Title: The Tao of Star Wars
Author: John M. Porter, MD
ISBN: 0-89334-385-4
Publisher: Humanics
Copyright: 2003
Reviewed by lazypadawan.
Written by a surgeon/professor at the University of Arizona who has been a Taoist for several years, The Tao of Star Wars aspires to explain the basic tenets of Taoism through Star Wars. The most famous example of applying Taoism to popular culture is The Tao of Winnie the Pooh, and it pretty much follows the same principle. The idea is to use something familiar to help explain concepts that are foreign to the reader.
The Tao is based on the Tao te Ching, written by Lao Tzu over 2500 years ago. Along with Confucianism, it is the basis of Chinese philosophy and culture. The Tao te Ching is a fairly short document at 81 chapters, as compared to say, the Bible. And so is this book...it's only 114 pages long. With large text. But there's a plenty to learn from reading this book, beginning with a short crash course in the basic tenets of the Tao and then several chapters discussing these tenets in the context of the Star Wars saga. The chapter on Acceptance is quite prescient of the conflicting views of death in Revenge of the Sith: accepting that death is a part of life or fighting it tooth and nail. Present Moment Living could be reinterpreted as the Living Force or as Yoda's admonition to Luke about never keeping his mind where he was. Other tenets like Humility and Simplicity represent the Jedi's best ideals.
Not only is the book helpful to those who don't know anything about Taoism, the book is also beneficial for fans who have a hard time understanding some of the Eastern philosophical/religious influences on the saga. In short, you can see where Yoda's coming from.
Since the book was published in 2003, Porter's analysis covers Episodes I and IV-VI. However, it's easy to extrapolate the ideas presented in the book to Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. And, Porter intended the book as a springboard not only for discussion of the saga, but also as the beginning of an exploration of the Tao.
