Luke Skywalker is an example of a fictional character who moves very far along The Continuum of Terrains over the course of one lifetime.
During the three original Star Wars movies - ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return Of The Jedi’ - Luke Skywalker expands in his relationship to reality all the way from the Order-Based Terrain (Square) to the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid). This is an epic evolutionary journey!
During the three original Star Wars movies - ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return Of The Jedi’ - Luke Skywalker expands in his relationship to reality all the way from the Order-Based Terrain (Square) to the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid). This is an epic evolutionary journey!
Movie 1: Star Wars - A New Hope
At the start of the first movie, Luke is a loyal farm boy wanting to join the Imperial Academy and be part of the great military machine. At that time, he is at the Order-Based Terrain (Square), the Terrain of social order and mainstream thinking. However, Luke is fast approaching the Event Horizon into the Reflection-Based Terrain (Diamond), the Terrain of progress and innovation and of questioning the system. This is evidenced by his interest in droids and his dreams of adventure.
When Luke returns home to find that his family have all been killed by Imperial troops, his faith in the Empire shatters and he experiences a massive quantum shift into Diamond, transforming from well behaved Square citizen into angry Diamond rebel. Once this Event Horizon of perception has been crossed by Luke, there is no going back.
Luke then starts traveling around with his first mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a ‘Jedi Master’ who is at the Unity-Based Terrain (Infinity), the Terrain of total surrender. The Jedi philosophy is from the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid), the Terrain of trust and Universal Truth. Therefore Luke is now exposed for the first time to various Toroid ideas, such as ‘the Force’. (The Force is in essence the Quantum Field, and once the Jedi masters complete their training and reach Toroid, they are able to tap into it, which is the source of their Power).
However, because Luke is still at Diamond at this time, he is exposed to these very expanded Toroid ideas as a ‘tourist’, rather than in the fully embodied way of someone at Spiral who is moving towards Toroid in their evolutionary journey. Luke therefore goes about his Jedi training in a very Diamond way. He dreams of fame and glory as a Jedi Master, wanting to excel and be the best and make his mark on the world, in true Diamond style.
During the rest of this first movie, Luke starts to slowly expand in his awareness towards the Connection-Based Terrain (Circle), the Terrain of Heart connection. At the end of the film, Luke has a dramatic experience of tuning into his feelings - a very Circle practice - in order to allow the Force to guide him to fire the critical shot that destroys the Death Star, instead of using his ship’s computerized targeting system, as would be advisable at Diamond. In that moment of trusting his feelings rather than technology, Luke glimpses the interconnectedness that runs through every living thing, and he jumps across the Event Horizon of Perception into Circle.
When Luke returns home to find that his family have all been killed by Imperial troops, his faith in the Empire shatters and he experiences a massive quantum shift into Diamond, transforming from well behaved Square citizen into angry Diamond rebel. Once this Event Horizon of perception has been crossed by Luke, there is no going back.
Luke then starts traveling around with his first mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a ‘Jedi Master’ who is at the Unity-Based Terrain (Infinity), the Terrain of total surrender. The Jedi philosophy is from the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid), the Terrain of trust and Universal Truth. Therefore Luke is now exposed for the first time to various Toroid ideas, such as ‘the Force’. (The Force is in essence the Quantum Field, and once the Jedi masters complete their training and reach Toroid, they are able to tap into it, which is the source of their Power).
However, because Luke is still at Diamond at this time, he is exposed to these very expanded Toroid ideas as a ‘tourist’, rather than in the fully embodied way of someone at Spiral who is moving towards Toroid in their evolutionary journey. Luke therefore goes about his Jedi training in a very Diamond way. He dreams of fame and glory as a Jedi Master, wanting to excel and be the best and make his mark on the world, in true Diamond style.
During the rest of this first movie, Luke starts to slowly expand in his awareness towards the Connection-Based Terrain (Circle), the Terrain of Heart connection. At the end of the film, Luke has a dramatic experience of tuning into his feelings - a very Circle practice - in order to allow the Force to guide him to fire the critical shot that destroys the Death Star, instead of using his ship’s computerized targeting system, as would be advisable at Diamond. In that moment of trusting his feelings rather than technology, Luke glimpses the interconnectedness that runs through every living thing, and he jumps across the Event Horizon of Perception into Circle.
Movie 2: The Empire Strikes Back
At the start of the second movie - set three years later - Luke is at Circle already on the move towards the Coherence-Based Terrain (Spiral), the Terrain of inner truth and multidimensionality. He is starting to glimpse the invisible realms, in preparation for his shift to Spiral, so he is able to receive a message from the spirit of Obi Wan Kenobi telling him to travel to the planet Dagobah. This is a marked change from how he received the crucial message that kicked off the first movie when he was on the move to Diamond, carried via technology by droids.
In response to Kenobi’s psychic message, Luke goes to Dagobah, where he receives advanced training in the Force by ancient Jedi Master Yoda, who - like Obi-Wan - is at the Unity-Based Terrain (Infinity). Luke is faced with a big choice when his training is interrupted by a vision of his friends Han Solo and Leia in pain: whether to continue his Jedi training or to go save his friends. Being at Circle, he decides to follow his Heart and go save his friends, despite Yoda advising him against this.
It turns out that the vision of his friends had been a trap, and now Luke finds that he must face Darth Vader, who in his black mask is the very face of the ‘system’, a twisted distortion of the order that Luke so admired as a child at Square. Vader reveals himself to be Luke’s father. He pulls on Luke’s imperial conditioning as a child and tries to tempt him to the ‘Dark Side’ of the Force, offering him all the power of ruling by his side. In his critical moment of choice, Luke chooses to die rather than be corrupted and throws himself down into a bottomless reactor chasm. This profound act of integrity following his highest truth completes this stage of Luke’s evolution and shifts him dramatically through the Event Horizon Of Perception from Circle to the Coherence-Based Terrain (Spiral).
