Train yourself to let go everything you fear to lose. Really???

When Anakin talks to Yoda about his visions yoda says that "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into teh Force. Mourn them do not, miss them do not." But after Yoda is practicaly balling his eyes out over his dead Jedi. Is Yoda a hypocrit?
~Azure_Angel

 

He's sad about the death of his friends, colleagues and students, but he does not obsess over it. He accepts loss. Anakin cannot accept change or loss, unless other Jedi. That's his flaw.

 

Yes. Yoda didn't mean that Jedi are not allowed to feel sorry or even sad when their friends die. He meant they shouldn't dwell on it, get obsessed or anything. Feel sad, then move on and be happy for those who have joined the Force.

 

Yoda's lesson (& the Jedi Council's conduct in general) were there thematically to help the audience sympathise with Anakin...Yoda wasn't being a hypocrite but I do think that the events that took place during Order 66, his apprenticeship to Qui-Gon & his interraction with Luke helped him realise that (some of) the ideals of the Old Republic era Jedi were flawed.

 

This is my favorite Yoda line from ROTS actually

The way i see it, Yoda was telling Anakin that death is a part of life, and that we should enjoy the ppl we have in our lives while we have them, because eventually we're all going to die anyways.. nothing can stop that... it's natural.. and that we cant control ppl's fates even those we love, and i think that's what Anakin expected or wanted to achieve since his mother died, to a point where he did the unthinkable (and he did it for nothing too, cause Padme ended up dying anyways )

Like other said, i believe he meant for Anakin not to become obsessed with this and accept mortality.

 

This is a perfect way to say it. Nice job, Veloz.

 

"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into teh Force. Mourn them do not, miss them do not."


When Yoda sees the slain younglings, it would have been the perfect place to insert the dvd easter egg segment of Yoda rapping.

 

It would have been cool if Yoda had actually said "teh" Force.

 

Yoda means NATURAL death like dying of old age or natrual causes (things you cannot help). Dying in battle, being murdered or killed is NOT natual so its different.

 

I'll toss this in for discussion cause I like it:

"...We are all temporary passengers and pilgrims here. The earth is a bridge and we do not build a house on a bridge. We must pass on. Time passes; everything, it seems, passes. What is it that does not pass?
It is a sign of psychic health to see ourselves as passerby, for we are in closer touch with reality. Just to know our pain will pass makes it more bearable. To know that our deepest pleasures will also pass gives us freedom from them, so we are not so sad when they are gone.
There is the story of a king who dreamed one night he possessed a very special ring. Whenever he was unhappy, he looked at the ring and a great calm and equinimity filled him. When he found himself agitated with entusiasm and excitement, he looked at the ring and a great calm came to him so that he became peaceful in his fervor. When he woke up the next morning, he described the ring in great detail to his servants and commanded them to search the kingdom for such a ring or for someone who could make one.
After long searching, the servants finally found such a ring on the finger of an old woman. There was nothing extraordinary about this old woman except, perhaps, for her serenity. She readily agreed to give her ring to the king, and it began to work as soon as he put it on his finger. In a few days, he was cured of his depressive tendancies and his slavery to his changing moods came to an end. Beyond the extremes of laughter and tears, he discovered the great depth and beauty of a genuine smile.
One day he looked closely at the inner surface of the ring and noticed for the first time that there were tiny letters inscribed there. They read: "This, too, will pass."
Whether we find ourselves on a hospital bed or in the midst of the greatest experience of happiness, remembering this truth will serve us well.
Resistance to impermanence, the ever-changing flow of all things in life, is a great cause of suffering. Let pass what must pass."

I firmly believe that's what Yoda meant. Let pass what must pass.

 

He just means death in general. Someone dies, you have to let it go. That is the Jedi way. Be happy for them.

 

Be happy if somone was killed? I can see being happy for people dying of old age at 97 but being happy for younglings being slaughtered...no, thats not Jedi like.

 

This is Star Wars, not Shakespeare.


Yeah, really. Don't compare SW to Shakeshpere. You know SW owns.

 

What about, "Goodbye Tarful, goodbye Chewbacca, miss you , I will" ????

Do I sense some hypocrisy here??

My edit is: it's not nessecarily about DEATH, but also about the code and it's "rules" against attachment in general - weather living or dead.

 

There you go, That_Wascally_Droid, making this another Star Wars versus Lord of the Rings thread!

MasterACyard wrote, "What about, 'Goodbye Tarful, goodbye Chewbacca, miss you , I will' ????".

