There's something not right here. I feel cold, death (Luke Skywalker)

Wie geht's?

The dark side within (a chapter of The Dharma of Star Wars by Matthew Bortolin) has an interesting take on that scene in Empire Strikes Back that I've often puzzled over.

After a Yoda training session Luke looks into a creepy dark cave. Yoda tells him it's 'a domain of evil' and that Luke must go into it!

Whaaat? But Luke is a curious young guy and so he ignores Yoda's advice about taking a weapon and in he goes.

Everyone knows what happens next in the cave - Darth Vader 'appears', they battle and Luke 'wins' only for the Vader mask to disappear and reveal Luke's own face!!

Whaaat???

This is deep stuff. Wot's uh the deal?

Well the deal is, that Luke has to confront the dark side in that cave. 

As Matthew explains:

The dark side is all the suffering in life: it is frustration, hatred, anger, and all the negative feelings and thoughts that come from within us. By going into the cave Luke is penetrating his own nature on a quest to recognise himself and the source of his difficulties. Yoda knows that if Luke can confront what lies within with courage and compassion, he will do much to overcome whatever hold the dark side has on him. But Luke makes the same error many of us make in our lives: he mistakenly believes his suffering comes from somewhere outside of himself. In this case, Darth Vader is the apparent source.

Love and peace - Adson Purwa (Jedi master)

Rescue of the Princess (John Williams)

Tree of life tapestry laid out on our bed

Wie geht's?

My recent post from France was a little jaundiced and sounded a bit like I was suffering from little Englander syndrome (an English person who thinks England is better than all other countries).

Even though I'm not English - there's nothing like a convert, is there?

After we got back to England I confess to giving myself a good talking to and addressed the need to accept alternative nationalities more wholesomely.

So I went to Wales (not Coventry) and had my equilibrium restored via a return visit to Tintern Abbey.

We found this awesome tapestry from the TA gift shop - a visual reminder of TA's beauty and meditative spirit.

I should have been more accepting of French hospitality (Verse Toujours was great and served up beautiful food), the cultural variety of French Underground signage and be more accepting of all the loved up Parisians who were drawn to the opposite seats in trains like magnets.

I also got this awesome Star Wars poster with a bulked up Luke and busty Leia - hilarious!!

Sorry France. Sorry Paris.

Love, peace, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité - Wozza

Rebel scum (Finn)

Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi

Three reasons why I think it could be the greatest edition yet to the saga. If not that, up there with Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back.

1 Resonance - it acknowledges the Star Wars universe and history seamlessly and naturally. When Luke needs persuading to help train Rey, R2D2 shows him the original Princess Leia hologram that she sent to Obi Wan. Perfect. Some sort of dust molecule must have got into my eye at this point. Yoda's reappearance feels natural and he provides focus for Luke as a character (there's always a bigger fish), as well as perspective - same old Luke - always looking to the horizon according to Master Yoda.

2 Depth - it has layers. More integrated layers than any of the other films (with the possible exception of Empire Strikes Back - interestingly, another Jedi training middle-of-the-trilogy film). The idea of growing through failure (a favourite concept of mine) is woven through the film. Many characters 'succeed' and/or 'fail' even when they think they don't. The sub-plot involving Finn and Rose's doomed attempt to discontinue the trace on the rebel's command ship through light speed is great because they are doing their best to succeed. Poe's dreadnought 'win' is deemed a failure that he can't understand until later in the film. 

3 Hope - I love this theme (but I would, wouldn't I). The final image of the film is a beautiful image of hope. Aligned to the hope is love. The humanity within the Star Wars universe gives us all the universal connection that we yearn for in a film. It's largely why we believe in and love these characters. And is one of the key reasons this is the greatest franchise in movie history. Chewy, Luke and Leia, Han Solo in absentia and now Rose and Finn, Rey and Kylo Ren. It's about people, people!

I'm ready for my third viewing now. The first was special - with a party including Jade, Jacky, and Fanfa (all of whom have been my Star Wars viewing partners over the years). Second was awesome too, with Adam and Ashleigh - who shared my enthusiasm and love for this film.

If you haven't seen it yet, I envy you.

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. Merry Christmas everyone out there in my little corner of the outer rim of the blogosphere. Many of you I know. Many are strangers. All of you deserve  the peace and love that comes with this time of the year.

In the immortal words of George Costanza - take it easy.

It just isn't fair. Oh, Biggs is right. I'm never gonna get out of here! (Luke Skywalker)

Sometimes I sense a feeling of longing and frustration I've not felt since...

Sometimes I feel like Luke Skywalker.

You know the scene - he's living on Tatooine with Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. They buy two new droids - R2D2 and C3PO for the farm. Luke's talking to C3PO. The dialogue goes like this:

C3PO: Is there anything I might do to help? 
LUKE: Well, not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or
teleport me off this rock!

C3PO: I don't think so, sir. I'm only a droid and not very
knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyways. As a
matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on.

LUKE: Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on 

the planet that it's farthest from.

Doing the last two posts hasn't helped me with this feeling - London 1966, San Francisco 1967 were happening, vital places.

Tatooine is so small, so insignificant in the universe, so far away from the action.

I know 'wherever you go there you are' and that this thinking is counter productive. 

I know this wheel out of kilter feeling. I have felt it before. It sneaks up on me from time to time.

The Buddha described it as duhkha (doo-ka). It's not an easy word to translate but 'dissatisfaction with your lot' is close. 'Suffering' is often used as a blanket term for this general deal: something basic and important isn't right.

Luke is definitely feeling duhkha.

Luke's mental suffering happens because he doesn't get what he wants. He's forced to live on the farm on Tatooine and endure what he doesn't want.
The fact is - we can't turn our heads away from pain. We have to face it or we are never going to find our way out of the situation we are in - this situation of duhkha.

We can only deal with pain by facing it squarely!

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. Check out this awesome fan made extended trailer for The Force Awakens: