Pop culture has a significant influence on how Westerners understand the world, especially other cultures. This isn’t new. In the past, Western understanding was heavily influenced by novels and serial magazines such as the Penny dreadfuls.
When Star Wars came out in 1977, it was a smash hit. Elements of the movie quickly became part of Western pop culture. One feature in particular became synonymous with the Star Wars franchise.
The Force.
It’s often said that the Force is the Tao of Taoism. Is that true? Let’s look at the evidence. (Note: all references that follow are about Star Wars: A New Hope. I’m not addressing the many novels, films, and television series produced afterward.)
In the movie, the character Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Force: “It’s what gives the Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” In addition, Obi-Wan states that the Force partially controls you, but it also “obeys your commands.” Also, we learn that the Force has the potential for both good and evil. When explaining the origin of Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan states that Vader was “seduced by the dark side of the Force.” Later, he calls Vader a “master of evil.”
Luke Skywalker learning to use the Force.
We also have an official source outside the movie. There are two references to the Force worth looking at in the book The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler.
From an early age, Lucas had been interested in the fact that all over the world religions and peoples had created different ideas of God and the spirit. “The ‘Force of others’ is what all basic religions are based on, especially the Eastern religions,” he says, “which is, essentially, that there is a force, God, whatever you want to call it. (Kindle Locations 858-863).
Also:
The Force is really a way of feeling; it’s a way of being with life. It really has nothing to do with weapons. The Force gives you the power to have extrasensory perception and to be able to see things and hear things, read minds and levitate things. It is said that certain creatures are born with a higher awareness of the Force than humans. Their brains are different; they have more midi-chlorians in their cells. (Kindle Locations 8876-8885)
(Notice that Lucas already had the idea of midi-chlorians back in 1977 when New Hope was released.)
We see that the Force isn’t the same as Tao.
According to Taoism, living things don’t create the Tao; the Tao creates them. Nor can we control the Tao. Accepting this lack of control and going with the flow of the Tao is called wu wei in Taoism. Also, the color black (“dark”) of the Yin-Yang symbol represents the Yin aspect of the Tao, which is the feminine and quieter side. It does not represent evil.
Finally, the insight into Lucas’s thoughts strongly supports the idea that it’s not the Tao. Even though there was an Eastern influence, Lucas’s idea of the Force is a form of Universalism or Perennialism. It’s closer to Deism or maybe Plotinus’s sympatheia than Taoism. Plus, the midi-chlorians add a positive occultism to the Force, which is certainly not found in Taoism.
The lesson here is to take pop culture references to the occult, religion, and philosophy with a grain of salt.
