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"Luminous beings are we..." Is kind of messing with me as a human being
Some context:
I'm getting back in shape to do some mountain climbing this summer. Part of my routine is a 1 hour walk every morning. I've been listening to "I, Jedi" on my walks. One of those I have always wanted to read but never got around to.
In the first quarter or so of the book they quote Yoda here, and sure, I remember it from the movie, but it hit much harder here.
It has wormed its way into a lot of my thoughts and feelings.
I know Lucas didn't come up with this idea on his own. It smacks of Buddhism (especially the drugs in the desert kind of Buddhism), Christianity, and no doubt many other religions/philosophies.
I am not a religious person, but I grew up in a fairly religious home. Various fairly liberal North Eastern protestant sects, nothing too crazy. I have never been "spiritual", and I never bought into the religion. I just didn't believe, even when I was at church every single week.
This isn't shaking my foundations in a way where suddenly I believe in the father, son, and holy ghost, but it's softening the steely non-spiritual posture I have had my entire life. This isn't the only place I've dabbled in spirituality. I have been meditating every day for the past couple of years, but more for self exploration than for anything like "finding my place in the universe". For now, I can see some of the ways that everything is connected, or at least how they could be.
I have always been a proponent of Carl Sagan's "We're all made of star stuff", but my connection to this has always been purely scientific. The elements forged in the crucibles of dying stars kind of stuff, never looking for any other sense of connection to the universe at all. Even if we're all alone on this pale blue dot, that doesn't mean that our individual existence is not partially or entirely reliant on all that happened before us (cosmically speaking at least).
Finally, and I know it's not directly related, but it's even worked its way into how I view other people and their actions, regardless of the person or their actions. On the front page I saw:
"Lawyer says tourist accused of hurling rock at Hawaiian monk seal has been doxed and threatened"
As recently as a couple of weeks ago my only thought when seeing this would have been "Good, serves that douche-bag right"...And this was still my first thought, but then immediately, as cheesy as it may sound, I thought "luminous beings are we" and my entire view of the situation changed. What the man did was terrible, irredeemable, but what good does it do anyone at all to threaten this person, or put him in danger? How does that make us better, how does that help us to make HIM better?
These aren't huge, esoteric, groundbreaking philosophical ideas, but they are definitely slightly shifting my perspective on pretty much anything I currently think about.
I feel a little silly about it, that a Star Wars book is shifting my perspective, especially at this time in my life (50 years old father of 3), but I kind of like it and hope it doesn't go away.
#video #movies
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Some context:
I'm getting back in shape to do some mountain climbing this summer. Part of my routine is a 1 hour walk every morning. I've been listening to "I, Jedi" on my walks. One of those I have always wanted to read but never got around to.
In the first quarter or so of the book they quote Yoda here, and sure, I remember it from the movie, but it hit much harder here.
It has wormed its way into a lot of my thoughts and feelings.
I know Lucas didn't come up with this idea on his own. It smacks of Buddhism (especially the drugs in the desert kind of Buddhism), Christianity, and no doubt many other religions/philosophies.
I am not a religious person, but I grew up in a fairly religious home. Various fairly liberal North Eastern protestant sects, nothing too crazy. I have never been "spiritual", and I never bought into the religion. I just didn't believe, even when I was at church every single week.
This isn't shaking my foundations in a way where suddenly I believe in the father, son, and holy ghost, but it's softening the steely non-spiritual posture I have had my entire life. This isn't the only place I've dabbled in spirituality. I have been meditating every day for the past couple of years, but more for self exploration than for anything like "finding my place in the universe". For now, I can see some of the ways that everything is connected, or at least how they could be.
I have always been a proponent of Carl Sagan's "We're all made of star stuff", but my connection to this has always been purely scientific. The elements forged in the crucibles of dying stars kind of stuff, never looking for any other sense of connection to the universe at all. Even if we're all alone on this pale blue dot, that doesn't mean that our individual existence is not partially or entirely reliant on all that happened before us (cosmically speaking at least).
Finally, and I know it's not directly related, but it's even worked its way into how I view other people and their actions, regardless of the person or their actions. On the front page I saw:
"Lawyer says tourist accused of hurling rock at Hawaiian monk seal has been doxed and threatened"
As recently as a couple of weeks ago my only thought when seeing this would have been "Good, serves that douche-bag right"...And this was still my first thought, but then immediately, as cheesy as it may sound, I thought "luminous beings are we" and my entire view of the situation changed. What the man did was terrible, irredeemable, but what good does it do anyone at all to threaten this person, or put him in danger? How does that make us better, how does that help us to make HIM better?
These aren't huge, esoteric, groundbreaking philosophical ideas, but they are definitely slightly shifting my perspective on pretty much anything I currently think about.
I feel a little silly about it, that a Star Wars book is shifting my perspective, especially at this time in my life (50 years old father of 3), but I kind of like it and hope it doesn't go away.
#video #movies
source
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