One of my periodic Wiki Walks through the amazing Wookiepedia led me to

consider the many similarities between the concept of the Force in Star Wars (and,
more in general, Jedi and Sith philosophies) and many philosophies and religions of
Eastern Asia. Now, it is no secret that George Lucas drew heavily from the Chinese
concepts of qi and dao1 and from the Japanese swordfighting martial art of Kendō,
and many have pointed out the similarities between the old Jedi Order and Buddhist
monks; I will waste no time in pointing out the similarities between dao and the
Force as concepts, as many articles on the internet have already done so much better
than I could; I would like however to try to further analyse the differences between
the two, and to share a couple of reflections of mine on the subject.

In dao, the opposing principles of Yin and Yang aren’t given any ethical connotation
of “good” and “evil”: both are necessary, and each implies the other (as can be seen
in its symbol, in which the black portion contains a single white dot and vice versa).
In the Star Wars films, however, the Light Side and the Dark Side are clearly
principles of Good and Evil, in a manner which may remind of Manichean or
Zoroastrian ideas. Followers of the Dark Side see the Force as a means to an end,
their own power and fulfilment («Through passion, I gain strength / Through
strength, I gain power / Through power, I gain victory / Through victory, my chains
are broken»2;; Darth Plagueis even ), while followers of the Light Side consider the
Force its own end, and seek greater knowledge and inner emotional detachment in
order to guide the Galaxy to peace. Indeed, followers of the Light Side refer to it
simply as “The Force”, thus considering the Dark Side something entirely different:
in this view, the Light Side is merely the Force’s natural state, a naturally flowing
soothing river, and the Dark Side is a corrupted form, a burning fire of pure power,
and keeping “balance” in the Force simply meant eradicating the Dark Side. This was
the most common view in the old Jedi Order, backed by the fact that the precursors of
the Jedi Order did indeed discover the Dark Side long after discovering the Force,
and is indeed more akin to Buddhism than Daoism: avoidance of selfishness,
extremisms, passion, personal possessions, and worldly cravings (taṇhā) while
leading a monk-like life of compassion towards every other being in order to stop
one’s suffering (dukkha) and break out of the karmic cycle of death and rebirth

1
I’m using the Pinyin transliteration system for Chinese terms, therefore “dao” is to be pronounced with a [t]
(voiceless unaspirated alveolar occlusive) despite the use of the graph “d”.
2
Code of the Sith, as first appeared in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; in-universe, it was written by Sorzus Syn
in 6900 BBY. Conflict, the opposite of peace, is seen as a source of progress. One might note that some of the views
expressed by the Sith throughout the ages are not too dissimilar from LaVeyan Satanism, and others bear a striking
resemblance to principles contained in Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Darth Plagueis went even further, wishing to “dethrone”
the Force and subdue it as a tool for an enlightened elite of Dark Side users.
(saṃsāra). The two philosophies are far from being the same thing, of course, but
some similarities do appear.

However, this view was not universal: some, like Darth Krayt and perhaps Darth
Plagueis and Yoda, saw the two sides as semi-sentient entities with purposeful
designs, each pushing their agenda using their wielders as tools. Indeed, in some
Expanded Universe stories there are planets and races naturally rich with the Dark
Side (i.e. the Masassi, the Rakata, the original Sith). This view is more similar to
Zoroastrian or even Christian concepts. Yet others, like the followers of the Unifying
Force (including Darth Sidious), the followers of the unorthodox Potentium view, the
Gray Jedi (like Jolee Bindo), and some members of the New Jedi Order (including
Kyle Katarn and Mara Jade), view the Force as a neutral power that took no sides: the
potential for Dark Side and Light Side lay in the users, not in the Force itself. Hence
why Jedi like Jolee Bindo and Kyle Katarn had no qualms about using Force powers
traditionally associated with the Dark Side, and Mace Windu or Quinlan Vos used a
particularly vicious and aggressive form of lightsaber combat 3 that many other Jedi
deemed too close to the Dark Side, as they believed that only the intent of the user
mattered. Despite some aspects of the Living Force view resembling Daoist thought4,
this interpretation might be closer to that of dao: an all-encompassing force that
simply is, with no intent or ethic.

In my opinion, the most comprehensive, convincing and interesting interpretation of

the Force lies just in between the concepts of dao and qi: an all-encompassing life-
energy that exists in and between every living and non-living thing in the universe
and that can manipulated by individuals with varying degrees of prowess, to cause a
vast array of completely different effects, for many different purposes (much like qi
or ki or prana); and that also exists as an all-encompassing non-sentient essence of
the universe itself, the mere nature of the Galaxy that naturally moves towards its
own balance and harmony; with no ethically distinct sides, or perhaps with the dark
and light side merely representing two different principles, much like yin and yang
(passion and compassion, life and intelligence, conflict and peace, creation and
stability), that gain an ethical connotation only through the intent of their users.

3
Form VII: Vaapad or Juyo.
4
As far as I know, no orthodox view of the Force among the Jedi or Sith embraces the concept of non-action or non-
effort (wu wei: acting without forcing one’s will upon the universe and its natural course, but instead acting in
accordance with the world’s natural harmony. It’s the well-known concept of “being like water”: when one’s actions
are in complete harmony with the way of things, they will come naturally and effortlessly) that is so fundamental in
Daoism. All Jedi taught that it was their duty to use the Force to protect others. However, the believers of the
Potentium thought that the Dark Side was a “perversion” of the Force twisted by the selfish will of its users, and that
the Jedi were not needed to fight evil as long as every action was conducted with moral intent; despite its ethical
connotation, this view is closer to wu wei.
How to explain, then, the countless conflicts between Jedi and Sith, Light and Dark,
religious wars that have scarred the Galaxy for over 30.000 years? Perhaps this is,
again, nothing but the natural and non-intentional way in which the Force strives
towards balance, as the wind naturally forms between a high pressure area and a low
pressure area: whenever there is imbalance in the Force, caused by the actions of
Force users trying to force their will upon the universe, war is the physical effect of
this effort back towards a state of harmony. After all, no religious war is ever truly
only about religion: a religion isn’t something as simple as ticking the box of
whichever god(s) one chooses to worship, and it is quite childish to believe so.
Religion is the symbol and spearhead of a society’s whole system of beliefs in the
fields of ethics, ecology, economy, history, philosophy, science, human rights,
progress, interests, culture, and so on; therefore a religious war is a clash between
ways of life, ways of seeing and interpreting the universe, ways of deciding how
civilisation should progress. A religious war is but one of the many, many ways
humans display their arrogance and presumptuousness in identifying those who are
similar to them, identifying who is “the other”, “the stranger”, and believing that their
way and only their way is right, sensible, and rational. Ironically it’s the same
arrogance and presumptuousness so proudly displayed by a very large part of the
internet atheist community, and I find it so paradoxical how they don’t seem to
realise how much their contempt for religion makes them similar to the religious
extremists that they so despise, but that’s a rant for another time.

In conclusion, the difficulty one finds in pinning down any one real-world philosophy
or religion as the equivalent of any single view of the Force, is testimony of both the
immense world-building potential for historical and philosophical depth in the Star
Wars universe (a potential that is, in my opinion, unmatched by any franchise or
fictional universe in modern history, save maybe for Tolkien’s Arda), and the sheer
amount of works and authors that have tried to expand its spiritual aspect much
beyond what little had transpired in George Lucas’s films, even at the cost of
producing pieces of fiction that contradict both each other and George Lucas’s
original (and mostly unexpressed) vision.