Star Wars

The first thing to note about this great epic adventure, is that we tend to assume that this is a futuristic film with all the lightsabers, space crafts, and advanced technology that fill up the screen. However, what we are actually told from the very first moment, is that this is something that happened, “a long time ago in a galaxy far far away”. It’s not a projection of a possible future reality, such as “Buck Rogers in the 21^st century”. It pre-dates our current civilisation, but at the same time happens in a place that is far away from where we are now.

We’ll hold this in mind and come back to it later. For now I’d like to turn my attention towards looking at the question, ‘what is the central focus of the story?’

Being born in 1972, I was too young at the tender age of 4 (May 1977) to see the original film playing at the cinema, but by the release of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ some three years later I was evidently already inducted into the mythology, and went to see the film with my best mate Mat, and David, his Dad. The film was released on 21^st May 1980, the date of Mats seventh birthday.

The analysis that I give here is interpreting the story as a psycho-spiritual teaching, that marks out the changes and cycles as one passes through the challenges and stages of conscious evolution. Such psychological analysis of stories is nothing new, however as we have seen in the bible de-coding there can often be found woven into the fabric of story lines a further depth layer of interpretation that unveils an actual step by step process of the meditative process, the most efficient path at cutting through delusion, ‘ the path of the lightsaber’.

How does it fit so tightly into this framework, and was it intended by George Lucas? That question I cannot answer having never asked him the question, but what we do know, is that he keenly respected the ideas of Joseph Campbel who’s work on Mythology show us how the ancient stories, and indeed, I believe we can say, all the stories ever told, bring us back to the same main story, the story of human conscious evolution. Or put another way, the spiritual path. Indeed others such as Christopher Booker have written about the idea that there are only seven story lines ever. All other stories that don’t strictly fit the individual themes are then a snapshot part of one of these story lines, or a composite, of between two to seven of them. These story lines being; the quest, voyage and return, overcoming the monster, rags to riches, tragedy, comedy and rebirth.

The original ‘Star Wars’, now known as ‘A New Hope’, was certainly packed with these mythological keystones. This means that it speaks deeply to our deeper subconscious mind, particularly that aspect that strives for conscious evolution. Drawing on these themes is what established this film as an all time classic. There are many other films and modern stories that can be translated within the framework I will be using, some will be mentioned along the way as examples, but it is safe to say, that any story, as both Booker and Campbel imply, have their roots in the same genesis. For me that base line is the path to conscious evolution through specific ‘esoteric’ practises… please, step this way, if you will…

A New Hope

For those people around my age and a little older, who experienced the original trilogy in the cinemas, and those a little younger, who saw the digitally enhanced versions as their first experiences, when asked, ‘who is the main Star Wars character?’ will usually answer, ‘Luke Skywalker.’

And lets face it, Luke is the main man. As kids, in our lightsaber battles, we all wanted to be Luke, the Jedi hero, and use the power of the force. Indeed, Luke will be taken as our central protagonist, and his story will be aligned with the path of the ‘yogi’. I use this term yogi, to mean any practitioner who has consciously entered onto a path of self realisation, and not necessarily the yogic path itself. It is also used as an asexual label.

Before we get to Luke, as with the film itself, we are first introduced to two other central characters, they are in fact, the first characters of the very first scene, and they’ll stay with us on this journey from beginning to end, they are, C3PO, and as C3PO calls him, his ‘counter-part’ R2-D2. From now on they will be called 3PO and R2, as Luke calls them in the films. In my psycho-spiritual modelling of the film, I have assigned these two the rolls of left brain hemisphere, and right brain hemisphere respectively. The left brain, 3PO, is always babbling away, indeed, he rarely shuts up. We first find them on the rebel ship under attack, his first words, and most that follow, are pessimistic phrases of doom.

In amidst this opening of high tension, as Darth Vader and the storm troopers board the ship, there is a moment of stillness and calm. Princess Leia is there, and she gives R2 the plans for the death star, and sends him on his mission. R2 is much more action oriented, he just gets on and does things, while 3PO trundles along behind him, procrastinating, worrying and criticizing R2.

