Balance of the Force
Over of Sufficient Velocity, a poster put up an argument that the Light Side of the force (which he equated to the Jedi Code) is as damaging as the Dark Side. They don't use the Lucas-is-King criteria of evidence there, so George's commentary on A New Hope regarding the Dark side as a cancer wasn't enough to settle the matter.
I'd be interested in opinions here:
How ought we interpret the Jedi prophecy regarding the Chosen One and the ultimate Balance of the Force?
One way of thinking suggests that the Chosen One needed to reduce the numbers of both Jedi and Sith.
Another approach might be to claim that the balance was obtained because the Sith were destroyed at Endor, while the Jedi Order survived in Luke.
for reference, the post from SV:
Original Jedi Code[quote]Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
That looks rather like a balanced force to me. While
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
Is what the Jedi order had become, causing an imbalance in the force.
What this tells us is that Emotion should be embraced, Ignorance is not an enemy, passion can lead you to serenity, chaos is not the enemy and that while death occurs it is not the end. That seems pretty clear then that an excess of the light side, ie No emotion only peace is just as bad as the flip side which would be No peace only emotion. Both are required.
So unless you want to take the stance that all Light side or Modern Jedi should be purged to all balance then you should not take the side that all dark jedi should be purged to allow balance. Going in either direction is disruptive. You will note, that the prophesy was that Anakin Skywalker WOULD bring balance to the force. He very clearly did so, mainly by purging the excess of LIGHT jedi so that there could be a balance between light and dark. Theoretically he could have done the same by teaching them all tolerance and the ability to accept emotion, ignorance, passion, chaos and death, but that wasn't really an option at the time.
Then let's contrast with the sith code.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through Strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Edited below for clarity of contrast:
What I find most striking is that it directly rejects only one line of either the Original or Latter versions of the Jedi code. And that the Light side code has the exact same if opposite change.
Original
Emotion yet peace.
Overly light
No emotion, there is peace.
Overly dark
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
So new Jedi are just as imbalanced as Sith.
It is quite possible that Jedi followers of the old code would have gone to war just as viciously against the Jedi Council of Yoda's time as with the Sith of their own as both Sith and Jedi are examples of unbalanced force users.
[/quote]