In response to Kenobi’s psychic message, Luke goes to Dagobah, where he receives advanced training in the Force by ancient Jedi Master Yoda, who - like Obi-Wan - is at the Unity-Based Terrain (Infinity). Luke is faced with a big choice when his training is interrupted by a vision of his friends Han Solo and Leia in pain: whether to continue his Jedi training or to go save his friends. Being at Circle, he decides to follow his Heart and go save his friends, despite Yoda advising him against this.
It turns out that the vision of his friends had been a trap, and now Luke finds that he must face Darth Vader, who in his black mask is the very face of the ‘system’, a twisted distortion of the order that Luke so admired as a child at Square. Vader reveals himself to be Luke’s father. He pulls on Luke’s imperial conditioning as a child and tries to tempt him to the ‘Dark Side’ of the Force, offering him all the power of ruling by his side. In his critical moment of choice, Luke chooses to die rather than be corrupted and throws himself down into a bottomless reactor chasm. This profound act of integrity following his highest truth completes this stage of Luke’s evolution and shifts him dramatically through the Event Horizon Of Perception from Circle to the Coherence-Based Terrain (Spiral).
Movie 3: Return Of The Jedi
At the start of the third movie - set one year later - Luke is at Spiral. He is now a Jedi. Watching the way Luke holds himself, we can see that he is not the same mild mannered Square farm boy nor even the passionate Diamond rebel we used to know; he is now more centered, clearer about who he is, and much more Self-responsible. He is not quite yet a Jedi Master, but he is starting to be someone who leads by example, with humility, who is coming from acceptance rather than fighting to change the world. He is well on the Spiral journey of finding his own truth and holding to it in even in the toughest of circumstances.
Yet once again Luke’s Infinite Self is conspiring to bring him to his next and greatest evolutionary leap, organizing events to bring him to his biggest moment of choice in the entire trilogy…
In the cataclysmic scene at the end of this final movie, Luke faces both his father Darth Vader and the diabolical Emperor who is at the Will-Based Terrain (Pyramid), the Terrain of power-seeking and domination. As the Emperor eggs Luke on and threatens the lives of everyone he loves, Luke finally gives in to his anger and fights his father. He is winning the fight and even manages to sever his father’s mechanical right hand.
But when the Emperor orders Luke to strike Darth Vader down and take his place, Luke glances at his own bionic hand and realizes he is on the verge of suffering his father's fate and losing his humanity. He realizes he has been triggered out of his centre, regains his composure, deactivates his lightsaber and throws it away, proudly declaring his allegiance to the Jedi. He chooses not to fight, not to save his own life and not even to save the lives of his loved ones, choosing instead to trust in the Force, even in the face of death.
At that moment, Luke makes the monumental jump across the Event Horizon Of Perception to the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid). He ends the trilogy at Toroid, a true Jedi Master, living in a state of deepest Trust.
Yet once again Luke’s Infinite Self is conspiring to bring him to his next and greatest evolutionary leap, organizing events to bring him to his biggest moment of choice in the entire trilogy…
In the cataclysmic scene at the end of this final movie, Luke faces both his father Darth Vader and the diabolical Emperor who is at the Will-Based Terrain (Pyramid), the Terrain of power-seeking and domination. As the Emperor eggs Luke on and threatens the lives of everyone he loves, Luke finally gives in to his anger and fights his father. He is winning the fight and even manages to sever his father’s mechanical right hand.
But when the Emperor orders Luke to strike Darth Vader down and take his place, Luke glances at his own bionic hand and realizes he is on the verge of suffering his father's fate and losing his humanity. He realizes he has been triggered out of his centre, regains his composure, deactivates his lightsaber and throws it away, proudly declaring his allegiance to the Jedi. He chooses not to fight, not to save his own life and not even to save the lives of his loved ones, choosing instead to trust in the Force, even in the face of death.
At that moment, Luke makes the monumental jump across the Event Horizon Of Perception to the Fractal-Based Terrain (Toroid). He ends the trilogy at Toroid, a true Jedi Master, living in a state of deepest Trust.
Conclusion
So why is it that Luke Skywalker is able to grow and expand in his awareness so much that he shifts Terrain four times? Luke is an example of someone with a ‘high Evolutionary Role’, which means that he is here in this lifetime to grow and expand in order to raise the vibration of the entire Field.
Luke Skywalker's enormous character arc - from Square to Toroid - is one of the most powerful and resonant in movie history, and it is one of the reasons that he is among the most memorable characters of all time. Watching his journey through these three movies is a terrific way to deepen your understanding of the Ten Terrains Of Consciousness.
Luke Skywalker's enormous character arc - from Square to Toroid - is one of the most powerful and resonant in movie history, and it is one of the reasons that he is among the most memorable characters of all time. Watching his journey through these three movies is a terrific way to deepen your understanding of the Ten Terrains Of Consciousness.
~ by Tahnee Woolf ~
co-creator of the Ten Terrains Of Consciousness
co-creator of the Ten Terrains Of Consciousness
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About the Author: This article (Why Is Luke Skywalker's Journey So Memorable?) was written by Tahnee Woolf, co-creator of the Ten Terrains Of Consciousness Model and co-author of the book Introducing The Ten Terrains Of Consciousness. This article was originally published at www.tenterrains.com. |
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