The Dark Side

[Darth-Trayer]

Oh my...I'm ashamed to admit I forgot about Paganism. I was stuck on the idea of Christianity and others of the sort (I was kinda ranting about them...they drive me nuts, lol). Sorry. In the case of Paganism I would have to agree with you. Every person I have met that told me they were Pagan really did live their religion. So I would have to agree with you there. They are not the type to go through the motions as other faiths do. :)


Not a Problem. I isnt one of the "common" or even really "well known" You are not the first and I bet you are defently not the last. It is very uncommon to have that, as you said most faiths teach "there is the true and right belief, all others are worng" I sometimes wished more people were pagan, I think there might be a lot less fighting then, over things that really dont matter.

[Azazel]

From were i stand, beeing a sith is a form of paganism.
With some subtile diferences, of course.

[Darth-Trayer]

I can see that =)

[Seti-I-Shadim]

Not a Problem. I isnt one of the "common" or even really "well known" You are not the first and I bet you are defently not the last. It is very uncommon to have that, as you said most faiths teach "there is the true and right belief, all others are worng" I sometimes wished more people were pagan, I think there might be a lot less fighting then, over things that really dont matter.

The problem with making these kinds of distinctions is that Paganism is both a minority faith and a new faith. It is minority in that it is not the predominant faith in our culture. It is new, in that, thanks to those lovely Christians:rolleyes: ( sarcasm fully implied) the original Pagan traditions were annihilated. What is now called Paganism is more like a Neo-Paganism. Many of the observations made concerning liberal religious thought and authenticity within the religion can equally be made of other minority religious groups. This is not a condemnation of Paganism, but rather an observation concerning the history of religion.

Seti

p.s. Sorry for my long absence.:oops:

[Darth Cassus]

Even old pagen tradtions live on today. Like christmas trees and the easter bunny were once pagan then taken by christianity to promot it amoung pagans.

Good to see you Seti.

[Seti-I-Shadim]

Even old pagen tradtions live on today. Like christmas trees and the easter bunny were once pagan then taken by christianity to promot it amoung pagans.

Good to see you Seti.

Agreed. Individual traditions have survived. The problem being that Christianity destroyed so much in its rush to wipe out "heresy", that it left us with only bits & pieces. Unfortunately, its far from a complete religion, from the point of view of the historical record. Its kind of like trying to reconstruct the Apostle's Creed, but you only have a few isolated words from each sentence. You might guess it right, but probably won't.;)

Thanks. Glad to be back.:D


Seti

[Azazel]

Welcome back Seti.
I have do disagree.
The main thing Christianity destryoied were the simbols, most of the beliefes are still here, as Cassus so well putted.
Even the saints are remains of the ancient gods, for each saint is usefull for one special thing, like the gods were.
And its kinda hard to pinpoint Pagan, for its definition is every religion that is non Christian, and many survided to our days, even tough in Europe was almost wipped, but the celtic spirit always lived on.

[Seti-I-Shadim]

Welcome back Seti.
I have do disagree.
The main thing Christianity destryoied were the simbols, most of the beliefes are still here, as Cassus so well putted.
Even the saints are remains of the ancient gods, for each saint is usefull for one special thing, like the gods were.
And its kinda hard to pinpoint Pagan, for its definition is every religion that is non Christian, and many survided to our days, even tough in Europe was almost wipped, but the celtic spirit always lived on.

First, thanks.;)

On Paganism. I think this is getting caught in linguistics.
For a religion to survive it requires living adherents of that faith. The beliefs are passed through generations and those beliefs are expressed through ceremonies, rituals, prayers, etc. However, the native faiths were oppressed in Christianized Europe. Gods & symbols were incorporated into Christianity, which eased the transition from Pagan(or Polytheistic) religion to Christianity. However, the living adherents of the faith slowly died out as their faith was assimilated. In neo-Paganism today, there is a huge reconstructionist movement going on. The goal is to try to rebuild an authentic tradition from the pieces left that are constantly being excavated. Sadly, so much of these faiths were oral traditions & so were lost. The work of Joseph Campbell & Jung both refer to this problem. Although, Campbell dealt with the problem on a more concrete basis.

Seti

[Azazel]

But, if a religion is truly dead, its almost impossible to get it back to life.
If paganism, in its european form ressurected, its because of, hidden deep inside, it still had some living roots.

[Alena]

What about this: You use the Force to win a big lottery jackpot in your state. You use the money to campaign for public office. You get in office and do a lot of mind tricks to get the others to go along with you. Yes, you are in a comfortable position in the world, but you do progressive reforms that help many people, especially the poor and minorities. Dark or Light?