At this time the two are in discord. Once they land on Tatooine, they part company, because 3PO won’t follow R2. But these two can never be parted for long, like magnets, north and south, they keep coming back together.

Moving on, Uncle Owen comes out to buy droids, and is with our young hero, Luke. Luke is the spiritual flame that burns within us all, the existential angst, the deep yearning towards understanding.

As we are introduced to our hero, what state of mind do we find him in? Well he displays all the classic signs of mild depression, and slightly oppressed by his dominant uncle. He’s told not to go to do his own thing, and see his friends, he has more work to do, now these droids have come. In a childlike way, he plays with his toy fighter plane, wishing to be anywhere else but where he is now. In answer to 3PO’s question, ‘what planet are we on?’, Luke replies, ‘well, if there’s a bright center of the universe, your on the planet that’s furthest from it.’

3PO is babbling on, as ever, Luke has all his attention on R2, who has something stuck in his bodywork. A snippet of a message is released when Luke unblocks something. The message is from princess Leia. Just the last few seconds are played, ‘help me O Bi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope…’.

Luke is transfixed by the image of the princess, his face lights up, and he falls in love instantly.

A yogi can often come towards their spiritual path on the background of difficulties in their daily lives. Usually through some sort of, ‘felt loss’. Loss or death of a loved one, or loved situation, work or social, loss of health, or as in Lukes case, a loss of his dreams. He doesn’t believe he will ever get of that planet, and be a pilot, his dream. In this moment of mental distress, the mind can shut down a little to the dialectic left brain, and the right brain, more linked to spontaneity and intuition can bring us towards a moment of presentness, clarity. In this moment there is the possibility to connect with the feminine aspect, the kundalini energy. We then sense that everything doesn’t have to be a particular way, things can change for the better. At this stage it may be no more than a glimpse, but always it is a moment of greater balance that sets us off on our spiritual quest. To come into greater balance we need to connect more with the feminine aspect. This part of our yogi is represented by Leia in the movie, not thats there are too many candidates to represent the feminine, but she does it amply well.

At this stage, it’s only a glimmer, but it’s enough to captivate the yogi, and send them on their path. A path to seek out deeper truths, different realities, that we now sense lie within us. Immediately after seeing Lea’s message, Luke goes straight to his uncle and tells him of his plan to leave, only to be knocked back and told he needs him to stay still longer.

Then, R2 goes missing, 3PO and Luke set out to find him, Luke is not only showing signs of mild depression, but he is living on a hostile planet. People living in fear of going out due to the Sandmen. The yogi at this stage may feel like they live on a hostile planet. When they find R2, they are indeed attacked by the Sand-people. One interesting observation we could make, is that when Luke is attacked he is busy looking through his view-finder (binoculars), this suggests having limited vision, and when our vision is limited we are vulnerable to attack from our worst fears, on Tatooine, that’s the Sand-people. For a yogi, it could be any type of fear.

The old hermit Ben Kenobi arrives in the nick of time to save him. Sometimes when all seems lost, the guru, the teacher, or life, teaches us a lesson that we need, to help us wake up on our path. I say that the universe is constantly willing and urging us to awaken, trying to move us in the right direction, and once we take the first step on the path, then this energy, or natural evolutionary push, keeps us moving forward.

For everyone else, 3PO is always translating for R2, but here Obi-wan speaks directly with the droid. The guru communicates directly with the Right brain hemisphere. ‘Come here my friend, don’t worry things will be alright, but you are travelling in dangerous places, let me help you.’ These are not the exact words of Obi-wan, but it’s the message he brings. During this period, 3PO is unconscious, and almost forgotten about at this point.

When the yogi meets the guru, either in a physicalised form, or ones own connection to the inner guru, the left brain hemisphere shuts down. We have no need for him in this communion. Indeed once inside Obi-wans house, that’s exactly what 3PO asks, if there’s no need for me, ‘…i’ll close down for a while.’ this is seldom known of 3PO, but in this space there is no need for him, it’s not his field. In later parts a symbol of Luke doing the ‘inner work’ is when he’s flying solo in his fighter-ship. This is the idea of the spiritual warrior, going into battle to free himself, and others from the dark side of the moon, our hidden desires and fears. In Empire (empire strikes back) and Jedi (return of the Jedi) he goes to visit Yoda for further training, when he makes these journeys it’s always just him and R2 in the fighter-ship, 3PO as we have said, is not needed at these times.

