The Balancing Force - a Jedi Reading of The Jade Pivot

The Balancing Force - a Jedi reading of The Jade Pivot
Written on 31st October 2014

I thought I'd give a Jedi interpretation of the Yü Shû King, by Hsüan-yang Dze, also known as The True Classic of the Pivot of Jade, delivered by the Heaven-Honoured One, Who produces Universal Transformation by the Sound of His Thunder. This short Taoist text is central to religious Taoism and is part of many religious Taoist services.

It also provides a brief, practical guide to those who would become one with the Tao.

The purpose of the text is, the author tells us, "to teach men to discipline and refine their spirit", in line with a belief in the Tao. I feel this has value for us as Jedi and our central belief in the Force. As such, my Jedi reading follows.

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1
The Force is transcendent.

The Force is impossible to know directly, and can't be adequately described except by itself. You can't see or hear it; all you see or hear are things. Things come, things go, but the Force is that which is beyond mere things, and remains constant throughout even these seemingly universal transitions.

Until you understand the transcendent nature of the Force, you can't begin to approach knowledge of it.


2
Difficulty is valuable.

If you wish to know the Force, you must approach it with sincerity. To maintain this knowledge of the Force once you have it, you must be silent. If you wish to use the Force, you must be gentle.

If you're sincere about the Force, you'll look stupid to others. Similarly, cultivating the silence required to remain aware of the Force will look like you're unable to speak. Acting gently enough to use the Force looks like a lack of ability.

However, if you can do these three things and truly know the Force, you will transcend your body, transcend mere knowledge, transcend even your notion of "self" and become one with the Force.


3
Intellect is limited.

Even a passing knowledge of the Force is enough to understand one's intellect can't give the complete picture of it. Likewise, one who understands the Force is naturally valiant in action, without having to think about it. Finally, working with the Force reveals tremendous subtleties to everything, without engaging the thinking process.

So understanding these subtleties, one attains an air of intelligence. In being valiant by nature, the air of a true Jedi Knight is acquired. And in putting aside the desire to understand everything intellectually, rather than over-thinking or worrying about everything, true wisdom is attained. This is how Jedi become one with the Force.

True transcendence of one's self in the Force is something which becomes natural, with true understanding of the meaning of the Force. You can't lose it - you'll forget there was ever any other kind of understanding of reality. It is the underlying truth of all reality.


4
Ignorance is environmental (and the Force transcends it anyway).

Jedi are sworn to the benefit of all life. Through service we become greater than our short lives. A belief in the Force presupposes a sort of "destiny". However we are wise and ignorant in equal, balanced measure; for knowing that destiny is the underlying truth is not enough to actually predict it in any meaningful way. We are human; we will never know the future with absolute certainty.

The best way to approach this is, as the previous verse describes, recognising that intellect can't give us the complete picture. In doing so we make our ignorance a form of knowledge, and our weakness a form of strength.* Weakness and ignorance are natural for humans, but the way of the Force is also a natural current in human lives. To achieve knowledge and strength in this way, all we have to do is surrender to the current of the Force.

This happens spontaneously, sometimes without intellect, will or desire, sometimes with the greatest intellect, will and desire in the world. The conditions for its realisation cannot be manufactured, because the Force is not predictable by human intellect, and thus appears inherently spontaneous. This spontaneity is even more mysterious than the understanding it imparts in us. This spontaneity is the true nature of the Force.

The Force can't be known through conventional, coarse means. It can never be reduced, compromised, cheapened.

This is why it is supreme.

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*My interpretation of this passage: We give up self-destructive habits like over-thinking and worry, and instead trust in the Force and the path we're taking as the right one in each moment, whether that be moving straight ahead, turning left or right, or retreating. We accept the moment and stop obsessing over the future or the past. We accept our one life has one un-branching course, not many, however habitually we imagine we might have acted differently.

Too fresh. Thanks for sharing brotha!!

I missed this the first time around. Where does one find this Jade Pivot text?

(The flowery English translations of these classic Daoist text's titles are amusing.)

Here's one translation: here

So very beautiful. Thank you so much for this effort.

Thank you so much for interpreting this wonderful text!
Just what I needed right now, especially the 2nd verse.

However I always wonder how to combine an intuitive approach with the intellectual one.
As I see it, working with the Force means understanding things 'by heart', grasping some unspoken 'energy' or 'essence' of what you are looking at. But what you grasp this way is a feeling which can't be expressed in words. And when you want to tell someone about it - there comes a problem. Moreover, this feeling doesn't give you a clue how to act! So, to really benefit from the information, acquired through the Force, you have to turn it somehow from a 'heart' level to the level of mind by coming up with some patterns, images and, finally, words which would describe the feeling (at least partially). Then, the intellectual mind can develop a plan how to act on the situation or how to tell someone about it. That's how it works for me currently.

Maybe I should learn to act more spontaneously, without translating every insight to the mind? I guess so...
But anyway, I wonder, how can anyone, let's say, write a book on some spiritual topic without translating his insights to the conscious mind? Or how can one develop a doctrine? Or organize an Order? Or teach an apprentice? Or simply make a comprehensible advice to someone?

My understanding is that using intellect is required to do those things, and that's why it is essential to find a way of coexistence of the holistic perception though the Force and an intellectual interpretation.
Am I wrong about it?