LIFE 101


STAR WARS, THE FORCE, & YOU By Coach Cary Bayer


Please follow Cary’s monthly column on


www.innerrealmmagazine.com I, along with most every-


one else in America, recently saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the most current


installment of the Star Wars franchise, now com- peting with the Rocky and Friday the 13th fran- chises for most movie episodes. Unlike the latter two, theGeorge Lucas films havemuch to teach us spiritually. And financially, as well, as it has become the highest grossing film of all time in America, and is well on its way to being the high- est grossing film worldwide, as well. Which is a good thing that the two highest grossing films—it and Avatar—both have great spiritual lessons to impart to moviegoers. Yoda Yoga The nine-part franchise—only seven in the


nine have so far been released—has featured one of my all-time favorite spiritual cinema charac- ters—namely, Yoda. This adorable gnome-like lookalike could easily have been called Yoga, as he taught Luke Skywalker some very esoteric things about consciousness and its latent abilities. You may recall that the pint-sized guru, in excess of 800 years old, showed Luke a number of what people who believe that gravity is more powerful than levity would call superhuman abilities. These include such latent abilities in all of us as the abil- ity to tap into the Force, orwhatwe on earthwould call God, the Great Spirit, or the Tao, for example. This manifests for Luke in the StarWars film saga as telepathy, clairvoyance and psycho kinesis, the latter being the ability to move physical objects with his mind alone. What’s more, he can also influence the minds of others, intuit the feelings of others nearby, and even levitate. In battle, he can sense what his opponent will do prior to himdoing it, a huge advantage when battling for life and death.Also of great benefit to the benign warrior is the ability to engage in combat for many hours at a time without getting fatigued. Like the X-Men hero Wolverine, he can also heal most physical injuries, and quite quickly at that. George Lucas & Yogi Patanjali The Yoga Sutras, written by the Indian Yogi


Patanjali more than sixteen hundred years ago, records similar natural skills that can be developed through what the yogi referred to as sanyama, a Sanskrit term that translates loosely as subtle intention from consciousness settled in Samadhi, or steadiness in the Transcendent. Speaking of India, Luke, as a Jedi Knight,


must kill his father Anakin, aka Dearth Vader, who’s become so seduced by the dark side of the Force, that he lives behind a black mask and has become more of a machine than a man. Obi-Wan taught Luke that the Jedis “were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic.” Luke’s killing of his father echoes what the


military hero of the Bhagavad Gita,Arjuna, had to do to his cousins and uncles. Vader and Arjuna’s family were spreading evil throughout the land. In the Gita, Arjuna is encouraged to do this justified killing because it’s his dharma, or purpose, in society to protect it from evil. As a hero, Luke Skywalker must do the same on his planet, and he succeeds in destroying his evil father in the third film in the series. While Yoda is adorable and lovable to the


popcorn munching couple in the bijou, he’s one tough teacher.When he teaches his young Jedi dis-


ciple the power of commitment, he says, “Do or don’t do. There’s no trying.” He’s about results, not efforts. He’s also about commitment, not wishy-washy waffling. But he’s not just teaching commitment, here, he’s also teaching conscious use of language. He doesn’t want the word “try” to enter into Luke’s consciousness or pass through his mouth as speech. The Force “May the Force be with you,” the saga


reminds us. The Force actually always is with you. It’s only your unconscious thoughts, speech, and action that make it appear to you as if you’re dis- connected from it. Sicne the Force pervades our being, not having it be with you is much like a fish not having water be with it. Not only does the Force pervade our being; in truth it is our being, but that insight dawns only in the highest state of consciousness. When you live consciously con- nected to the Force life flows much like a river, and the Universe works to fulfill your desires. As Luke’s other teacher—Obi-Wan Kenobi—tells him, “The Force obeys your commands.” What is the Force that Lucas presents? To


Obi-Wan, “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” Like the Tao, which is an interpenetration of light and dark forces, it has a light side and a dark. Yoda teaches Luke that he’ll know the difference between the Light and the Dark sides of it when he is “calm, at peace.” He adds: “For my ally is the Force. And a powerful


ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us…You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you…me…the tree…the rock…everywhere! Yes, even between the land and the ship!” On the other hand, Yoda added, “Fear is the


path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” This is the temptation that Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker succumbed to. Yoda’s teaching of Luke is very reminiscent


of Krishna’s teaching of Arjuna for anyone who has ever read the Bhagavad Gita.As Krishna said, “These bodies are known to have an end; the


dweller in the body is eternal, imperishable, infi- nite, Therefore, O Bharata, fight!” (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi translation) It’s obvious that Lucas intended his StarWars


political and military saga to be something of a spiritual story, as well. In fact, he read some 50 books on religion in preparation to creating his tale. The author who most influenced him was the great mythologist Joseph Campbell; the book that most influenced him was the professor’s A Hero with a Thousand Faces. As Lucas said, “The sto- ries I fund most interesting are stories of Zen edu- cation or the Zen master teaching a pupil how to transcend physical prowess into some kind of mental process. That’s what all the training sequences are about.”


Cary Bayer is a Life Coach, based in the moun-


tains in New York (845-679-5526) and by the ocean in south Florida (954-788-3380), who's worked with Oscar-winner Alan Arkin, David Steinberg, and Quality Inns, and has helped people make their dreams come true since 1973. He founded The Breakthrough Aerobics Inner Workout, teaches Transcendental Meditation, coached hundreds of people, and authored more than two dozen publica- tions, including The Prosperity Aerobics. You can reach him by email at successaerobics@aol.com or can visit him on the web at www.carybayer.com


Continued from pg 31 In Praise of Motherhood


By Lisa Zucker,LSW As in my case, I had come to


realize, it was my own insecurities which were producing this anxiety, which if left unchecked may have been imprinted on my daughter's impressionable toddler reality. It was those behaviors that I wanted to avoid displacing onto her which would surely offset the nurturing bond I intended to create.As such I had to re-evaluate my own reaction to past hurts, failures, self-doubts, anxieties, disappointments, betray- als, and traumas. If behaviors are predicated on beliefs, I could re- create my own as well as my daughter's emotional reactions by understanding that


living in


moments of tranquility detract from the otherwise emotional torrent of the unthinkable. Re-creating and living in states of angst and peril only lead to confusion, exaspera- tion and introjection of the feelings and emotions that sparked my unfounded concerns. I did not have to project these unfounded fears onto the blueprints ofmy daughter's life and in so doing I could quell these fears internally and external- ly. I knowtherewill always be anx- ieties marked my anguish and despair. There will always be unforeseen challenges and hurdles throughout the various milestones of life. However I now know that these feelings can be calmed by realizing that


throughout my


daughter's existence I will always be there for her through the darting and shadowing of every day life.


Do you or a loved one suffer


from unsettling ruminations, thoughts or anxieties with present or past relationships?


Lisa Zucker is


a child & family therapist specializ- ing in multi-genera- tional trauma in families, past trauma in relationships and individuals interested in experiential growth. She provides sessions in a


calm, safe and relaxing environ- ment. Sliding scale available. She can be reached at


Lisa_K_Zucker@yahoo.com


IR 37


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