the path Luke chose when he turned off his targeting computer on the Death Star run. Luke seeks to build his own truth, trusting what he feels above what anyone tells him, and as a symbol of this truth he builds and wields his own lightsaber. For this reason, he alone is able to move beyond words, appearances, and the dizzying kaleidoscope of individual perspectives. He not only sees the spark of Anakin Skywalker flickering within the mechanical shell of Darth Vader, but redeems him and thereby helps bring down the Empire and the Sith against all expectations. In doing so, he redeems the fallen honor of the Old Republic Jedi and restores their truth to what it should have been.
Philosophers in this galaxy have been debating the question of what truth is from “a long time ago” to this day, and if history is any indication, they aren’t likely to agree on it anytime soon. But at least we finally have an answer to the question of the lying Jedi: they lie because truth isn’t simple, and because they know that truth told without compassion can be brutal. Claiming that truth should always be told, regardless of other ethical considerations, is like claiming that there’s nothing left of Darth Vader to be redeemed—true on only the most superficial level. Fans may not like to see their heroes as less than honor-able, but the lesson of the lying Jedi is that truth depends on perspective, on intention, on intuitive understanding, and finally on a compassion that’s willing to see the whole picture and not just a single “point of view.”
17
Religious Pragmatism through the Eyes of Luke Skywalker
JOSEPH W. LONG
In a memorable scene from A New Hope, a skeptical Han Solo tells the idealistic Luke Skywalker, “Kid, I’ve flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything to make me believe there’s one all-powerful Force controlling everything.” Nevertheless, Luke becomes a hero because of his faith in his friends, his father, and most importantly, the Force, a mystical energy field in which he believes but which he cannot empirically verify.
The question of when to believe something and when not to believe is very important in the Star Wars galaxy and in our own. In fact, this is one of the central questions in the crucial branch