Star Wars is loved by so many people around the world. It tells of a vast, yet simple futuristic universe, adventurous stories with a touch of magic, and straightforward characters with integrity. Elements that touchingly speak to the human spirit of freedom and love.
Did you notice that the Star Wars setting always includes nooks of freedom? There is cash-like money, very few surveillance cameras, countless exoplanets to escape to with a spaceship or vehicle one can own. And there's always a sly character who finds a way to exceptionally circumvent the system to help the 'good' come back to the fore. The 'evil' Empire is strong, but never omnipresent. Because of that Star Wars is alive.
The reality we are currently building aims to remove any such 'human' loopholes. It wants to be the perfect, global, 'good' governance system. For our security, peace, health, well-being, and now also the environment. Human history is full of attempts to perfect the ability of authorities to control society. But only now do we really have the technological means to manage almost every aspect of human life on a global scale. And we make good use of it. There is no free place to run to anymore. Practically every square meter on Earth can be observed and accessed. Especially the influence over our minds is expanding. The surveillance will be so complete that hardly anyone will be able to grow, and bypass established systems. Our idea of the 'perfect' future is lifeless.
This future, knowingly or not, is actively supported by your friendly neighbour and your lovely aunt, who are voluntarily 'doing the right thing' and furthermore executed by programmes which are set to 'do the right thing'. But nobody using thought and existing knowledge alone can know what 'right' life actually means. And so, abuse and curtailing of the human spirit by those claiming authority over knowing what's 'right' is guaranteed.
Our lifeless future is built in very small and digestible steps. We don't even realize and our remaining innate drive for freedom and love is quenched enough by all kinds of entertainment activities. We think of freedom and love as kitsch, unreal fantasies, legends or, more likely, mistake our superficial emotions for them. As the famous slogan goes, ‘we will own nothing, but be happily docile’. We won't even see any real empire that needs fighting.
But even if we see behind and understand this development, why is it so hard for us to be different and initiate change? Why are we not marvelling at the beauty of existence, the adventure of life and share the exciting journey with one another? Why do we keep using surveillance communication tools when free alternatives exist? Why do we object freedom money (Bitcoin)? Or, going a step further, why are we violent in action, speech and thought, while claiming to 'fight' for peace and justice? Why are we angry about the unaware people, thus further separating ourselves, stirring division, conflict, and creating the same setup for violence all over again, only in some new fake-benevolent clothing?
If we are honest, we would find that the reasons lie within ourselves. If we are truly interested in bringing about change to the human way of life, we are going to have to ask ourselves some deeply inconvenient questions. Do we trust ourselves and humanity as a whole? Do we love, really? Do we believe someone needs to be in control to bring 'order'? We all seek security. But are we only seeking security outside of ourselves and relying on others, on some circumstance to provide security for us? Are we afraid not to belong and not to be accepted by our friends and family who continue to use WhatsApp because everybody does? Are we afraid not to be loved, afraid to have a life of our own? What do you feel when reading these questions? Is something within you rejecting them immediately? Are you belittling them, condemning them, or finding excuses such as thinking that they are not meant for you because you are already one of the 'good' guys? Only we ourselves can find out. There's nobody to answer to or please.
It's time to openly investigate what really drives us, time to have the courage to go within! For that we need to look at ourselves, our thoughts, and actions, with all honesty and clarity. Currently, society worships thinking and logic alone. But thought is limited by the past, it can never comprehend the whole and therefore is shrouding vital aspects of life in utter confusion.
There are ancient and recent tools available at our fingertips that go beyond thought and help us to look at ourselves with objective awareness: Yoga, Vipassana meditation, Wim Hof breathing, the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, to name just a few. If we don't shy away anymore to seriously look at the root causes of our human struggle, then slowly and steadily will we see and clearly understand our own roles in this erring 'civilization' and possibly our place in the universe. This is what wise people call 'awakening'. Again, there's nobody to please. Once realized it's each and everyone's life-long journey. It's why we are here. Humanity needs clear-minded, joyful, loving, and free people who are willing to learn and to share! Just as the rebel characters in Star Wars, we can be alive, free, imperfect, and unafraid of the unknown. Else our future will stay ever destructive or turn lifeless.
So, Star Wars shows us how essential freedom is for human flourishing, for being alive. But while the movies can ignite our human spirit, we should be aware that the freedom shown there, the 'good' Rebels fighting the 'evil' Empire, is not where we are headed right now. We are headed to an all-encompassing, self-created, golden cage governance system without a face to fight, inherently resistant to rebellion. That's why the situation is so existential. Because in our current unaware inner state, we ourselves ARE the empire enslaving us. Until we see this clearly, either the millennia-long cycle of violence (some freedom moving towards tyranny and tyranny moving back towards some freedom) is repeated all over again or the human spirit itself will perish in omnipresent, self-limiting tyranny.
We have the chance to create a way brighter future than the beloved Star Wars universe is painting. When Star Wars was created it put the familiar western culture of the 1970s - ridden by violence, conflict, and the occasional beauty - onto an exciting, setting with future technology. But what we are talking about today, is the possibility to change human culture altogether, to transform the human psyche and elevate human consciousness towards realizing that peace, joy, abundance, and love are already all around. The solution lies within.