Star Wars

we have been watching star wars in class these past few days as a part of our science fiction unit. One of the ideas in star wars that ties in with our earlier discussions is the concept of faith. This is represented in Star Wars using the Force. Luke cannot fully master the force yet because he doesnt beleive in himself or the force strongly enough. His faith in his ability to levitate objects is weak at first, but grows stronger as his experiences grow. Once he has lifted a rock several times, he knows that he can lift rocks, and he has faith that he can use the force to lift rocks now. In contrast, when he tries to raise up his X-Wing, he cannot, not because he is unable to, but because he doesnt have faith that he can, becuase the X-Wing is so big. What really matters is his faith in his ability to move ANY object, not the size of the object. This is an interesting matter and it happens in our society. People with self-confidence seem more sure of themselves, which makes others more sure of them. People with diseases are given sugar pills and told they are cures, and they heal. Mothers lift up freakin CARS to save their babies because they dont have any time for self-doubt. Doubt is a crippling emotion, and it is one that needs to be eliminated from yourself. The overall moral of the story; If you dream it, you can do it.

Faith.

Faith is a loaded word. Faith is a driving force in many peoples lives. People live by faith, make decisions by faith, act on faith, die for faith, kill for faith. A loose definiton of faith is belief in something that cannot be proven. This could range from Faith in God to faith that your husband will pick up the dry-cleaning. Faith can be lost, gained, weakened, strengthened, given, earned, and analyzed. When most people think of faith, they think of religion. at least i do. But faith differs. Faith in god is different from faith in, say, that your us will be on time. Faith in God is different in that we have no clue at all if god and his related conventions are true. You may have faith in the bus because its been on time every day for the past 5 years. You may have faith that your husband or wife won't cheat on you because you know their character. You may even have faith that Tom Cruise is really a nice guy, because someone has experienced hm and told you this. We cannot have the same faith in God. Our faith in God comes solely from the widespread beliefs of him. We have faith in God because millions of people do. We cannot hear God, see God. We dont have past experience of heaven or hell. We dont even know anybody who does. There is no physical precedent of God's rewards and punishments. Religious faith in the afterlife and of a heavenly but unproven omnicient diety is a communal faith rather than a personal faith. Oh ye of little faith, thine vanity is Logic.