Back in Obi-wans house, the moment 3PO closes down, is the moment Obi-wan presents Luke with his farthers old lightsaber. A Lightsaber is the Jedi’s weapon of choice. So what is it? Essential its a lazer-beam of light that emanates from the base unit. This can be used to defend shots from any other weapon, and when needed, to damage or kill opponents. But as Yoda teaches in Empire, a Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defence, never attack.

When a yogi meets a real guru, or does the correct inner work by their own means, the left hemisphere is shut down, kundalini energy can be felt to rise up through the chakra column, often dipicted and sensed as a shaft of luminous energy, that emanates from the base chakra. When a yogi is under attack from their own inner monsters, desires and fears, if they can find their way to connect back with this inner beam of energy, there is no weapon that our adversaries can shoot us down with. This is what a guru teaches, what this energy is and how to connect, and re-connect to it.

Obi-wan continues to explain to Luke what the basic concept of the ‘force’ is, then the full message from princess Lea is played. Luke is once again transfixed. In yogic terms, the chakra column has been opened (the lightsaber experience) as a result of this some inner understanding of the nature of reality starts to blossom, and at this moment a practitioner can have a kundalini experience, where the full energy rises up through the open chakras. This moment can confirm for a yogi that they have met an authentic path.

Luke cannot commit himself fully to the path, he’ll take Obi-wan part of the way, but once he returns home to find his aunt and uncle killed by the storm troopers, he see’s there is nothing left for him there any more, and commits himself to the path, ‘the way’.

This marks the moment of inner commitment a sense that we need to follow this path. Once we decide to really follow a spiritual path, we need to have sufficient aspects of our personality ‘on board’. We need our ego-mind to also be persuaded. We need to have a mind that is ‘up for it’. We need to have supportive thoughts and ideas, ‘…so, i’ll go to yoga classes on Thursdays, and try out that meditation evening on Mondays, maybe I should also go visit a meditation center, or a monastery…’. Once we start to get our mind into the ideas that can support spiritual growth, then things can really take flight.

Enter, Han Solo. Han is actually a double act with Chewie, and as pilot and co-pilot of the Millenium Falcon, they are assigned the role of the supportive facets of the mind.

Han is the swashbuckling, cool dude, hot-shot pilot. Han represents the aspect of mind that reflects our outer persona, our personality. Really Han just wants the money and to get out of there. Money persuades him to set out on the mission and also to help Luke free Lea from the death star. From the first moment we meet Han we find out that he is a wanted man, he has a price on his head, and before they take off in the Falcon he meets with the one who has made the bounty, Jabba the Hut. Jabba as we will see in ‘Return of the Jedi’ is a low-life gangster, but he holds a strong sway over Han. This means that Hans agenda is based around fame, power and money, and for most of the first two movies he doesn’t have too much confidence in Lukes abilities. Though he too is instantly under the spell of the feminine, Leia.

Chewie does keep Han grounded, but it’s generally Han who calls the shots. At the end of the ‘New Hope’ when they are going out to attack the death star, and Han is leaving with the money, you can see Chewie is not so sure it’s the right decision, but he’s only the co-pilot. You can imagine though, that once in the air, it’s Chewie, who turns to Han and says, ‘…arr arr arr arrr..’ which translates as, ‘come on Han, we can’t just abandom them like this…’ and Han is sufficiently pulled by the heart strings to do an about turn. Chewie, keeps Han grounded being the more sensitive, intuative aspect of mind. In such important moments he can have more sway than the need to pay off Jabba, to play to the tune of our greed and desire.

Chogyum Trungpa talks about ‘spiritual materialism’, which briefly, is the concept, that while we are practising to free ourselves from addictive patterning, we turn the spiritual path into another form of addiction. Clocking up retreat time, doing this many puja’s and prostrations, going veggie, shaving off all our hair, or growing it long, or maybe dreads…etc. etc.

