As many of you know, this is my first lecture in several months. I have had time off for reflection after my resignation from the Jedi Council. This first returning lecture is an attempt to voice some insights into the Force that I have learned during my time of seclusion.
The Force, it has been said, is like a river, flowing through all things, being the energy that makes up existence, that sustains life. Students and adepts of the Force are inclined to attempt to learn to harness and control the Force, first and foremost. Throughout my studies of the Force, I too have had the goal of learning more about the Force in order to harness it, to use it to the greatest possible extent. But I realized that to harness the Force is, in many ways, to cheapen it, to lessen it from an all-encompassing knowledge and awareness of Life to just a tool to be used for whatever purposes a Force adept may desire. Simply attempting to harness the Force is, in many ways, a path walked by the blind. In truth, there is no harnessing the Force...because the Force is that which flows through and around us.
It is my experience that nowhere is the Force felt so strongly, so purely as in nature. Consider the rock. It has mass - weight lent it by the earth's gravitational pull. It also has kinetic energy. A rock may lay motionless, or depending upon the force exerted on it, it may be propelled, thus becoming a moving object. The rock is at one with the Force because of one simple reason...it is made up of the Force. The rock is a product of the Force, and is therefore constantly in harmony with the ebb and flow of the Force.
Human beings, however, generally exist in opposition to the Force. We are part of the Force, but are constantly diverted from the path we are destined to walk, by our own lack of balance. The most experienced adept of the Force can really have no more true understanding of the Force than the above-mentioned rock possesses. In fact one might say that the rock has an advantage because the rock merely exists made up of, and empowered by, the Force. For the rock, there is no "why", or "how", or even "when" or "where". The rock just IS.
The major revelation that I had in my seclusion is that in my quest of learning to use the Force, to control it, I had begun to neglect the fact that I already KNEW the Force...it is existence, it is Life and encompasses the nature of things. I took a cue from the rock...it is not necessarily the usage of the Force that is important, but the harmony that we have with it, that makes our connection with the Force strong. Yes, a Jedi can learn to divert that stream of the Force to achieve certain goals; however, this diversion accomplishes comparatively little since it realizes only a small percentage of the true potential of the Force. In other words, the whole of a stream possesses much more energy than just a little rivulet of water. Rather than divert a portion of water to achieve our task, it is better for us to bring our task into the stream, and be able to work with it more handily. Many Force adepts have it backwards. It is not necessary to reach out to clutch the Force, to grasp the little bit your hands can reach. Why settle for a handful when you can open your whole self to the flow and become a conduit for the free-flowing Force energy rather than merely a dispenser?
In summary, In order to use the Force, one must first flow with the Force. In order to flow with the Force one must first learn to be part of it...learn to come to peace with existence, and the nature of existence. A Jedi does not fear death…a Jedi knows only existence, and the value of affecting the living world through existence. One must come into balance with nature and into balance with the Force, before learning to use and control the Force. Only by flowing with the Force does a student truly comprehend the Path of the Jedi. A Force Adept must not simply seek to use the Force as a tool, but rather be a tool of the Force, and flow with the stream as it flows in, through and around us, around all things.
I would, of course, like to clarify some of my ideas. The harmony in the force which I address in this lecture is not the same harmony of which the Shadow Jedi speak. I simply speak of truly becoming knowledgeable about the Force by the mere act of being. It is powerful indeed to go out and affect people’s lives…helping at the Food Bank, volunteering to help those less fortunate, etc. These are all things that would amount to using a “fraction” of the Force, not the whole. These are wonderful things…and are the hallmark of a true Jedi. My point is simply that to use the FULL force, we allow it to encompass us, and encompass our lives. If we stay at home and lead a normal life, and have brief flashes of goodwill, then we are using part of the Force, and not using the full amount of the Force. But if we allow the Force to fully envelop us, the Force is evident in all our actions, and instead of using flashes of the Force occasionally, we use the full power of the Force in all things. A Jedi does not need charity to do good…we use the simple act of being to have a positive effect on the world.