Force Lecture from Anakin

<small>[That small, quiet smile remains on Anakin's face as Ben makes contact. He last thing he'll do is exert himself--he isn't about to try to force the boy into anything--but he can remain a metaphorical open hand.

<i>Hello, Ben.</i>.]</small>

I promised philosophy. <small>[His expression turns wry.]</small> I'll try to keep it from getting self-righteous.

Chaos, yet harmony. What you have to remember about the Force is that as much as it connects life, it reflects it, too. The Force doesn't bring chaos and destruction. Life is chaotic and random; people's choices bring destruction. Chaos, obviously, can overwhelm and consume--but it has patterns. If we work <i>with</i> those patterns to impose some order, we can create stability.

When there's regimentation without regard for the natural growth, though, the stress creates pain. Nothing living likes to be enslaved--from an individual to a galaxy. <small>[He has lots of slavery feelings.]</small> Whatever it is <i>will</i> rebel against that, and you get destructive chaos again. The galactic and political version of this is why the Republic could sustain itself with hiccups all those centuries, but the Galactic Empire was facing potential rebellion from the start.

On the personal level, though? <small>[He sighs.]</small> What traditional Jedi doctrine forgets is that denying passion by force is a kind of self-enslavement. It's also a kind of fear, in a way--which is how you can get people like you or me, who meant to do right once, but have no tools to cope with the pain. Dark Side doctrine doesn't want to acknowledge, though, that the Force is alive and if you treat it like a hungry wild animal, it will eat you.