There was a time, long ago, when the Jedi path was sound. It required discipline, patience, servitude, defending the weak and promoting justice. It was a path of guardianship, a requirement of giving oneself over to a greater will, promoting self-sacrifice, humility, and honesty.
Then men started to create a religious order from these virtues, and became blind to their own procedures. They gave in to mindless ritual, meditating for days on end without seeing beyond the cloud of darkness permeating every aspect of their being. There was a subtleness that grew with each passing day… and yet their greatest teachers had no way of comprehending it.
Darth Sidious had come into the camps.
Sidious is a real Darth Lord of the Sith, and truly exists today. He hides himself as a Senator Palpatine, a politician who loves the palette, the taste buds, to manipulate people towards building an Imperial Order.
This tasting seems pleasing to take in at first. It is palatable, quite pleasing to the tongue. Yet once digested, leads to an inner corruption. It is the forbidden fruit.
George Lucas was very familiar with this character. In fact, he spoke about him in THX-1138, under the name of SEN. SEN was a person who looked eagerly for a new roommate, using whatever means necessary to bring upon this selfish result. He failed to leave the robotic city. He is a representation of fallen man, one who cannot break away from the system of man.
Notice the words Sidious, Senator, and SEN. It is very much based on a word found in scripture, what many refer to as Sin. Many have twisted this word in order to hide themselves from it. Yet, with all the manipulation, it has a very simple meaning.
In the scriptures, it speaks of sin as leaven. Leaven is an additive which, when put into dough while being kneaded, rises up in full force during the baking process. In the Torah, there is a feast called Unleavened Bread, a time which leaven is supposed to be removed from all items of food. It represents an inner corruption of the self, an additive that is very subtle at first… yet gives rise to the fermentation within one’s spirit.
The reason why we avoid the concept of sin is because we don’t like to point out this manipulation within ourselves, let alone others pointing it out for us. All of us have taken hold of the forbidden fruit at one point in our lives, giving loss to our innocence. Yet it is this very bread which must be denied.
Yahshua spoke of the living bread, the manna which rains down from heaven. This is the bread we are to partake in. By eating it, we die of ourselves, understanding that our ways have been corrupted by the adversary (this is what the word Satan means). Many people had a hard time with the saying, and left him at that hour. It was a test of their discernment.
Darth Sidious is a result of a fallen order. It is an order that has allowed procedure and ritual to dictate the higher will, instead of following the path of selflessness, sincerity, and faith. It allows the Empire to rise within us, molding us into a pawn of darkness instead of a servant of the light.
Yet by denying ourselves of the pleasures of the world, we are denying his manipulation of our lives. We must not live by this bread alone, yet by every word that proceeds by the mouth of the Father (Deuteronomy).