Even people who have never seen a Star Wars movie know the modal wish “May the Force be with you.” The “Force” in the movie is as ubiquitous as the four fundamental forces of the universe, but it appears to be available in practice only to a few special individuals, the Jedi in particular. And it has its antithesis in the “Dark Side.” The duality in the movie series is an apparent mirror of Zoroastrianism’s opposing forces, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, the former a positive force for good and the latter, a negative force from which evil emanates, or if you prefer Judeo-Christian terms, God and Satan.* As in Zoroastrianism, the Force (for Good) eventually overcomes the “Angra Mainyu.” But at least temporarily and periodically, the Dark Side prevails, a storm over an otherwise calm sea.
A now-cult novel and movie with an interesting take on a periodic return of Angra Mainyu or the Dark Side is Lifeforce (1985), which is based on Colin Wilson’s novel The Space Vampires. In brief, Halley’s Comet returns; Earth passes through the tail; a “lifeforce” (actress Mathilda May), the Space Girl, and two other "vampires" descend and wreak havoc first on individuals and then on rioting mobs, sucking from them not blood, but their lifeforce.** Enough, however, about the story’s details—no spoilers here. Instead, the point: There’s little denying that humanity experiences pulses of Angra Mainyu, the Dark Side. Wars testify to the periodic return of evil; evil individuals, also. And now and again, angry mobs much like those of Wilson’s story, testify to a return of chaos and its attendant evils that seem to take away the Lifeforce of Good from the living.
A periodic return of chaos and evil (like a periodic return of a comet) makes me wonder whether or not the Dark Side isn’t operating today to spread pervasive hate. Maybe I’m misreading the times; maybe I’m just being overwhelmed by the 24/7 bad news of the day. The periodic return of anger and hate seems, however, to be undeniable.
I can’t speak for those previous generations who suffered their share of evils. I just know from history that the Dark Side plagues each generation. Of course, a few special individuals—and you might be one of them—have risen to serve voluntarily as the Jedi of their times, establishing, or reestablishing, Good. Historically, and unfortunately, they must often use force against the forces of evil.
I could argue that peace comes when evil perishes. But that argument has its own flaws. Nevertheless, it took concerted force to overthrow the evil of Hitler’s reign. The human cost of exerting the force of good over the force of Hitler’s evil was a staggering loss of millions of lives, probably most of them serving as individual Jedi and as manifestations of the Lifeforce for Good.
I could be mistaken. Maybe the recurrence of evil isn’t an occasional storm interrupting an otherwise calm sea. Maybe the calm sea interrupts the ordinary course of stormy conditions. Is it possible that Angra Mainyu or the Dark Side is the status quo? Is it possible that peace and harmony are the rare exceptions to the ordinary course of human events? Is it possible that Ahura Mazda and “The Force” ride the periodic comet’s tail, descending on occasion to distribute good or, at the very least, take away evil? Do we pass through a zone of temporary peace in a world of constant turmoil? For Zoroastrians, I believe, Angra Mainyu is a negative, an absence. Is it possible that Good is just the (temporary) absence of Evil?
*Satan is “the Adversary” in the Book of Job, but he doesn’t act independently, rather only insofar as he is permitted by God, Who can, as the book ends, reverse the evil and supplant it with good. The Dark Side appears to act independently, being suppressed only through the actions of those open to The Force. Zoroastrians would probably fault me for saying that they recognize a true duality. That dualism, however, is what led Augustine of Hippo to reject his Zoroastrianism and adopt Christianity in a Neoplatonic frame of reference. Augustine argued that there could not be two “Infinite Deities.” I suppose, by analogy, a bucket can’t be fully filled by two different liquids (Yeah. I know about solutions; all analogies limp). So, if I’m mistaken about Zoroastrianism’s apparent duality, then my explanation falls under the Augustinian interpretation.
**Two of the other actors are Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart and Mick Jagger’s brother. Is life imitating art, here? As rioting occurs in the USA and in Europe in a pandemic year of fear and madness, Comet Neowise has appeared just as Halley's Comet appears in Lifeforce and The Space Vampires.
A now-cult novel and movie with an interesting take on a periodic return of Angra Mainyu or the Dark Side is Lifeforce (1985), which is based on Colin Wilson’s novel The Space Vampires. In brief, Halley’s Comet returns; Earth passes through the tail; a “lifeforce” (actress Mathilda May), the Space Girl, and two other "vampires" descend and wreak havoc first on individuals and then on rioting mobs, sucking from them not blood, but their lifeforce.** Enough, however, about the story’s details—no spoilers here. Instead, the point: There’s little denying that humanity experiences pulses of Angra Mainyu, the Dark Side. Wars testify to the periodic return of evil; evil individuals, also. And now and again, angry mobs much like those of Wilson’s story, testify to a return of chaos and its attendant evils that seem to take away the Lifeforce of Good from the living.
A periodic return of chaos and evil (like a periodic return of a comet) makes me wonder whether or not the Dark Side isn’t operating today to spread pervasive hate. Maybe I’m misreading the times; maybe I’m just being overwhelmed by the 24/7 bad news of the day. The periodic return of anger and hate seems, however, to be undeniable.
I can’t speak for those previous generations who suffered their share of evils. I just know from history that the Dark Side plagues each generation. Of course, a few special individuals—and you might be one of them—have risen to serve voluntarily as the Jedi of their times, establishing, or reestablishing, Good. Historically, and unfortunately, they must often use force against the forces of evil.
I could argue that peace comes when evil perishes. But that argument has its own flaws. Nevertheless, it took concerted force to overthrow the evil of Hitler’s reign. The human cost of exerting the force of good over the force of Hitler’s evil was a staggering loss of millions of lives, probably most of them serving as individual Jedi and as manifestations of the Lifeforce for Good.
I could be mistaken. Maybe the recurrence of evil isn’t an occasional storm interrupting an otherwise calm sea. Maybe the calm sea interrupts the ordinary course of stormy conditions. Is it possible that Angra Mainyu or the Dark Side is the status quo? Is it possible that peace and harmony are the rare exceptions to the ordinary course of human events? Is it possible that Ahura Mazda and “The Force” ride the periodic comet’s tail, descending on occasion to distribute good or, at the very least, take away evil? Do we pass through a zone of temporary peace in a world of constant turmoil? For Zoroastrians, I believe, Angra Mainyu is a negative, an absence. Is it possible that Good is just the (temporary) absence of Evil?
*Satan is “the Adversary” in the Book of Job, but he doesn’t act independently, rather only insofar as he is permitted by God, Who can, as the book ends, reverse the evil and supplant it with good. The Dark Side appears to act independently, being suppressed only through the actions of those open to The Force. Zoroastrians would probably fault me for saying that they recognize a true duality. That dualism, however, is what led Augustine of Hippo to reject his Zoroastrianism and adopt Christianity in a Neoplatonic frame of reference. Augustine argued that there could not be two “Infinite Deities.” I suppose, by analogy, a bucket can’t be fully filled by two different liquids (Yeah. I know about solutions; all analogies limp). So, if I’m mistaken about Zoroastrianism’s apparent duality, then my explanation falls under the Augustinian interpretation.
**Two of the other actors are Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart and Mick Jagger’s brother. Is life imitating art, here? As rioting occurs in the USA and in Europe in a pandemic year of fear and madness, Comet Neowise has appeared just as Halley's Comet appears in Lifeforce and The Space Vampires.
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