The core of “The Force” in Star Wars is in the Dark Side and the Light Side. One is selfless, one is selfish. When you drift to the dark side you get really selfish and you forget about what is important. Being selfish means you get stuff or you want stuff. And when you want stuff and you get stuff then you are afraid someone is going to take it away from you. Whether what you want is a person or a thing or a particular pleasure or status or experience. Once you become afraid that someone is going to take it away from you or you’re going to lose it then you start to become angry. Especially if you are losing the thing you want more than anything else. And that anger leads to hate. And hate leads to suffering—mostly of the person who was selfish, because you spent all your time being afraid of losing everything you got, instead of actually living.
Whereas with joy and giving to other people you can’t think about yourself and that’s why there is no pain in joy. But the pleasure factor of greed and selfishness is a short-lived experience. Therefore you are constantly trying to replenish it. And the more you have to replenish it the harder it is and you are constantly upping the ante. You’re actually afraid of the pain of not having the joy. That is ultimate core fo the Dark Side. Obviously the Sith are always unhappy because they never get enough of everything they want. Mostly their selfishness centers around power and control.
The struggle is to always be able to let go of power and control. You’re allowed to love people but you aren’t allowed to possess them. Anakin went too far in not wanting to lose his wife so he made a pact with the devil so that he could become all powerful and therefore he would never have to lose what he perceived was his. But when he sold his soul for that power she didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore and all he did was end up destroying his relationship with her. He lost her.
The only way to defeat the Dark Side is discipline. The Dark Side is pleasure gone wrong. The pleasure is temporary and easy to achieve. The Light Side is joy everlasting and is achieved through difficulty—a great challenge. You must overcome laziness and give up quick pleasures and overcome your fear which leads to hate.
—George Lucas
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