Once the eye of wisdom is born, a little bit of this can be turned to good use as long as we can keep our feet grounded too.

The ego is a part of our being, it is there for the ride, it is the part of us that is conscious and thinking about ‘ourselves’ and ‘our lives’. It is only an aspect of the whole, healthy and in balance it is a powerful allie, it must be skilfully integrated. Out of balance it is egocentric and unhealthy. This imbalanced ego is represented in the film by Han being under Jabbas influence. Han has a price on his head, he’s always on the run from Jaba and his mercenries. Just as with the ego mind therefore, they always have their own agenda. We’ll come back to this later, as for now, Han is under the watchful eye of our apperntice, Luke, so all is kind of going to plan…

So, now we have the complete set, well almost, we’ve got a left and right brain, we’ve got the spiritual flame, the ego-mind, the guru and the kundalini energy. The only thing that I’ve not introduced, is that which has also been there since the very beginning of the movie. Mainly because we’d rather not go there, not look at it, it’s dark, scary and ominous. Indeed, it is the ‘grist for the mill’, it makes this whole journey possible. It’s been lurking In the background though, but now we have all the tools on-board we can finally turn our attentions towards it, the inner monster, Darth Vader.

For the yogi this is the uncontrollable facets of mind, it’s filled with all our desires and cravings, our fears and anxieties, it feeds our left brain, 3PO, with it’s artillery, and can leave us under a barrage of self defeating self-speak, and damaging thoughts.

Psychosomatically this leads to physical contractions, and energetic blockages. Coming to terms with this aspect of our being, is the path. Learning a way to function that frees up our vital energies, allowing us to act, as present, centred, awakened beings. Freeing us from spending large portions of our time, rolling in past and future scenarios, and constantly re-acting through our cravings and aversions.

Vader has been there too since scene one, his presence is what feeds the existential angst of the yogi. To protect himself, his reign of terror, he needs to crush any sign of spiritual awakening, the rebellion, and also to crush any kundalini experiences. He wants to have Lea exterminated. Of course, to totally exterminate the feminine energy, is not possible, it can only be repressed. So somehow she manages to avoid the death threats, and instead is left ‘locked up’ in the detention center.

The ‘Millennium Falcon’ will be our space ship for discovering the galaxy. In yogic terms, the body and mind are the vehicle to explore our inner univrse. ‘Light speed’ is another spiritual analogy for deeper states of awareness during practice. It’s like concentration techniques that take us into ‘deep-space’ rapidly. When concentration is established, the mind becomes more balanced and equanimous, negative disturbances, or hindrances, don’t disturb us. In the movie, Luke is now on his first light-speed travel. During this time, Obi-wan takes the time to start training him in the ‘ways of the light saber’. Through this practise and Obi-wan’s guidance, Luke gets his first taste of the ‘force’.

As all good yogi’s know, no sooner than you’ve had those initial moments of deeper communion, you open up new portals, and you’re in for a showering of mental contents. In the film, Luke thinks they’re on a nice easy mission to deliver some plans to the rebels, the yogi thinks he’s doing some nice practice to enhance his mind or spiritual connection. On coming out of light speed, the planet they thought they were going to is gone, and instead they are in the middle of a meteor storm. The meteor storm is a good analogy for the bombardment of mental contents, when the mind goes into overdrive, after being transcended.

If we are a good practitioner, we need to ‘stay with’ this experience, is there anything else coming from beyond it, and what caused it in the first place? Suddenly the Death Star looms before us. In the film this was the cause of the meteor shower, it’s a huge psycho-spiritual energetic block, and perhaps bigger than what we bargained for, especially for such tentative forays into the subconscious. They try to turn the Falcon around, to get the ‘hell out of there’, as they fear it is really hell they are heading into, but it’s too late, they have been caught by the tractor beam which is now pulling them in, there is no choice but to meet this head on. The same goes for the yogi, sometimes, when such a big hindrance looms up, we are drawn in. But can we enter with awareness, and keep, ‘staying with’ this process. The ego-mind starts scheming, wants to fight, Han is ready for a shoot-out, but Obi-wan, the voice of wisdom says, ‘there are other ways to fighting’, they can be more on the passive side, enter the space station, and have a look around to see what’s going on. This is more the approach we need to take as yogis.

