Some Benevolent Power in the Universe

 Some Benevolent Power in the Universe

Thinking about Star Wars, the epic film narrative that has marked generations, through film and marketing, art and literature, it struck me that many people are captivated by the dark side as well as the good.

Good and bad: both sides have their fans.

No wonder this story is so entertaining and captivating. It strikes chords within us, both sunny and dark.

At the age of 6 when I first watched a A New Hope (a subtitle that I did not know existed for many years, perhaps until my teens or twenties), I obviously sensed the innate goodness of Luke, aptly named after a Biblical figure close to the Messiah Himself.  Luke epitomized innocence and goodness, a pure fount of good will and purity. That he had special powers became marvelously evident.

Contrast that persona with the draconian monster of Darth Vader, and what a conflict was at stake.

And: they were father and son! What? It still staggers me to this day. I am almost 49. Of course, the second movie revealed the latter truth, after spending the next three years of my precocious life after ingesting the first film, a third of it, if you will, playing with the Star Wars figures, fantasizing about their journeys and possibilities, reading the novel version of Star Wars: A New Hope and notably Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the the Mind's Eye, both written by him and having a noticeable affect on Lucas' plot lines and development of characters. I also read kid books that featured Luke Skywalker with animation and side stories. All this before we had a video player when I turned 16.
These characters became minor psyches within my and others' consciences or consciousnesses. 

Lucas is quoted as saying that all this story is really about is a relationship between a father and a son. One turns out evil (see the first 3 prequels with Hayden Christiansen), the hidden one good (Mark Hamill), and, how can they reconcile? Do they? Is this necessary? Ben Kenobi is their bridge, the friend and mentor, the student and sage to both. And yes, there are other greater powers, Yoda and Snoke, and their acolytes...


There must be something in that dynamic of a father and child that rings true. Yes?

Then you have the two others that weigh in: the rogue iconoclast Han Solo, out for himself and the reluctant returning hero to the royal cause of good, and the sister Leia, who marvelously possesses her own powers. A daughter. Replay the first father/son scenario. Wow!

And now (culminating in 2019) we have Rey, a somehow other benevolent power created from --who knows?-- (THAT IS THE QUESTION!) And Kylo Ren, a misguided soul a bit like his grandfather, Anakin. He, a mix of royalty coupled with the force, Princess Leia, and the former rogue Solo.

Ah, the humanity.

I love it. Tantalizing and somewhat deep, me thinks.

The universe is a big, vast place; we try to reconcile our place in it. Is it sovereign to humans, or are there other creatures to parley with? Do our powers matter as sentient beings? Is there purity and virtue within us; is there a power that emanates from within the stars that guides us, leads us, cares about us?

Is there a God? And if so, does he or she or they really care? Are there good forces that exist, or is the presence of any greater power as empty as the atmosphere of our earth moon, or the imperious void of space. Even the greatest powers of our universe, the massive ovens known as stars, seem quite inhospitable and void of any type of kind or beneficent entity. Are we all alone? What is up with life?

On the flip side, are there malevolent forces among our biospheres and planets and moons? If there is a complete absence of benevolent super or higher powers, one could infer there is nothing nefarious out there (around us) as well. No divine good force or forces, no diabolical bad force or forces.

Although to the religious or faithful way of thinking, the absence of either higher power would signify an overall bleak malevolence.

Is there no higher authority, godly or spiritual? Paging Mr. Nietzchske!

Who are we? What are we?

Do we matter?

In the fictitious realm of George Lucas and the rest of us, there are ultimate good and bad forces, and mysteries abound.

Much like the known universe of the 21st century.

Do our souls live forever? Where do we go after death, and what was before mortality?

The vast universe is full of these questions.

Did the same energy that created Anakin create his granddaughter Rey?

We will we ever know.

Some mysteries are left to us. Enjoy the expanses of time and cosmos, the universes we know and do not know.