I knew I was treading on thin ice with fanboys everywhere when I posted this…and I know this because I am one.

If I can attempt to salvage the consistency of Lucas’s world for a moment, perhaps he could say that you have to learn a special skill in order to keep yourself from merging completely with the Force at death, and even then it’s only temporary.

That’s exactly what he says (except, I think, the temporary part – see below for me geeking out on that) but I still think it is internally inconsistent. Attachment (as we learned in the Prequels) is to be avoided, and this “good” seems in his system to be due to the ultimate end of life (a loss of everything that makes you, you as you become one with the Force). If flying in the face of the law of the universe and maintaining your identity after death isn’t attachment, I don’t know what is.

OK, now here’s my speculation: I don’t think (though I could be wrong) that Lucas intended the dead Jedi’s persistence to be temporary. I suspect he intended for that to be the way that Luke would continue to train and learn in order to rebuild the Jedi Order (Luke really knew very little after his short time with Ben & Yoda).

I guess Lucas can’t be faulted too much for not working this all out…he’s just trying to tell a good story. I just found the parallel to how nearly everyone these days puts together a worldview to be interesting.

It might be good to even point out the inconsistency within the Pantheistic worldview itself, if all is one, then how is evil bad and Good, good???

Really enjoyed it

Just kidding. This is actually a really good point. If I can attempt to salvage the consistency of Lucas’s world for a moment, perhaps he could say that you have to learn a special skill in order to keep yourself from merging completely with the Force at death, and even then it’s only temporary. I’m thinking of the very end of Episode III, where Yoda tells Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon has returned from the “nether world of the Force” to teach him the skill he will need to communicate with the living after death. If we were to ask why he would want to learn to do that, Lucas could say that he needs to temporarily so that he can help Luke and Leah succeed in defeating their father and the Emperor.

Now, there are still some holes. For example, if this is the reason, then why would Yoda or Anakin need to do this? After all, they don’t need to “stay behind” to help anyone.