See, I read this and my first thought is "Neither...wtf?"

Has anyone seen Donnie Darko? With the dry erase board? The lifeline? That's how I feel right now.

If you have not seen that movie, do do do see that movie. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200....


~Alena

[Alena]

Not a Problem. I isnt one of the "common" or even really "well known" You are not the first and I bet you are defently not the last. It is very uncommon to have that, as you said most faiths teach "there is the true and right belief, all others are worng" I sometimes wished more people were pagan, I think there might be a lot less fighting then, over things that really dont matter.

Gods and the Force, I wish that were so. I've met just as many close minded and intolerant Pagans as I have Christians, Jews, and Muslims. :(


~Alena
<-- also a pagan...

[Alena]

The problem with making these kinds of distinctions is that Paganism is both a minority faith and a new faith.

Correction: new faiths. There is more than one pagan religion out there. In fact, there are many.



~Alena

[Alena]

And its kinda hard to pinpoint Pagan, for its definition is every religion that is non Christian, and many survided to our days, even tough in Europe was almost wipped, but the celtic spirit always lived on.

That is true only for the Celtic religions, but not for the Roman, Greek, and Egyptian, which has much surviving material to this day owing to the fact that they wrote things down which we can actually understand.


~Alena

[Alena]

In neo-Paganism today, there is a huge reconstructionist movement going on. The goal is to try to rebuild an authentic tradition from the pieces left that are constantly being excavated. Sadly, so much of these faiths were oral traditions & so were lost. The work of Joseph Campbell & Jung both refer to this problem. Although, Campbell dealt with the problem on a more concrete basis.

Seti

Ah yes, was it you who asked me if I was a reconstructionist? I remember now. Nice to meet people who know that we exist. :)


~Alena

[Azazel]

You have a big work ahead....

[The Disciple of Ragnos]

I am a lightsider, but here are my views.
I have never been drawn to the darkside. I have of course been tempted by certain decisions and I have certainly been inclined to resort to violence rather than peace in some situations, but I never really answered the call. For me the dark side exists to challenge me and make me better than I am. I use my emotions as teachers, but do not act on them. To me, that is the way a light jedi betters him/herself. I think that the light and the dark can be equal in power, neither ruling over the other, because I believe the force to be neutral in this sense. I have been intrigued by some of your answers to this posting. I'm having the urge to judge...so I'm going to stop now. :)
-please feel free to question me on anything I said.

If I am free to ask questions, I have to ask you: did you ever tried to follow the paths of The Dark Side?

[darthvillianous]

I have been A star wars fan for a long time.
I have aways hated the jedi scum.
I decided the dark side was the only side to go.:twisted:

[Malaket]

It was only recently that i realized that the dark path was right for me. I realized that being a sith, and killing indescriminatly do not have to coralate. I have nothing against jedi, and I know that for some the tenants of the jedi may be apealing, however I do not wish to seal away my emotions. that being said, it was after I played Knights of the old republic, and encountered the sith accademy. During that play through I was playing light side, and I still did to the end, but afterwards it got my mind moving. I started wondering about things. It also brought an interesting discovery, the distruction of alderon was not caused by ether vader or palpateen, it was under tarkin's order that it was destroyed.
This only caused to increase the velocity of which my mind was moving in a new direction.
I came to the conclusion that, to me, the sith arn't evil, but instead are seekers of true freedom. After I disproved the streotypes to my self, I came to belive that what indevidual siths have done does not reflect apon the sith as a whole. Then I became a sith.

[Darth Opacus]

i have always felt connected to the dark side. i thought that i knew what the dark side was for many years until i read about Darth Bane. that book changed how i thought of the dark side and led me to truely embrace that power. i have been away training for several months and i spent many nights in deep meditation. i have touched the dark side inside of me and it was the most terrifying but exciting experience.
the dark side allows for passion and power - the light bars those things.

[Darth Devious]

what is this darth bane book I keep hearing about?

[Empress Palpatine]

It is the book DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION by Drew Karpyshyn. It is a very good read.

[Mrs. Darth Vader]

I enjoyed the Darth Bane book as well. It had some good points. This author noticed some things that no one else noticed. A smal but quiet earthly fact but he got it on the money. Very insightfull.

[DarthKaneus]

Greetings, I became engulfed in the dark side when I realized that you could be a light jedi but unless you knew and embraced the power of the dark side, nothing would come to me.

Case in point: I am an honest man..I live life doing good by others, always looking to be positive and objective. What has that got me. Nothing. I engaged in some 'dark activities" (acting on my own desire, love, hate, etc) and slowly things started to benefit me...employees quit before being fired; managers above me resigned before I did anything to make them look bad. I even went so far as to make 'sacrifices' in my marriage, which did not result in divorce, only a more deeper desire of my parter not to lose me.

