What do you believe?
COMALiteJ
5/24/2002 1:30:19 AM
In the late 1960s, Jack “King” Kirby left Marvel Comics and went to work for DC, where he created the fascinating “Fourth World” universe, which included such characters as Darkseid, the New Gods (including Orion, Lightray, and numerous others), the Forever People, etc. The New Gods, while themselves gods, worshipped a greater power, known only as “The Source,” the nature of which was unknowable, but which was understood to be the source of all life. They would even say to each other, “May the Source be with you.” This over a decade before George Lucas introduced us all to “the Force.” Methinks he wasn’t quite as original as many people think, nor did he have to go back as far as various world religions and myths to find the, uh, Source of his ideas.
WisdomLover
"That is exactly how i feel about the bible. I think, then, that finding truth in any sort of fiction, becomes less 'crazy'."
Well, *I* don't look for truth in ANY fiction. I look for it in discourses on philosophy, which are non-fiction.
Many pieces of fiction do have much to tell us about the human condition, actually. But many of them are hardly mythological by nature. Take Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' or Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the Dubervilles'. Deeply moving stories which say heaps about what it means to be human -- but no good-versus-evil, no corny group of quasi-religious fighters, nothing mythological.
No need to make a fetish out of mythology.
5/23/2002 9:29:30 PM
Rosa Sonsa wrote:"That is exactly how i feel about the bible. I think, then, that finding truth in any sort of fiction, becomes less 'crazy'."
Well, *I* don't look for truth in ANY fiction. I look for it in discourses on philosophy, which are non-fiction.
Many pieces of fiction do have much to tell us about the human condition, actually. But many of them are hardly mythological by nature. Take Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' or Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the Dubervilles'. Deeply moving stories which say heaps about what it means to be human -- but no good-versus-evil, no corny group of quasi-religious fighters, nothing mythological.
No need to make a fetish out of mythology.
bella_luna1980
5/23/2002 6:35:47 PM
Reality check! I love these movies, I own a light sabre, I still have an original Luke Skywaker action figure from when The Empire Strikes Back came out, I was an Ewok for halloween when I was a kid, I wanted to be just like Princess Leia when I grew up. But then I grew up. It's still all a lot of fun, but this is just silly. It really is only a movie. One group of Native Americans in the San Francisco Bay area were called the Miwok. It sounds a lot like Ewok. They lived in the costal Redwood Forests. Ewoks live in Redwood trees. Does that mean anything? Not really, at least not anything really deep. So George Lucas took a comparative religion class in college or something, it doesn't mean anything.
Rosa_Sonsa
That is exactly how i feel about the bible. I think, then, that finding truth in any sort of fiction, becomes less 'crazy'.
5/23/2002 1:35:15 PM
WisdomLover said "It's just crazy to me that a film show along the lines of 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe' can become the centre of a RELIGIOUS craze. Especially considering the impression of a confused hodge-podge that the contents of Star Wars gives you, with no apparent rationale to hold the disparate elements together"That is exactly how i feel about the bible. I think, then, that finding truth in any sort of fiction, becomes less 'crazy'.
WisdomLover
And 'Amidala' sounds all too much like 'Amitabha', the Buddha who resides over the Western Paradise in the Pure Land School of Buddhism.
Hmmm... Queen Amidala is presumably a Buddhist...
5/22/2002 8:19:12 PM
'Padme' sounds very much like 'Padma', which is Sanskrit for 'lotus'.And 'Amidala' sounds all too much like 'Amitabha', the Buddha who resides over the Western Paradise in the Pure Land School of Buddhism.
Hmmm... Queen Amidala is presumably a Buddhist...
WisdomLover
5/22/2002 8:08:23 PM
And don't tell me there's no other body of religious-minded fighters in the whole of the SW universe besides the Jedi? Why can't you have, say, another group that uses, say, lightstaffs, believes in a personal saviour instead of an impersonal Force, and also battles the dark empire and yet is also an enemy of the Jedi on ideological grounds?
