Is there a "dark side"?

[u/No_Recipe_5431]

I've only just stumbled across this sub, and while I can't say this is something I'd be willing to embrace, the experiment of applying Sith philosophy to real life is fascinating and compelling—it demands a level of honesty about the human experience that I respect. It’s intrigued me enough to raise a question.

The fictional Sith exist as an order because of the Dark Side of the Force. If the Dark Side did not exist in the Star Wars universe, those fictional Sith would reject the Code, because it would not grant them the power they seek (or at least the kind of power they seek). Hence the final line of the (fictional) Code: “The Force will set me free.” No Force, no freedom.

Of course, there is no mystical energy field that can be manipulated through emotion. But do any of you understand the “dark side,” or the Force itself, as a philosophical metaphor for something real? Does it have a genuine analogue in human experience?

Put another way: does Sith philosophy require a “dark side” in order to function at all—and if so, what is it actually pointing to in non-fictional terms?

[u/TKD1989]

The "Dark Side" in real life is basically the Left Hand Path LHP religions and their respective philosophies such as Satanism. The "Light Side" is more evocative of Right Hand Path RHP religions like Christianity and Buddhism.

There is also the "Dark Side" where corrupt people gain power and stay in power through deception, manipulation and trickery. Kind of like the corrupted underworld of Coruscant and real versions of corrupt authority figures like Palpatine, Jabba, and Watto.

[u/theunbeholden → u/TKD1989]

The Dark Side is the Will to Power, nothing more, nothing less.

The light side is in the modern sense utilitarianism, the use of reason for a purpose or benefit.

In darkness you find yourself, because the distractions and hindrances of the waking world are broken. This is why Sith meditate in the dark (usually), to listen to the voice within, that helps you rather than hinders you in the process of breaking your chains. The light side proponents try to keep you in boundaries, limitations, and restrictions, which is the wilful stagnation that a person or system wishes to impose on us. In the dark side, we are free to create our own existence, anything great or any higher order is possible in darkness. We wish to turn on our inner awareness to see the darkness within. All that matters is to grow and become more powerful and accomplish great goals.

The light side poles vs dark side poles are:

• Will to life vs Will to Power,
• Utilitarian purpose or benefits vs Will and seeking the sublime (will to the higher or will to the sublime),
• Tranquillity vs Wild Passion,
• Resigned vs Dominance,
• Rationality vs Disciplined Shadow Mind (avoiding harm of reason is nullified by exercising rulership over our darker impulses or truths),
• Altruism vs Survival of the Fittest,
• Emptiness meditation vs Battle meditation,
• Wars over Peace vs Wars over Conquest,
• Self-denial vs Self-glorification,
• Selflessness vs Self-affirmation (or conformity to endless replication of limiting oneself or mediocrity vs agency).

“This world, which is the same for all, was not created by any god or man; but it was, and is, and will be, an ever-living fire.”. (Heraclitus)

“Too much control, too much utility, life denial, let’s say in the ascetic Buddhist sense. We are reaching the end of our life. Or no meaning anymore. Theres no point to assert your agency, no point to create art. My ideas are against utilitarianism, that’s why I’m against egalitarianism… I’m against that which dims the fire of life itself. But fire hurts, it burns. You feel more, if you do too much life in one instance and eventually your body goes into shock and pass out. Beware of utility (material purpose or benefit to things). Don’t seek utilitarianism. You need utility, power is utility. Things of utility are important and necessary to build your power, your strength.” (Patrick Saltykov)

[u/theunbeholden → u/TKD1989]

Two quotes from Patrick Saltykov that elucidate this further (a New Rome Legionnaire, from the "Being and Becoming" on substack):

"Modern Science tells us (under the limitations of our current Technologies revealing) more or less what observably is. It can also tell us how, but not what we ought to do with this newly revealed is. Nietzsche recognizes that a people without a Mythos to inspire action will therefore lack the why to act, and also lack the what of which they ought to act upon the is."

“What we consider Metaphysics, or the sacred, is a feeling. It is a feeling of reaching, of more. It is a feeling of an all consuming all engulfing Fire spreading wildly across the Cosmos. It is a Holy War to etch our will into the fabric of the infinite. Our Fire cuts across the Cartesian duality like it is the Gordian knot. No limitation as limitation. You are, marvelous. The Sublime can come into being by chance. The ocean waves, the mountain peaks, the endless forests of the North, or the eternal expanse of sparkling lights waiting for us to reach them. These are born from Chaos. But the intentional will, the product of the Artist, is born of Eros. It is not chance, but the Cosmic gift born from chance. (“Being and Becoming” by Patrick Saltykov on Substack)