Herein is a transcript of an excerpt from a holorecording entitled Whispers of the Galaxy: On the Nature of the Force, logged into the Jedi Archives in 3,643 BBY by Jedi Master Iaera Farworlder.
"I am neither ancient nor have any particular claim to great wisdom. I am simply a Jedi Knight, and I record these thoughts in that context.
My thesis is simple: Conventional wisdom holds that there is a Light Side and a Dark Side, and some grey area in the middle, and that these correlate to the great moral and ethical struggles of our lives; the Light Side embodies goodness and selflessness, and the Dark is passion-fuelled selfishness.
I submit that this view is nonsense.
The Force does not have any moral bent or ethical biases. It, in and of itself, does not discriminate on such matters; indeed, such arrogance we have to ascribe our own sapient values to something far larger than ourselves!
The Force simply is. It exists. It is the fabric of the galaxy, interwoven and interlaced through every thread of the universe's being, above and below the limited range of our own petty senses. We Jedi merely glimpse its greater mysteries and its transcendent grandeur while it swirls around a galaxy whose inhabitants go about their lives largely oblivious to its presence. And who can blame them? The Force rarely goes out of its way to make itself known. It, in its natural state, is a subtle and intangible thing that can only be felt through rigorous training and mental discipline.
The Force no more effects[sic] good or evil than an asteroid does; it is simply there, and can be used for good or evil purposes by those with the will and inclination to do so.
This, perhaps, seems obvious to many of you, but my point runs deeper, so bear with me.
I reject the notion of a "light side." It is a meaningless and artificial construct which exists to prop up the idea that the Force has some sort of moral relevancy. It bears repeating: the Force simply is. In its natural state it is tranquil and harmonious. I suppose you can call that the "light side" if you wish, but it strikes me as redundant. The Force is intertwined with everything in the galaxy; every rock, tree, and mound of dirt. It is luminous and transcendent; it doesn't need a "light side."
It does, however, have a Dark Side, or at least what we call the Dark Side. If the Force is tranquil and at rest in its natural state, then the Dark Side is what happens when violence, impatience, and anger are unleashed upon it. It is seductive and insidious not because it is evil, but precisely because the Dark Side is not evil. It is a path which almost invariably leads to evil, but it is not necessarily evil in and of itself. It is the frustration of not being able to effect the change one desires quickly enough, and out of that impatience is too often born rash decisions with terrible consequences.
I liken the Force to an allegory of a lake:
Somewhere, in some hidden mountain valley, lies the clearest lake of water you could ever hope to find in this galaxy. Its waters are almost perfectly still, disturbed only by the paths of passing fish and birds and the gentle changes in the winds and tides. On its shores are two individuals: the Jedi Knight, trained in the ways of the Force, and the Sith Lord, steeped in the Dark Side.
The Jedi glides out onto the surface of the lake. She dances along its tranquil waters, leaving only the smallest of ripples in her wake. She is in tune with the peacefulness of the lake and acts in harmony with it, neither disturbing or impeding the other. The Jedi understands the flow of the water, every current and ripple. She listens to it, and it guides her, allowing her to serenely glide along its surface without sinking.
The Sith has no such patience. The lake and its tranquillity are nothing to him. He wades into the water, heedless of its peacefulness and the birds and fish who rely upon it. He does not listen to the ripples and feel the current; he simply thrashes and flails about, churning up frothing waves around him as he walks along the lake's bottom and eventually swims when it grows too deep. That is the Dark Side -- an unnatural disruption of that lake's waters for one's own ends. He could, if he tried, walk along the surface of the water as the Jedi does, but such a thing requires patience and concentration. So he does not bother, and instead the serenity of the lake is turned into a frothing maelstrom around his immediate presence; a perversion of the natural order that would not exist were he not there to create it.
That is the Force -- a tranquil lake that one can float upon in its natural state, or violently wade through via brute force."
