Beginners Guide to the Philosophy of the Jedi Order | A Critical Analysis

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What is the philosophy of the Jedi Order? Now the Jedi Order, depending on which time period, are slightly different to one another. Most notably, the most rigid and dogmatic of the different eras is the Jedi Order of the Prequel Era. But despite their differences, they are all based on some fundamental core principals. In this video we will delve into these principles and what do they mean?

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The Jedi Order is a religious order of light side force users that was founded on the planet Ahch-To by the Prime Jedi. The religion is based on a number of “sacred texts” that cover the tenets, history and guidance for all aspiring Jedi. While these books were fundamental to the development of the Jedi, as the order progressed over thousands of years they appeared to have very little influence on the religion. This video won’t go over what those specific texts are and their contents, as that would make for a very lengthy video. Besides as Master Yoda says…

To understand the philosophy of the Jedi Order, it's important to understand who their real life inspirations are, namely it stems from three different religions/philosophies. Taoism, Buddhism, and Zoraastrianism. I won’t go into too deep of the details of what these religions are, but if you are familiar with them keep them in mind for the things that we will discuss later. Based on my interpretation there are three pillars that form the basis of Jedi philosophy.

The first pillar of the Jedi philosophy is the belief in the universal energy called ‘the Force’. For the jedi, the force is a living spiritual presence that exists all around the galaxy and within all living beings. As such, for the Jedi it is the ultimate goal to pursue and become one with the force. In other words, for a Jedi it is imperative to find balance in the force.

The second pillar is the belief in “non-attachments”. As such, Jedis are discouraged from holding on to strong emotional bonds and it is the ultimate goal of all jedi to achieve a state of selflessness and dispassionate compassion for all living things. To do so, Jedis are encouraged to give up their worldly desires and to rise above these the Jedis practice spiritual discipline and celibacy. As such, the Jedis will push aside personal desires in order to work towards a greater goal which is peace and justice for all, which leads me to the third major pillar.

The third pillar of the Jedi Order’s philosophy is the belief in the light and the dark. For the Jedis, there is a distinction between what is good and what is evil. As such anything associated with the light side of the force is considered good, whereas anything associated with the dark side of the force is considered bad. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Jedi Order to guard against the dark side of the force.

All this is basically summed up in the Jedi Code. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is Harmony. There is no death, there is the force.

However, that being said, while these are the three pillars of the jedi philosophy, it is not absolute and how a jedi acts upon them is based on their personal interpretation. Just like all philosophies, or religion, various jedis are on different points of a spectrum ranging from extreme to moderate. This is where you get variations of jedi, such as Grey Jedi or Wayseekers. If you are interested in what those are, I will link a video on the top right, so go check it out. In summary, depending on how rigid a jedis interpretation of these core tenets are, it will change how they act and respond to certain situations.

So for the jedi order during the Prequel Era, it was arguably at its strictest interpretation, whereby the jedi order advocated for the complete repression of emotions and bonds. Under the prequel jedis, in order for a jedi to become one with the force they had to become a complete extension of the force that is devoid of all connections to the material world. Yet, for many jedi it was far too extreme and difficult to achieve. And I am sure we all know how that turned out…