Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [121]
“You’re suggesting that I’ve held myself back by not wanting to incorporate this raw power into my awareness of the Force,” Luke said.
“Vergere received years of formal training in the Force,” Jacen said. “The things she told me must have been common knowledge among the Jedi of the Old Republic.”
“Vergere was corrupted by the years she spent living among the Yuuzhan Vong,” Luke said evenly.
“Corrupted?”
“Maybe that’s too strong a term. Let’s say strongly influenced.”
“But she felt she hadn’t been influenced by them.”
“She can’t be blamed. Each of us stands at a kind of midpoint, from which we’re capable of seeing only so far in either direction. Our senses have been honed over countless millennia to allow us to navigate the intricacies of the physical world. But because of that, our senses blind us to the fact that we are much more than our bodies. We truly are beings of light, Jacen.
“The emphasis the Jedi have always placed on control operates the same way. Control blinds us to the more expansive nature of the Force. The Jedi of the Old Republic wanted only youngsters for this reason. Jedi needed to be raised in the light, and to come to see that light as unblemished, undivided. But you and I haven’t had the luxury of that indoctrination. Our lives are a constant test of our will to exorcise any darkness that creeps in.
“In that sense, your instincts about me are correct, and so were Vergere’s. The dark side has, in a sense, dominated my life. I’ve suspected for a long time that the fatigue I’ve sometimes experienced when drawing on the Force during combat owes to my fear of abusing the raw power you describe.
“It’s true that the Force is unified; it is one energy, one power. But here’s where I think you and Vergere are incorrect: the dark side is real, because evil actions are real. Sentience gave rise to the dark side. Does it exist in nature? No. Left to itself, nature maintains the balance. But we’ve changed that. We are a new order of consciousness that has an impact on all life. The Force now contains light and dark because of what thinking beings have brought to it. That’s why balance has become something that must be maintained—because our actions have the power to tip the scales.”
“As the Sith did,” Jacen said.
“As the Sith did. The Emperor was perhaps the most self-assured person I have ever encountered, but he deliberately chose evil over good. And in the right climate, one individual, suitably driven and skilled, can tip the universe into darkness. For darkness has followers, especially where discontent, isolation, or fear hold sway. In such a climate enemies can be fashioned, imagined out of thin air, and suddenly all good is lost, all perspective vanishes, and illness takes hold.”
Luke paused, then said, “Do you believe that you spoke with Vergere after her death at Ebaq Nine, or were you conversing with the Vergere who existed only in your thoughts and memory?”
Jacen thought for a moment. “I spoke with Vergere. I’m certain of it.”
“Do you believe that I had a vision of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and my father after all three had died?”
“I’ve never had any reason to doubt you, Uncle.”
“Then, from where was Vergere speaking?”
“Maybe she learned to tap into a power that was more all-embracing than the Living Force.”
“The Unifying Force,” Luke said. “That might explain it. In fact, all the years since the deaths of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and my father, I’ve felt as if the Jedi have been on a quest to recover the Force’s power to glimpse the future, which is perhaps the nature of the Unifying Force. The search has not been unlike our search for Zonama Sekot. And there’s a power here, in the air and the trees and everything else, that convinces me we’ve found our way to something even greater than what we were seeking.”
“I feel that, too.