Watching episode VIII again and really, that opening scene is the most visceral and beautiful opening in all of Star Wars

X Wing in the ocean reminds me that Luke is really unbalanced with regards to how he encounters problems. In 5, he rushes to save impetuously, in 8 he is paralyzed by the past (a past *of* rushing in)

The drama of 7 (Rey and Kylo) gets sublimated into the internal tension at play in Kylo - a lens into the antagonist that we *rarely* see in any movie, let alone in Star Wars

“I cannot train you” sounds an awful lot like Ahsoka in Mandalorian. Helpful to see jedi who accept they are not the sole movers in the events of the galaxy

Reinforced again by Leia putting aside her jedi training. Ironically, even when disconnected from the mantle, Leia is more intimately connected to the Force than Luke, who broke himself on the burden of the Jedi mantle

It is interesting this time around to realize that the only thing narratively that separate Finn from Rose is sides: First Order grunt vs Resistance grunt. We rarely see the POV of the grunts of the “good guy side”.... another reason why Rogue One is really insightful

Remembering also Rian’s genius in not valorizing the basic evil blank slate of Snoke, opting for the complicated evil within everyone. Only for Abrams to say again, nope, more archetypal evil beyond it all

Although I do (in some ideal world where 9 does it’s own plot well) like the apophatic approach to the Force in the ST: the force is Good and Evil, the Force is Not good and evil, the Force is not not Good and Evil

And this is of course what every jedi ideally learns in their training. It’s what self denial is supposed to lead one through. But contextualized within institutional complicity and corruption, the self critique never even took off

The great teachers get there: Qui Gon, Yoda, Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke, Ahsoka... each found a way of residing in their role that participated in and yet transcended their institutional role. (Yes, this is a lot of my own personal discernment about ministry what of it?)

This dialectic:
1. Is
2. Is Not
3. Is Not Not

Is also the structure of the three narratives of Luke/Kylo showdown at the academy. The perspectives needed integration in order to have a fuller understanding

This happens I think in cave sequences too:
- deny evil
- evil is in you
- deny yourself
(And finally, after much toil)
- deny denying yourself

For Luke this means caring about family even after having to deny it, for Leia this is picking up her role as teacher after denying it for Ben, for Rey it is her care for the ones she loves after denying herself for so long, then finally searching and saving them