Why I loved the Last Jedi....
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WARNING: If you're not a star wars nerd, or mythos and scripture as valid ancient prophecy in the philosophical schooling of Joseph Cambell a'la "Hero With A Thousand Faces" then... this post will sound strange. Keep reading at your own peril.
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First of all, I'm a fan of the old movies, which means I forgive cheesy dialogue, ridiculous creatures, goofy scenarios and movies that are basically long chase scenes in-and-out of space and cloud cities and crazy bars. I'm also a fan of the Book of Mormon!
So as Joseph Cambell has noted many times, Star Wars echoes the scripture of many cultures. Here's my #jakemormon take on the end of Episode VIII.
Luke leaves the jedi order and burns down their ancient temple/tree because the branches had grown corrupted in the islands of the jedi? Perfect mirroring of the burning of the vineyard in the last days. Luke didn't know how to undo the corruption so he wants to burn it down.
Except he doesn't have the courage to do it. Luke is still in the anger phase which means he's left the order but he can't leave it alone. So he TALKS and SCREAMS about tearing it down.
He's fighting his instincts of resisting sacrilege but also trying to follow the will of the force, which is suggesting the burning of the old vineyard is necessary (See the Book of Jacob). Yoda burns it down for him. Luke is astonished, he thought his own teacher would be horrified by burning the temple...
Yoda always had more faith than Luke.
The Jedi order had become corrupted by the dark side of the force, and so it would always be. Same with all institutions built by mortals. This is what Luke had figured out, and so had Yoda.
Just like Kylo Ren burned down the new jedi training temples Yoda burned down the old ones. Both in front of Luke. Thus burned, Luke is free to enter the living force whilst still alive. Unconstrained by earthly rites and rituals he uses the force like no jedi before him and becomes the last jedi of the old order and the first of the new.
The Last Jedi teaches an eternal truth to all of us, to become one with the force we must first burn down our false, but seemingly righteous, physical temples and be born again through the baptism of fire. While still alive.
It is only then that we can fight aggression with complete non-aggression, and win. Just like Luke did in his final battle with Kylo Ren.
Thus said, I am learning to burn my inner temple without fits of anger and judgment and fear and insecurity and doubt. Just like Lucas... Err, I mean Luke.
The Star Wars films are training us all to be jedis.
May the force be with you.
PS: If you think this sounds crazy you should ask me sometime about why I ascribe to the theory that Jar Jar Binks was a sith lord and the true Phantom Menace, until he basically had to be written out of episodes II and III and a new random bad guy introduced due to his rabid unpopularity.