Lord Haseo said:
You don’t think he can adopt a philosophy of “Use your inner darkness to best your enemies but don’t let it envelope you for too long”? Also what’s to say that Luke didn’t take bits and pieces of philosophy that Dark Siders hold dear and use them to bolster his new philosophy?To me? No. Again, I still see the Dark Side as the malignant tumour on the energy field that life creates. It is not a difference in philosophy; it is the manifestation of the emotions behind bigotry and oppression. Being “A little dark” is akin to being “a little evil.”
We all harbor some amount of taint inside us. Luke would no doubt accept that and try to use his for the betterment of the Galaxy. The nature of these base feelings doesn’t matter so long as the outcome is good.
The Force is not a tool; it is not just a means to an end. It is the very thing that brings life together. Using the corruption of the energy created by life to protect life is hypocritical at best.
Ah, but is the energy created by life good or evil? I think not. It is neutral. It is what you do with it that is good or evil. So the force energy itself is not what corrupts. It is how you use it, which is why the Jedi can be corrupt users of the light side of the force. So Luke touching the dark side of the force is not Luke turning to evil. Yoda is quite correct that fear, anger, hate lead to the dark side, but we are presented with Jedi in the PT who are cut off from being complete beings. They are not to participate in the natural functions of life and this slants their perspective. They don’t want to train Anakin because he is too old and has fears. Rather than train him how to handle those fears they try to train him to have no fears. It didn’t work. Yoda’s training with Luke is very similar (and for OT purists, the only one that matters). But much of what is later expounded on in the PT has its origins in Yoda’s training of Luke. The dire warning of once you start down that path it will forever dominate your destiny is pretty much the basis for all the PT Jedi teachings. The Jedi were convinced that bringing balance to the force meant that the Jedi would prevail. From the outcome, that was not the case. The old ways - on both sides, needed to be cleansed and to do that the Jedi and Sith must be wiped out. I think the new Trilogy is going to further expound on that, much as Rebels has been. Lucas as much as admitted that when Luke brings Anakin back from the Dark Side in ROTJ and Anakin kills the Emperor, the he had indeed brought balance to the force. What we are left with at the end of ROTJ is no old style Jedi and no Sith. Only Luke. And we have already seen that Luke doesn’t follow the Jedi rules and is making his own way. I’m guessing that in TLJ we will find out that Luke attempted to raise up a new order of Jedi using the old ways and has found that the old Jedi ways do not work and in fact lead to the temptation to turn to the Dark Side. The old ways did not prepare Ben and left him susceptible to the Dark Side.
And whether Lucas intended it or not, the way he has written the Saga to this point very much has yin and yang at its heart. Anakin/Vader and Luke could not do what they did otherwise. If the Dark Side is truly all consuming then they could never have come back - Vader from being consumed and Luke from letting his anger fill him in that final duel. The inclusion of the Bogan in Rebels has been very interesting and enlightening.