In the zodiac, there is the idea that the movement of stars and planets directly influence our psyche, our moods and feelings. This is also true of any psycho, somatic, spiritual or emotional blockage we can have, they effect the way we feel, act and think. They are the stumbling blocks that prevent us from living the awakened life. This space station, which symbolises such a psycho-spiritual blockage is aptly named. At first they actually think it is a planet, and like a star or planet, it is effecting our moods and feelings, indeed it is preventing us from fully conscious living. In some spiritual traditions when we are not able to live consciously, it is compared to being in a ‘death like’ state. So this really is a ‘star of death’.

Once in the Death Star, R2, Right brain, starts to look around by connecting himself with the mainframe of the system. He discovers, that the princess is there. Right brain connects easily to the feminine, and even here in such a threatening situation, the feminine aspect will be present, she’s always there. As we said earlier, Han is persuaded to go on further, deeper into the situation at the promise of further riches. Once down in the detention block, Luke finally gets to come face to face with Lea, the feminine aspect, amidst all the gunfire and impending troubles, there is a sweet moment of peacefulness when he first sets his eyes upon her. From this moment on, Lea becomes part of the team, part of the crew.

The yogi has now made his first genuine connection with the feminine aspect, without the guidance of the guru. So from now, surely everything should be going quite sweetly, surely…

Penned in without an escape route, Lea shoots open the garbage shoot, and they all dive in in the hope of finding safety. They tumble down into the garbage container, the deep innards of the death star. Intuitively, Lea the feminine knows where we need to go, even if it seems an unsavoury option, and ego-mind, Ol’Han buddy, will surely let us know. As Han is shooting off his gun and complaining, so too, the ego-mind will flare up and show resistance. Next, Luke will be sucked under by a large snake type monster, then the walls of the container start to compress the garbage, they are about to be crushed alive. Of the entire mission, this must be seen as the lowest point. The bottom of the container seems to be an unknown watery depth, they seem to be able to stand, but when Luke is sucked under by the snake monster he completely disappears.

For the yogi, we have entered into this deep mental complex that has become a blockage on the path. We are deeply into mental garbage and we are somewhat overpowered by it. When Luke gets sucked under by the snake, it appears he has been killed, for a few moments. When he pops back up having been released by the monster, the walls start to close in. Luke suddenly realises that 3PO may be able to help him, He tries to connect to 3PO, but the Comm link, (walkie talkie) is turned off. Meanwhile, 3PO and R2 start to act together as a team, perhaps for the first time in the movie, they don’t seem to be in conflict, and 3PO is acting with his wits. This is what can be achieved when left and right brain sync. They fool the storm troopers, and 3PO gets R2 to tune back into the mainframe.

Having faced the depth of this psychological blockage and survived (Luke getting sucked under by the snake) the yogi starts to search for some understanding, some mental balance, to reconnect with the teachings, to find a solution, to come through this ordeal. From this deep space the connection isn’t instantaneous, but once we remember that we have some backup from our training, the process of reconnection has started. 3PO gets R2 to link in to the mainframe, R2 reminds 3PO of the Comm link, teamwork. Finally, the three connect, and Luke tells 3PO to shut down all the garbage containers. 3PO tells R2, who does it in the nick of time.

When left and right brain sync, the tide of mental garbage can be halted. The yogi becomes aware that there is a passage out of this oppressive state. Indeed, this moment is a glimpse into the heart of the practise, how to come out of mental states, cycling around in cesspits of craving, aversion and delusion.

At this moment Obi-wan has found his way to the heart of the death star. This is where the controls that operate the tractor beam, that is holding the Falcon on the Death Star, are located. The power beam is connected at seven terminals, and a power loss at one of these would allow the ship to leave. The seven terminals represent the seven chakras. When we do such deep practices, we often encounter a situation where looking within we find we have a blockage at one particular chakra. If we can go into this deeply, the energetic system is then freed up, and energy flows freely. This does not mean there are no other blockages. After free-flowing energy, new blockages will emerge. Within the practise we can only work on what is presenting itself at this moment. This cycle of facing our blockages and their release accompanied by energetic free-flow is a pattern that is reoccurring.

