I was very intrigued by the trailers that were advertising The Last Jedi last year. It was a radical position for Luke Skywalker say, “The Jedi Order must end!” I started wondering where they were going with this. Then it hit me. The idea of the duality between the Light Side of the Force and the Dark Side of the Force needed to end. According to Luke Skywalker, the Force is bigger than such categories.

In this universe, where I do not believe in an impersonal Force as described by the Star Wars universe, there are monistic views and dualistic views expressed by different philosophies. Monism is the idea that we, as human beings are all one self-contained being, no soul/body. Dualism believes that we are both body and spirit. Monism, as expressed in transcendental meditation or the Celestine Prophecy and other philosophies also emphasizes that there are things are beneficial or not. Dualism believes in a good vs. evil, yin vs. yang, God vs. Satan.

Buddhism, from what I understand,  has no duality. In most of Buddhism, there is just a monistic view of human beings. This means that here is no separation of the body and the soul, because there is no conception of an afterlife–they strive to live life in the best way possible—NOW. The other type of duality, us vs. them/God vs. Devil/good vs. evil also does not exist as they see all people as becoming enlightened in their own way. Both of these are generalizations, but apt ones.

In Christianity, not so much. We believe we can divide the world into the Saved and the Un-Saved or the Elect and everyone else or Jews and everyone else. Like a good Hollywood movie, we see ourselves as the heroes and those who are trying to oppose us as agents of the villain to be defeated. Christians also firmly believe in a soul and a body as separate things. Maybe Jews do less. Obviously in the Star Wars universe, there is also a body and a soul as we see Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader’s souls at the end of The Return of the Jedi.

Now, I am not saying that a soul does not exist, in our universe. I am not saying that we are not in a war against spiritual forces in darkness. However, both Paul and Jesus were Jewish and Judaism is an Eastern religion.

I sincerely believe there is no war of God vs. the Devil. However, I do believe that the Devil is out to encourage us chose his destination. However, there is no Biblical evidence of Satan being able to oppose his creator on any level. According to the book of Job, Satan even had to ask God for permission to smite Job!  However, I do believe that Satan wars against us and THERE ARE plenty of examples of human beings who chose to follow in Satan’s footsteps and choose sin. We are to speak back to Satan and say, “Get behind me Satan!!!!!!” But ,”the Devil made me do it” is not a valid excuse in any situation for anyone!!!!

I do believe that there is a body and a soul, even though the only person that  human beings have seen resurrect,  Jesus,  was resurrected bodily. Maybe we will only be raised bodily at the end of time also and everyone who has already died is just waiting for that resurrection too. I wonder what will happen for those who have been cremated (my Jewish family does not believe in cremation for this reason). There is Biblical evidence on both sides for the dead being a spirit in Heaven now, and that all the dead are just waiting.

I want to encourage everyone to not think of others in an, “us vs. them” or “good vs. evil”  dichotomy. Again, I am not encouraging sin. I am encouraging you to see the Lord and faith in a more cosmic way. Maybe in a small way, following the Lord is something that happens beyond narrow definitions of good and evil, even though they do exist—-they just don’t exist apart from the Lord. 

The One-Above-All is just that, He has no equal. He created everything and loves us and wants to know us and be known by us. So focus on Him. He is the force. He is ready to give Himself to you. Do not allow the church or the world to define the Lord for you. Just like the Force in Star Wars, the Lord is so much bigger than such categories. The Lord is the light and in Him there is no darkness at all. The Lord is in control of it all.

Truthfully, I am not sure what made me even write all this about Star Wars and monism and dualism. Its all a bit confusing to me. However, I hope I have encouraged you to see the Lord as bigger than all of the categories that can contain Him  and ALL of us as somehow on the same road to a better understanding of what it is all about.

Job 11:7 Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

———————————————————-W.