Again, despite the fact that he admonishes Anakin to "miss them do not", as others have posted, he mourns, he is aware of loss, and he does miss those who have passed away, in a way, but in a manner far different from that of Anakin. Yoda does it selflessly and does not cling to them for his own comfort. Yoda does not dwell on them, attach to them, and accepts the loss as a part of life. It is the difference between accepting the "here and now", the reality, as opposed to a future with them, which may or may not come to pass, a lesson Yoda had not fully absorbed even in ROTS, and which he starts to do when he faces the reality of the power of Palpatine/Sidious, and the defeat he will inflict on him should he continue the battle. Yoda becomes a pragmatist at the hands of Palpatine/Sidious and Qui-Gon. Yoda learns, and later so does Anakin in ROTJ, that with death, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

 

I think some people take those lines too literally. Yoda's a monk, from a somewhat ascetic Order. He's not a robot. Of course he misses old friends. The key is, he would never convert to the Dark Side in order to save Mace Windu or Obi-Wan. He would never go on a blind killing rampage if some Tusken Raiders killed Ki-Adi or Aayla Secura. He knows where the line is drawn, and he doesn't cross it. Anakin is always walking that line, and Yoda knows it. Hence, his attempts to remind Anakin about attachment and temptation.

 

Wasn't the whole Jedi can't have attachments wisely gotten rid of by the wise Luke Skywalker (in EU) so another Darth Vader couldn't happen?

 

Here's what the difference is.

-Anakin is afraid to lose someone. He goes out and panics. We're always told not to panic. Well, he does and it is bad. He is basically mourning her yet she's still alive. He's letting his fear of loss affect him. This fear leads to anger and hate. They are all grounded in jealously, obsession, possession and are all under the shadow of greed. He will to whatever it takes to keep Padme alive. In the end, he turns to the dark side because he lets these emotions control him. He is missing her, when he should be living in the now. Living each day, moment to moment. Living for the moment and then letting it pass gracefully.

-Yoda has lived for nearly 900 years. He has seen the deaths of many Jedi, while he has lived on. Yoda has no fear of death. He has no fear of loss. He accepts death. He accepts the greif. And then he lets it go. He doesn't feed his anger and hate. He doesn't nurture it. He lets go of it. Bansihes it from his soul. When he sees the dead Jedi, he greives for a moment and then he lets it go. He forges on ahead, despite the tragedy that has been before. When he goes to fight Sidious, he does so without his anger and hate. He does not seek power out like Anakin did. He does not become greedy. He accepts life has its own ebbs and flows. He accepts death. Death for everyone that he cares for.

Anakin could not accept death. That is why he becomes death itself, which is the ultimate irony. He dispenses it on a daily basis without a second thought. By training himself to let go of his fear of loss, he will become that much stronger in the Force. Instead, he is crippled by his emotions.

 

Totally right sinister, i completely agree with you.
I have nothing to add more!

 

And is that panic and fear not actually preventing the future, but causing it to happen?

It's like in ESB when Luke goes to save his friends. Did his action truly prevent his friends from pain? No. In fact, they had to save him.

Yoda is suggesting not to dwell and let it consume you or it might actually lead to the very thing you tried to prevent.

 

I mean, be happy for hem being at one with the Force. They are complete and at peace.

 

Yes, because to become one with the Force is the single greatest experience. No one is saying that your friends and loved ones cannot be saved. What is being said is that there are limits on what you can and cannot do. There are things that are realistically possible and then there are things that are impossible, even for a master of the Force. So when Yoda says rejoice, he is saying that one should think of the positive instead of dwelling on the negative.

When Yoda says that he will miss his Wookiee friends, he is not being contradictory. Yes, he will miss his friends for he believes that he will not see them again. When he says to Anakin to not miss your loved ones, he is saying don't let your grief get to you. Don't let your attachment consume you. Accept nature. This is what Yoda tells both Skywalker men. Nature comes and will claim those that you love. That is the way of the Force.

 

weirdly enough. this thread made me think of a shakespearean quote, though. it's from hamlet. the hamlet play and especially ROTS share some characteristics and an awful lot beyond.

after hamlet's dad has died, his mum tells him:

All that live must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.

he then goes on to tell her about his grief. hamlet is all about mourning. i suppose he couldn't let go as well and got mixed up with politics.

but listen, people, he mourns *after* his dad has bitten the dust! not while the guy was still alive. that's the major and inhuman difference with the stuff yoda is spouting. he is also saying not to mourn at all. and no matter how you look at it, mourning is still an essential part of letting go.

 

He's sad about the death of his friends, colleagues and students, but he does not obsess over it. He accepts loss.

Did he? I rather doubt it. I think that his decision to send Obi-Wan to kill Anakin and his own decision to kill Palpatine had a lot to do with his own grief. If he had really been so wise, he would have realized that the Jedi were not in a position to do anything about the Order, at the time. Even if Yoda had succeeded in killing Palpatine, he would have ended up being branded as a political assasin by the Galactic Senate. And then what would he and Obi-Wan have done? Taken control of the Senate? Turn the Jedi into despots? He should have "let go" and suggested to Obi-Wan that they hide out, until it was time for the Jedi Order to rise again, instead of continuing his obssession in destroying the Sith.