At this point our concentration levels will have dropped down a gear, the path forward seems clear, the yogi can now practise with a greater sense of understanding. They can sense that, if they can ‘stay with’ this flow of released energy, ‘as it is’ now, with a deepened concentration, they can be free from the mental complexes that were holding them back. This complex is represented by the Death-Star. So, back on the Death-Star, the team are working their way back to the Millennium Falcon, which is now freed up to leave by Obi-wan, but there are still plenty of storm-troopers all over them.

At this relatively early stage of practise, while whatever blockage presents itself seems like the biggest blockage possible at that moment, what we are experiencing in practise, are only manifestations of a much deeper root complex. This idea we will come back to later, but ultimately we are talking about the gradual transformation of our very way of being. Through these initial experiences we get to glimpse the path ahead. When we are clearly emerging from this contracted experience we have an opportunity to sense the potential on the path, and glimpse some of that which holds us in these states. This is the real first flowering of wisdom.

This moment in the film is when running to the ship, Luke sees Obi-wan and Vader duelling. Once again a moment of peacefulness as the high tempo music mellows, a moment of deep inner communion. Vader and Obi-wans battle is the symbolism of the path, wisdom verses the dark inclination. If the apprentice yogi can absorb this moment fully, the outer guru can start to fall away. The guru, Obi-wan, sees Luke has the full team on board, with Lea now with them. He has lead us to the feminine, and now he has shown us the root problem that must be dealt with, Vader. His job is done, he must let his apprentice fly solo now, (or with Solo). But now is not the time to be facing Vader, and Han knows it, ‘…shoot the blast doors kid!’ Vader turning in their direction is cut off when the blast doors close. Then Luke hears Obi-wans voice in his head telling him to run. In this moment the outer guru has been replaced, and the birth of the inner guru has begun.

As the team make their get away from the Death-Star, they all pitch in, Lea goes to help out Chewie at the helm, while Han and Luke take the gun posts. Even R2 chips in putting out a fire with his built-in fire extinguisher. As for 3PO, he’s lying in a hep of wires, thinking he’s going to melt down. We need to be fully operational when pulling away from such a complex, but left brain chatter definitely won’t find a place during these moments.

But of course, the film has not ended, and neither has our yogis practise, so this is only a temporary reprieve, the empire have a tracking device on board, and will follow in close pursuit…

When the yogi emerges from such an intensive phase of practise, there can be another shifting down the gears of consciousness. From this space the mind becomes more tranquil, aware and equanimous. Now the yogi has the opportunity to stay present with the experience as the complex re-emerges.

In the film, this is symbolised by the preparation of the rebel troops for the mission to destroy the Death Star, Han and Luke go their own way, ego-mind is left behind at this point, but when one is able to do that, the feminine comes back, and the feeling of that presence reassures us. Lea comes to Luke and kisses him on the cheek, raising his moral. If ego-mind and the spiritual aspect, are parting company at this moment, so too left and right brain must part. R2 is getting loaded on the fighter plane to fly with Luke, this will be their first mission into deep space, just Luke, R2, and the fighter jet. This is a deep state meditative practise. Luke is more and more talking to, and connecting directly with R2.

At these stages of practise the meditator can still ‘push’, grasp after a certain state, try to influence the state of absorption. This is Lukes initial run when he goes into attack mode, but gets hit, though not badly. Then Obi-wans voice comes up and tells him to ‘trust his feelings’. The inner guru comes to our rescue, we ‘see’ we cannot solve this koan with our own efforts, self-power, we have reached the point where we need to surrender into ‘other-power’.

Instead of being, the ‘new hope’, as virtually all the other fighters get shot down, mainly by Vader, Luke now seems to be the ‘last hope’. Luke tells his back-up fighters they’re going in at ‘full-throttle’ to avoid the enemy fighters, including Vader. For the meditator, ‘full throttle’ would be total surrender. Awareness and equanimity are established at this stage, now the meditator just needs to get ‘out the way’, and ‘stay with’ the unfolding experience, and have ‘faith’ that they are in good hands, and will come out safely. I would pin-point the emergence of this stage of practise as being the ‘new hope’ which is supported by the connection established with the feminine.

