The fictional Jedi Master Yoda told young Luke Skywalker, “But beware the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side of the force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. ...” (starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Quote:Yoda) For the purpose of this lecture, we will call the Dark Side one’s personal demons. Everyone has them. And everyone needs to confront them at one time or another in life if we are to move onward and upward in our Jedi paths. Your demon may be an anger management problem. You may have fears stemming from past traumas. You may be battling drug or alcohol addiction. Perhaps you can’t seem to stop smoking. Or you may have a serious, debilitating physical or mental illness. Rev. Billy Bob Gisher states in his blog:
“There are few humans that manage to get through their entire life without confronting their demons. You may live a long life, but you won’t really “live it” if you don’t confront them.
”Demons come in many forms, but most often they are rooted in our fears. The biggest demons of all are those you are unable to admit to being frightened of. Perhaps it’s events in your past, for an example, the death of a loved one. Maybe it’s a childhood trauma you never faced and thought you’d safely buried.
”Writing for blogs, I have encountered many people who were carrying around demons, and sadly, most of them were unaware they were affected by them. There is an old saying I am quite fond of; “You may be done with your past, but your past isn’t done with you.”
”Sometimes these demons can be quite benign and seemingly insignificant. Confronting the most minor of them has a value beyond metaphor, as doing so can provide the encouragement to tackle bigger demons.
(http://lessidiots.blogspot.com/2006/01/ ... emons.html)
Patrick Means, a free-lance author and contributor to STEPS magazine, has written a brilliant 4-part series called “Dealing with Your Dark Side” which is available online (http://www.alcoholicsvictorious.org/nacr/pat/dark-1.htm) Excerpts follow.
“Albert Einstein once said, ‘For every problem, there is a solution which is simple, logical, straight-forward, and wrong.’" (Means, 2009)
Every Jedi has a “dark side”, a “side of us that we would rather no one ever knows about, the side that seems determined to pull us toward unhealthy, self-destructive behavior.” (Means, 2009). Confrontation of our dark side is not simply a course on how to behave appropriately in public. We have to get to the bottom of what causes our dark side and wrestle with it.
Four popular ways in which a Jedi can seek to confront his/her dark side (and none of them work) are to:
1. Minimize It
One’s dark side is not conquered when one starts down the Jedi path, nor for a long time thereafter. Many Jedi are tempted to say, “Well, now I have discovered the Force, and so I am not the same person. I’m enlightened.” Or, “Well, I know I have a problem, but I’m not as bad as so-and-so.” Or, “We are Jedi. What are we going to do when non-Jedi come in?” These attitudes minimize the negative power of our dark sides.
The sobering truth is, good people can sometimes do bad things. Jedi have a dark side that's every bit as active as a Darksider’s. Sometimes our dark side actually becomes even more corrupt, not better! We Jedi are just as capable of horrific deeds as anyone else. (Means, 2009)
2. Ignore It
This second approach acknowledges the reality of a dark side within us, but believes the best way to deal with it is to "meditate on the Force". Despite this meditation, however, “we will remain a mix of light and dark, of strength and weakness, until the day we die. To build a self-image that is composed only of sweetness and light, and leaves out any acknowledgment of our on-going humanity, is just another form of denial.” (Means, 2009)
3. Shame It
Perhaps because we Jedi have a hard time accepting ourselves as a combination of light and dark, we spare our worst onslaughts for those people (or those parts of ourselves) who show any hint of imperfection. Shaming and subjecting such behaviors to legalities only serve to encourage rebellion and to drive our dark side activities underground.
4. Starve It
Some Jedi “believe that if you squelch it, stifle it, strangle it, and starve it, our dark side will eventually wither away and, if not die, at least not bother us anymore.” (Means, 2009) However, more often than not, they find that these efforts become an obsession in themselves. Means (2009) goes on to state:
“But there is an even more important truth here. One level down, below that addictive or unhealthy behavior we're so anxious to stamp out, is a broken place - a wound, probably inflicted in childhood. Until that broken place is healed, the most we can hope for is to switch addictions. Because, like cancer that metastasizes throughout the body, if we only treat the symptoms, it will inevitably pop up somewhere else. Its new form may be more socially acceptable, such as an addiction to food, or work, or to helping others. But the pain underneath goes untreated.”
Our next lecture will focus on how to confront our dark sides.
(http://lessidiots.blogspot.com/2006/01/ ... emons.html). Accessed May 18, 2009.
(http://www.alcoholicsvictorious.org/nacr/pat/dark-1.htm). Accessed May 18, 2009.