The dark side is nothing to be feared, it is to be embraced. As I read the various novels, websites, teachings, ramblings, etc of dark side, sith, etc., only now do I realize that the power of the dark side is not something to fear, but to embrace. Not something to run away from, but to embody. Fear is not the key, balance is the key...and balance is what I embrace.

I welcome thoughts, opinions and ideas....

[Darth Bane]

I have always been a dark person by nature but never knew why.Then I learned of the dark side and began studying it as often as possible.sure i can't fry people with lightning but i learned to use my anger and maintain a constant rage for when it was needed and even take a considerable amount of pain from taking a punch to frost-byte temperatures.
I know that if I progress more in the years to come then by the time I'm 20 I'll be a force to be that i hope people will fear.

[Darth Nixx]

The darkside has ruled my path for the last 26 years. At times, I've run from it & tried to walk in the light, but the darkness always draws me back. The dark side has dominated my spiritual & magickal paths & is the focus of what I guide others to realize within themselves. The light leads one to annhilation, while the dark leads one to godhood.

The Darth Bane trilogy really solidified things for me (from a Sith point of view) & helped me crystallize my dark side philosophy. Another work I'd like to suggest to everyone here is a book called Works of Darkness by E.A. Koetting. It is a dark sorcery work & while not a Sith work, gives an excellent depiction of Sith Sorcery in the present world.

[Mrs. Darth Vader]

I chose the Balance dark side approach. It has worked far greater than being too emotional. The cool approach of the scientist has worked well. I use my brain more than my emotions but it works for me. Objectivity to me is not just a light side thing because scientists are very objective and wait for the facts. To work with objective reality rather than a comfortable fantasy is more empowering. If you make decisions based on facts your decisions will pan out more than if you go on what your ears like to hear.

[Darth Ferox]

I have swayed from both dark and light sides over the last 24 years. I am capable of great compassion and generosity, I have assisted people in need and have sacrificed my time for the good of others.

On the flip side I am capable of extreme brutality, anger, and callousness. I have had many physical confrontations and when I was influenced by the light side I hated fighting because I was meant to feel that way. But deep down inside I was good at fighting a natural is you must. I actually enjoyed the feeling of moving my self through time and space responding and controlling my opponent. I liked this feeling more that the actual winning of the battle because that was when my light side would come to the fore and I would feel regret at hurting a fellow human being (even though they started it and deserved the whooping).

As I have gotten older I have become more cynical and realise that if you want to acheive anything you have to be merciless, highly motivated and out for yourself. Now I only waste my time on others if I know I will get something out of the exchange. Why should I follow the rules whilst those in power do not??? Unfortunately there is no money in helping others.

Also I am extremely fussy when it comes to effectiveness, simplicity, practicality, and realism. The world we live in today does not give a **** about you/me or anybody. Only the strongest survive and prosper.

There are philosophies that state that good and evil does not exist (only in the minds of man). That the only thing that exists is us/me/you. And that any method used to win, survive, grow no matter how underhanded (it may be perceived by current morality) is valid and justified, simply because it works. Think about the dark ages when killing was as natural as taking a leak! Or when a wild animal kills for food! Light and dark are abstracts, I use whatever is necessary and works.

'In a world without human conciousness, does good and evil exist?'

[Draco Mortose]

Just a question:
How, and when, you first feel tempted to join the dark side of the force ?

When I was first able to understand the stories read to me as a child, I picked the serpent from the Garden of Eden in the Bible as my favorite character. I then spent years trying to be 'light' and 'good' until I finally realized that I was neither 'light' nor was I 'good'. My favorite characters in every movie, book and television show have always been 'the bad guys' or anti-heros if the villain seems unintelligent or badly represented.

However, I never liked Darth Vader. My passion was for Darth Sidious because he never gave into the light side. I almost cried when I saw The Return of the Jedi as a child because Darth Sidious died and Vader turned to the light.

I even went to see Revenge of the Sith twice in theaters just for that scene where Anakin chooses to join The Dark Side. It reminded me of my own previous experiences involving submission to this particular polarity.

[darthmagnus23]

I have always been drawn to the darkside even when I was younger I love Darth Vader but what drew me further in was Darth Maul I loved his fight with Qui Gon and Obi Wan what I loved was how a Sith apprentice could take on a Jedi master and his apprentice it showed just how strong the darkside can be and also I love the Sith weapons they are so much cooler than the Jedi ones :D