** the imbalance from the prophecy occurred when the Jedi found themselves sworn to follow the Senate, without question:
even when the Senate is corrupted by the Politics of Fear,and controlled by a sith lord, the jedi will STILL follow the senate blindly.
(read: the imbalance occurred when the Jedi Order became an extension of the government;
the very existence of this relationship between "church&state", allowed the sith to take command of the Jedi Order,
simply BY taking over the government).
--> the "dark side grew stronger" when the SIth took over the Senate.
and the Jedi were "powerless to do anything about it" BECAUSE they were sworn to follow this Senate.
(read: the knights themselves were powerless.. BECAUSE the Order "exists", to govern their actions ).
--> the existence of the JEdi Order prevented the Jedi Knights from following the will of the force;
it prevented them from their role in the balance of things; it prevented them from opposing the sith <-- and THIS...
brought imbalance to the force:
a jedi who follows the will of the force, brings balance to the force. it's that simple
(and a jedi who follows the will of the senate , brings imbalance to the force, especially when the senate is corrupt).
its got nothing to do with 'balancing' the roster of jedi vs sith to only 2 members each
it's not even about good vs evil.
its about dynamic morality vs static morality.
when you follow th "will of the people" (when you follow the SENATE), then your definition of "right and wrong" WILL change over time, according to politics. you take your "morality" from the ever-changing whims of Politics. from the popular vote of corrupt individuals. you let these corrupt individuals "guide your actions".
BUT when you follow the "will of the Force" then your definition of "Right and Wrong" will remain constant. you take your "morality" from a Higher Power. this leads to Immortality. (aka: Qui-Gon's Path: follow the will of the force). like a true religion.
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consider: a thousand years ago, we sacrificed Virgins to make the crops grow. we thought it was for the GOOD of all society. now that same society would consider that same action to be EVIL.
Our Morality has changed over the ages, according to fashion and politics. the very definition of Right and Wrong has changed. and this was driven by reason. (cool beans).
BUT : what happens when the changes are driven by FEAR, instead of reason? what happens when the Will of the Democracy is corrupted by the Politics of Fear, and the entire senate is ruled by a Sith Lord? and "Fear" is being used to drive the People over the brink of War?
now the "will of the people" is calling for acts of War : for acts of "Evil". (in the name of the Common "Good").
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this is the problem with Dynamic Morality. there is NO BALANCE. it can be Driven by anger and fear, AS WELL AS reason and logic. it could 'tip' either way. its not "grounded" in anything. it wobbles all over the place.
--> by following this system of Dynamic Morality, (by using the "will of the people" as the definition of right and wrong), the Jedi eventually wound up fighting a never-ending War for national security driven by the people's Fear. (sound familiar?)
--> but a system of Static morality (Morals which remain constant regardless of politics) can not be overturned by fear + anger, and a popular vote. it can't be bent by some kind of "patriot act".
in the opera scene, anakin spells it out : the Jedi take their Morality from democracy. they define "Good" as the Common Good; and Evil as "selfishness". anything that "helps others" is considered GOOD. acting out the "Will of the People" is considered Good. the definition of "Good" comes from politics and the popular vote. they worship "the vote" as the source of their morality. they worship democracy.
(the jedi are concerned with the Needs of the Many -- they reference the needs of the species as a whole, to determine what is "good" for Man).
meanwhile the Sith take their morality from selfishness. they reference the needs of a Single Man, to determine what is "good" for Man. they act out the Will of the Individual. not the Will of the People.
(they are concerned with the needs of the Few, or the One).
and THIS is presented as the difference between "Good" and "Evil", in the star wars universe.
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Lucas is trying to tell us, in typical ham-fisted fashion, that there is a third path : to take your morality from a Higher Power. like a christian takes morality from the bible. to accept the "will" of the being who granted you the 'Freewill' in the first place. to, in fact, USE your freewill, to enact the Will of this being - this leads to immortality.
((to USE the force, to enact the will of the force -- Qui-Gon's singular Mantra as a character -- and again, the path to immortality)). this brings balance to the force.
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consider: its the end of the world. there is no food. the Will of the People has declared that there will be NO HOARDING. and thus, everybody dies: eventually the world runs out of food and we ALL die equally. the human race ENDS forever, and we become EXTINCT as a species. [/Jedi]
meanwhile: the Will of the Selfish Individual has him hoarding food for ONLY himself and his family. he defends his HOARD with a shotgun. and thus, humanity survives. eventually his family re-populates the planet and the human race is spared from extinction. [/Sith]
---> which path is "good" and which path is "evil" !??
((meanwhile: there is a third path: some old guy with a beard builds a boat and fills it with animals, 2 of each kind, because he had a 'vision' in a dream. he does what he's told, even though he would rather just hoard food like a typical Sith. and ALL the species of the earth are now spared from extinction; NOT just "humans"))
((this is the path that the Jedi Knights are SUPPOSED to take: "follow the will of the force" -- but they can't. because their Order is directly tied to the Senate -- they are part of the problem))
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which brings us back to this idea of Separation of Church and State.
in order for the jedi order to "follow the will of the force" again (and thus bring balance to the force), they need to divorce themselves from the senate.
the relationship between church and state has to be severed.
for the sake of the CHURCH (lest the church lose its moral compass, and thus, its moral authority).
((in fact, for the sake of the "Force", which spawned the Chosen One as an act of self-defense:
to wipe out ALL force-users NOT following the will of the force, and thus, bring balance to the force))
here, I would have MUCH prefered to see the jedi order RESISTING this relationship between church-and-State, to the point where they had to be exterminated by the very army that was meant to replace them (like the movie, "last samurai").
instead GL gives us the relationship between the jedi and the senate as being already established (for a thousand years): the jedi are, essentially, already lost (a thoudans years ago). they have already stopped following the will of the force. and so we have NO reference of the jedi in their Glory. no glimpse of the way things 'should be'. no image of the jedi as ever being purely "Good". no depiction, in the Films, of the jedi EVER following the "will of the force".
all that stuff that Old Alec Guiness said about the jedi (which had us all staring doe-eyed at the screen) was never depicted.
instead we got to see what the jedi became, only AFTER they stopped following their own god.
only AFTER they were already doomed-by-politics
in he end, "balance" was restored when the force-spawned chosen-one has wiped out ALL force-users who refused to "follow the will of the force".
(including palpatine AND the younglings in the temple).
when ALL future jedi (like luke skywalker) were free to follow the will of the force again:
luke is taught: "Let go your conscious self" and "Let the Force Guide your actions"
( aka: "use the force , to enact the will of the force : this brings balance to the force")
hehe
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LOOOONG story short: jar jar is needed to tell this tale. just as much as dooku.
jar jar is to padme, as dooku is to Qui-gon.
jar jar and dooku ONLY EXIST to reveal the slippery slopes of Our Heroes' positions from TPM.
--> the fact that he's an IDIOT is part of the PLOT!