Feel
The Force
Does The Force over-emphasize instinct over science?
Submitted by Gerald Tarrant
8/16/99
Star Wars is pop culture. That's one way to describe the stunning success this movie has had on the world today. Star Wars related items appear in the news daily. Star Wars quotes become the headlines of news articles dealing with everything from Congress to rock music. The sayings of Yoda are quipped over radio and television with no explanation necessary on the source. When you hear it, you know it's from Star Wars. Pop culture has taken Star Wars and remolded itself around it.
Or has it?
John Leo of US News and World Report certainly thinks so. His editorial "May the feel be with you" brilliantly espouses the fact that Star Wars has taken the "Era of Good Feelings" to a new height. Reviving the popular belief that "feelings are way more important than eyesight, facts, reason, technology, common sense, and computerized bombsights," Star Wars, Leo says, is the epitome of the saying "if it feels good, do it!" He sardonically remarks on Obi-Wan Kenobi's advice to Luke in A New Hope: "Stretch out with your feelings" and "Let go, Luke!" as Luke, according to Leo, "has the wit to turn off his mind and computer, so there are no remaining obstacles to successful bombing." And he comments the same way on Qui-Gon Jinn's words to Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace: "Feel, don't think," as Anakin prepares to race Sebulba. Leo says, "Young Anakin wins the race, so maybe the advice to avoid thinking at all costs served him well. On the other hand, the child grows up to be Darth Vader, so maybe not."
Is Star Wars in fact just a massive ploy to reinforce in our minds the notion that feelings take precedence over everything else? That the Jedi are but hypnotists in clever disguise, waving their hands in front of our faces and whispering "if it feels good, do it" ? Let's examine this "feeling" business to see what Leo and others are really getting at. The definition of "feel" as stated in the Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language: "feel Vt. 1. To touch; examine by handling 2. To be aware of through physical sensation 3. To experience (an emotion or condition); be affected by 4. To be aware of 5. To think or believe".
From these five different definitions of "feel" we seem to have stumbled upon a dilemma. Which "feel" is Leo referring to? From the article, it seems he is using definitions two and three as the basis for his argument: "to be aware of through physical sensation" and "to experience (an emotion or condition); be affected by." And yes, with these definitions in mind it's easy to see things from his point of view. Where are the thoughts? he asks. Where is the science, the technology, the proof that these feelings are indeed real? Where are the facts, the hard, cold, solid facts, to back up the feeling fad that the people of the world seem to be into nowadays? If drugs feel good, should you do them? If jumping off a cliff feels good, should you do that too? Think! Leo says. Think! Don't feel!
And he's right. Facts, science, and reason should take precedence over warm fuzzy feelings out of the blue. But let's examine Obi-Wan's advice in this context. "Stretch out with your feelings," as Luke battles the remote. Should Luke suddenly experience a warm, fuzzy feeling toward the remote? Should he suddenly discover that he likes the remote very much, so much in fact that he decides to move his saber in various directions, hoping to "feel" something more?
This is where those definitions of "feel" suddenly don't work so well anymore. It is a fine line we walk, but let us turn to definitions four and five: "to be aware of" and "to think or believe."
What does the Star Wars universe have that we in our harsh reality don't? The obvious answer: the Force, that energy field radiating from all living things, surrounding and binding everything. You can't see the Force, can't touch it or smell it, can't taste it or speak to it. So how do the denizens of the Star Wars galaxy know it exists?
They feel it. They are "aware of it," as Webster would say. When they "let go" of their conscious selves and act on instinct, the Force is there with them, guiding them and obeying their commands. Common sense and science skid to a halt at the place where our world ends and Star Wars begins. How do you calculate an energy field? How do you begin to rationalize the existence of such an entity?
You cannot. The Force does not exist in Star Wars to be explained by thinking, facts, or even science. Consider Darth Vader's words to Admiral Motti in A New Hope: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is no match for the power of the Force." Doesn't sound very warm and fuzzy to me.
Feeling, the belief that the Force is real, is the only thing that our Star Wars heroes can rely on. The Force is to them what God is to Christians, what Allah is to Muslims. When listening to God speak, do you think? Do you weigh the pros and cons of obeying God before carrying out his instructions? Of course not. All you can do is feel as Luke does, as Obi-Wan does, as Qui-Gon Jinn does.
That's not to say that thinking doesn't matter. There is always the "dark side," the seductive whispering of evil that ensnared Anakin Skywalker. Anakin didn't think. He felt too much, was sucked into the trap of "if it feels good, do it." He acted on what he felt was good and was betrayed by his own feelings. Yes, thinking matters.
But thinking is not all. Rationality may work fine in common everyday life, in making decisions and choosing your goals. But if you're about to risk your life "in a 300-mile-per-hours race of pods, or space chariots," there may be not time to think. You must feel, and trust, whether you believe in God or the Force. Because without this higher dimension of reality, all life would be based on mundane facts, reason, and science.
And there may be scientists, scholars, philosophers, and journalists who scoff at such a theory. "I don't believe it!" they say.
Perhaps that is why you fail.
(While not battling the light side vermin of college calculus and computer science, Gerald Tarrant, Sith Lord, enjoys writing, html, and Star Wars. You can write to Lord Tarrant at lordofmerentha@yahoo.com. He’ll be happy to answer your e-mail – unless he chooses to choke you to death for your insolence.)