WisdomLover
5/22/2002 8:07:59 PM
Don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I honestly find it tempting to agree with pantarei and Eudaimonist below. It's just crazy to me that a film show along the lines of 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe' can become the centre of a RELIGIOUS craze. Especially considering the impression of a confused hodge-podge that the contents of Star Wars gives you, with no apparent rationale to hold the disparate elements together. The names of the characters themselves already don't sound like they're from a common language. They sound more like fancy names taken from the members of various message boards and thrown together in a film. The whole thing just fails to be convincing and believable.
ryanman262
"Jedi dress like priests!"
"Jedi dress like wiccans!"
Hahahahahaha. Sorry, I can't help myself.
No, I really like this one..
Jedi is more a masculine religion whereas Wicca is more of a feminine religion. Not the same religion but one that would balance each other well.
--"Not the same, but I DO like StarWars, anyway...um, er, they balance!"
5/22/2002 7:37:02 PM
"Jedi dress like buddhist monks and samurais!""Jedi dress like priests!"
"Jedi dress like wiccans!"
Hahahahahaha. Sorry, I can't help myself.
No, I really like this one..
Jedi is more a masculine religion whereas Wicca is more of a feminine religion. Not the same religion but one that would balance each other well.
--"Not the same, but I DO like StarWars, anyway...um, er, they balance!"
ryanman262
5/22/2002 7:31:14 PM
Boy...that was a dumb article. Beliefnet pays homage to Star Wars, "thanks, how great!" Star wars fans make a vague connection to their religion - "my religion talks about being good and fighting evil,like the force and the dark side!" Thaaaat's enough.
pantarei
at least of one thing I'm rather assured: these movies are no threat to anyone's faith either adult or kid, at the most they threaten your intelligence.
5/22/2002 5:20:49 PM
It's amazing: the plot is less than mediocre, lots of boring fighting with few really interesting stuff in between - the computer graphics (however expensive they might have been) let you see the blue box all the time - a couple of dozen topics taken from all major religions and philosophies -- all that neither makes interesting thought provoking philosophy or myths nor even a good story. (Just as 50 ideas from Shakespeare's works don't guarantee sound literature). even the majority of star trec episodes are more interesting, more philosophically or religiously challenging than star wars. if you want something really interesting read e.g. Stanislaw Lem, or watch 'Solaris' (made after Lem's book)or 'Stalker'.at least of one thing I'm rather assured: these movies are no threat to anyone's faith either adult or kid, at the most they threaten your intelligence.
Eudaimonist
I'm not surprised that people latch on to tiny similarities with their own beliefs.
5/22/2002 12:54:58 PM
If you stare at an inkblot, you'll see whatever you are most familiar with. And the Force is so vague that it is not much more than an ink blot. ;)I'm not surprised that people latch on to tiny similarities with their own beliefs.
yonatron
1) Juda-ism = Jedi-ism
2) "Yoda" means "The one who knows" in Hebrew
3) "Kenobi" means "Like a prophet" in Hebrew
4) Jews wave the Lulav (light sabre- like weapon made of palm frond) to repel the Dark Side on holiday of Sukkos.
5) Journey to true self sometimes leads through the dark side. Judaism is based on Return (Teshuva) as in "return of the Jedi" This is a reference to Darth returning to good, not to Luke coming back from training.
6) Dead Jedi are even more powerful: Judaism teaches: Tzadikim (righteous) are more powerful after their deaths.
etc.
Y.
5/22/2002 12:43:12 PM
Judaism and Star Wars1) Juda-ism = Jedi-ism
2) "Yoda" means "The one who knows" in Hebrew
3) "Kenobi" means "Like a prophet" in Hebrew
4) Jews wave the Lulav (light sabre- like weapon made of palm frond) to repel the Dark Side on holiday of Sukkos.
5) Journey to true self sometimes leads through the dark side. Judaism is based on Return (Teshuva) as in "return of the Jedi" This is a reference to Darth returning to good, not to Luke coming back from training.
6) Dead Jedi are even more powerful: Judaism teaches: Tzadikim (righteous) are more powerful after their deaths.
etc.
Y.