The blockage is still there, but very subtle at this stage, the body, feelings and mental factors are moving towards a deep state of stillness. At these moments we can still be susceptible to attacks from any of the five hindrances, but mainly doubt, craving and aversion. We can easily be tempted to run into a mental complex to avoid a subtle growing anxiety, which can be something like, a fear of the unknown. This is when Mara is shooting his most potent arrows at the Buddha, and here, as Luke is approaching the moment of transcendence, Vader is breathing down his neck.

Luke engages the computor terminal to target the shot, a yogi can start to panic a little at these stages, and can start to search for ‘learnt wisdom’ to help themselves out. But Obi-wans voice comes back in telling Luke to ‘use the force’. So again, Inner wisdom brings us back to this deeper, and ever growing understanding, to go with the flow, wu wei wu, to trust.

Still there can be a sense of tension, contractedness, dukkha. We need to commit with a balanced mind. Once a yogi has a good base of practise, grown out of the core teachings, each yogi has to find his own ways and strategies, when shifting around deep conscious states. Most of these will arise spontaneously for individuals, if they can ‘trust in the force’.

At this sort of moment I have my own, ‘coping strategies’. One example, as a good Jewish boy, I can shift up a gear in consciousness, and I might recite the first line of the prayer called the ‘Shema’. It’s a prayer we used to say every day as a kid, so to repeat this line takes no mental work, it’s just ‘right there’. The first line translates as this, ‘Hear oh Israel, the lord our God, the lord is one.’ It is said, that this should be the last words a Jewish person says before dying. For me, it’s a psychological trick, that allows me to immerse myself in the mind-frame, that says, “I have total faith in that which is much ‘greater’ than me, that which I cannot fully comprehend, the ‘force’ if you like, in this case called, ‘the lord our god’”. Further more, it reminds me that all is ‘one’. In Buddhism this is the same as the realisation of annata, non-self, all is one, there is no separate self. This steadies my mind, and at such a point in my practise I am quite literally, ready to die.

This is something that has been trained into me since childhood and it comes back to steady the ship, just at that moment when I have a possibility to transcend, but fears could be circling that might prevent me from taking that final step.

In the film, this image, is Vader, targeting upon Luke, he has him in his ‘sights’, but then, Han comes flying back, blasting Vaders support pilots, and then Vader himself, who’s ship spins out of control. Han then flys away leaving Luke to fire the shot that will destroy the Death Star.

The Obstacle that was in the ‘way’ of the yogi is transcended.

Luke is a in his tiny ship, up against the biggest star ship ever known. There is just one small weakness that requires a pin-point accurate shot to succeed. This is David verses Goliath, the small boy against the greatest warrior ever. But like Luke, David knows there is always one small weakness. David fires his sling-shot at Goliaths third eye and kills him, ‘stone’ dead. Luke fires his shot into the heart of the death star, that coincidentally enough, looks rather a lot like an eyeball. The yogi’s attention at this point is strongly centered around the third eye.

And of course, the Death Star represents a big complex, so it is a very big ‘I’, it’s a big ‘I, me, mine.’Entrenchment in the ego-mind.

When Luke gets back to base, he is instantly greeted by Lea, and with great joy, then Han comes back in, and the three go off together. This is a little trinity, and maybe one reason why Chewie doesn’t get a medal, he’s just an aspect of the ego-mind, and more than three ain’t no trinity.

Luke has now ‘done battle’ with Vader directly, for the first time. This time he needed a little help from his friends, or ego-mind, and this time they were in fighter planes. In ‘Empire’, Luke will have to face Vader on his own, man to man combat, lightsaber to lightsaber.

The Yogi has overcome some significant blockages, and has come into direct contact with the root cause that lies behind all his dukkha. But he is not yet strong enough to tackle this directly, and having dissolved this blockage, it is the gateway for many more complexes to surface, for have no doubt, the Empire will strike back…..