The Shadows: An Overview

 

This is simply an overview of basic Shadow philosophy, and its components. The Shadow Jedi are often regarded as the ones who cannot make up their minds between light and dark, and therefore simply sit on the fence. Or sometimes we are regarded as some brave, yet slightly insane souls who walk the razor's edge between light and dark, always keeping our balance, never falling to one side or the other. However, the simple truth of the matter is that the Shadows, in general, don't believe in separate sides. There is one Force. To divide it into two sides, light and dark, would not do it justice. The Force is infinite.

The first concept we will touch on is Awareness. Awareness can be defined many ways. For our purposes, we won't go into things like self awareness and sentience. Obviously, if you're reading this, you must be sentient. But what drew you here? What prompted you to get on the internet, and go looking for information on Jedi in general, or Shadow Jedi in particular? Curiousity, perhaps. But there is something else there. Awareness, for our purposes right now, is the sense that there is something out there that is bigger than us, yet that we are all a part of. Awareness of this "higher power" is what ultimately led you here. Awareness is what will ultimately lead you down the path of the Shadow Jedi, if it is the path for you.

Perhaps one of the most important concepts in Shadow philosophy is Balance. Balance is divided into two parts: Inner Balance, and External Balance. Inner Balance refers to the way the different aspects of the self interact and work in harmony. External Balance refers to the Balance you bring to your immediate surroundings. Inner Balance leads to External Balance. This is as far as one should be impacting their environment. To do otherwise could possibly disrupt the greater natural Balance that exists within the Force.

This brings us to Equilibrium. That would be the greater Balance that exists outside of your immediate surroundings. The world around you. While the world appears to shift and change from one extreme to the other (light to dark, or good to bad,) from an objective viewpoint, we see that the events and changes tend to cycle back around. Neither extreme dominates for very long. It is the same way in our daily lives.

Another important concept, which we will go over briefly, is Wholeness. Wholeness is the idea that we are all connected to everything and everyone else. Everything is interrelated. (This is also a Light Side concept, but we act on it differently.) Through the Force, we are connected to all other people, whether we know them or not. We are connected to all other beings, from the largest, most exotic animal, to the tiniest, most inconsequential weed growing in someone's flowerbed. If we wanted to be picky and pedantic, we could take it as far as the subatomic level. As you become more attuned to the Force, you will feel these connections, most strongly to living things.

Now we come to a pair of twin concepts that seem to be fairly sticky sometimes. Perspective, and Perception. Perspective, in short, could be defined as the way you look at things. Perspective is your basic outlook on life in general. This affects your Perception. And that's where we will leave off for now. Each of these concepts will be covered in more detail in other lectures later on.

These are the most basic concepts in Shadow philosophy. We use them quite a bit. They are the foundation. We discover new things daily, and we are constantly shifting the accepted philosophy to fit what we know works. And these concepts tend to remain the same, no matter what.