In this three-part series, Dr. Kathy Lin explores Star Wars as Buddhist-Christian synthesis. We will release one post per week in this series beginning in late October.
Post #3: Now, the Force.
Now, the Force. I take it that the “Force” should be conceived of as neither Christian nor Buddhist – and, both Christian and Buddhist. We should understand the Force as a conception of natural law, something like a Buddho-Daoist li 理or principle guiding the development of the moral universe. But, of course, the idea of natural law comes in Christian language, as well – and in many other languages.[1] This is why I say that the Force, as natural law, belongs both to Buddhism and to Christianity, and to neither exclusively. As an old Obi-Wan tells the young Luke Skywalker (in 1977): the Force is “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”[2] The Force in part “control[s] your actions,” and in part it “obeys your commands.”[3] There are several moments of extended elaboration about the Force in the Star Wars universe. In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), when Yoda trains Luke on Dagobah, Yoda describes the Force thus: “Life creates it. Makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you.” The Force is “Between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.” In the most recent sequel trilogy, there is another extended elaboration, when Luke trains Rey in The Last Jedi (2017). Luke tells Rey then that the Force is “not about the power you have. It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance that binds the universe together.” Under Luke’s guidance, Rey experiences the Force as: “the Island. Life. Death and decay, that feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace. Violence.” Luke prompts here: “And between it all?” She responds: “Balance. An energy. A Force.” Luke asks: “And inside you?” Rey responds: “Inside me, that same Force.” The critical lesson Luke wants to impart – besides showing Rey the Force – is that the Force does not belong to the Jedi. This is a profound point: here we may think that natural law does not belong in an exclusive way to either Buddhists or Christians.
I am not the first to have noticed the religious undercurrents of Star Wars. There are general interest books – for instance The Dharma of Star Wars (Matthew Bortolin); the blogosphere abounds with commentary on the Christian cosmology visible in the stories. An academic treatment has been given in a collection, Theology and the Star Wars Universe (Fortress Academic, 2022), edited by Benjamin Espinoza. My main point in this post has been to highlight the religious, synthetically Buddhist-Christian nature of the Star Wars stories – these stories cannot be understood through one tradition alone.
Finally, I should like to say that the religious ideas imbedded in the Star Wars universe intersect with the ordering of political society (there is a political theology), in that the stories are deeply republican in sentiment. We should see that the protagonists of the stories refuse empire – the Jedi are allied with the Senate, the Republic, and the Resistance; the Sith are allied with Empire and the corruption of republican institutions, and with tyrannical and authoritarian rule.[4] It’s true that the Jedi may not qualify as fully republican under a more technical understanding of republicanism, as requiring rule of law and suitable controls over the deployment and use of force. To give some examples here: Jedi Master Windu is inclined to execute Palpatine in The Revenge of the Sith on the spot, without standing trial, and it is Anakin who protests this lack of due process – with tragic and catastrophic consequences. Or, it is a mysterious Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas who secretly orders the build-up of a Clone Army – “for the republic” – a fact revealed to us in The Attack of the Clones – and there is no indication of a controlled or procedural pathway to that decision. But, we might still think that the Jedi are allied with the building and defense of republican institutions. When the Jedi Council are contemplating the possible need to remove Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from office (if he does not give up emergency powers after a crisis has passed), Master Windu voices the thought that “The Jedi Council would have to take control of the senate in order to secure a peaceful transition.” Master Yoda is wisely troubled by this suggestion, responding: “To a dark place this line of thought will carry us...Great care must we take.”[5] Throughout the series there is also a clearly anti-monarchical bent, a stance against the institution of monarchy as family-dynasty. For instance, we see our protagonist Padme refusing to follow Anakin down a dark path, when Anakin suggests that they “rule the Galaxy” together.[6] Similarly, Rey refuses the hand of Sith apprentice Kylo Ren, when he suggests to her that they “rule together and bring a new order to the Galaxy.”[7] She wishes to take the hand not of Kylo Ren, but of Ben Solo the Jedi.
Rey healing Kylo Ren - Credit to Wookieepedia and to Lucasfilm, The Rise of Skywalker
I think that it is at heart these deep conceptual commitments that render this universe so appealing to certain of its audiences – those audiences with commitments to Buddhist, Christian, and republican ideas. We might consider, as a counter-point, that the franchise does not do well at all in China – a society in which the conceptual clusters currently organizing society are not recognizably these ones.[8] (Or, to put it more carefully: these concepts are not emphasized in the same way). It is not impossible that there may be convergence in future, however; China purports to inherit from its Republican era, and is indeed deeply anti-monarchical in its institutional orientation. It’s also a deeply Buddhist society, and an increasingly Christian one.
We might also consider, as another counter-point, that the Star Trek universe does not traffic in religious ideas in the same way as Star Wars. Star Trek does not deal in good and evil; it does not try to conceptualize natural law. In Star Trek, there is another kind of philosophical/theological anthropology at play – one in which different societies converge or progress towards greater peace and understanding. Politically, the show is inflected with the commitments of a kind of liberal neutrality or liberal tolerance. In that universe, the possibility of great good and great evil – in ourselves and in others – is not recognized. At risk of provoking cosmic war with another fan base, dare I say that the Star Wars philosophical-theological anthropology strikes me as the sounder one.
[1] Palpatine characterizes the Dark Side as leading to powers that “some consider to be.... unnatural.” The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
[2] A New Hope (1977).
[3] A New Hope (1977). This line also reminds me of Marx: humans make history, not in conditions of their own making.
[4] The prequel trilogy tells the story of a gradual decline of republican institutions, with senators (some of them – as Padme does at one juncture – serving as ‘useful idiots’) voting more executive powers to a Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
[5] Revenge of the Sith (2005)
[6] Revenge of the Sith (2005)
[7] The Last Jedi (2017)
[8] Alan Yuhas, “Why ‘Star Wars’ Keeps Bombing in China,” New York Times, January 14, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/14/movies/star-wars-china.html. Accessed July 3, 2023.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks go to Laura Lo for her collaboration in watching all nine movies in one fell swoop.
Contributed by Dr. Kathy Lin. Lin holds a PhD in theological and religious studies from Georgetown University, and is currently a VAP at Oberlin College. To find out more about her work, visit www.nankathylin.com.