Some have heard of a purpose-driven life; others a passion-driven life. But what do we make of those who have a fear-driven life? Interestingly enough, look no further than Star Wars.
After I began to seriously engage with classical education, I started to think that popular movie series like the Star Wars saga and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were little more than the human equivalent of lasers being shined to get the attention of a cat. (I’m sure you’ve all seen videos or have done so with cats yourselves). I had once enjoyed these films and would go to theaters on opening weekend in order to avoid hearing spoilers. I thought I would not like them much due to seeing the larger literary world through classical education. However, I began to change my mind regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe after artificial intelligence came to the forefront due to the rise of ChatGPT. I realized that Avengers: Age of Ultron is a serious exploration of the topic. I also began to change my mind about Star Wars after watching the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Why is that? I came to know an individual who was mostly driven to do things in life out of fear. If you can’t understand how this can be, then let me explain further. The normal person befriends others because he or she likes the others and finds some affinity with them. They enjoy being around them and talking to them. The normal person also seeks a job out of excitement and enthusiasm (if not for the work itself, at least for the money). And when a normal person enters into a romantic relationship, it is out of love.
But I came to know a person for whom all of these were distorted. The fear-driven person befriends people out of fear of being alone; the fear-driven person seeks a job out of fear of poverty; the fear-driven person enters into a romantic relationship out of fear of being alone on an intimate level. This was odd to me, and I never quite knew a person like this before.
When I revisited the Star Wars saga with the series Obi-Wan Kenobi, it made me realize that there was something deep (and something very human) in the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker and his descent to become Darth Vader. It was an extended exploration about how fear and love interact. His was a fear-driven life. Then I realized, this may not be that odd after all. Cigna, one of the largest healthcare insurance companies, commissioned a study that was published at the end of 2021 on the state of loneliness in the United States and found that 58% of adults feel lonely, with nearly 80% of 18-24 year olds feeling lonely. Mind you, this is the most connected generation with smartphones and social media. Ironic, isn’t it?
It made me realize that when people like Anakin Skywalker do things out of fear, it is for multiple reasons. It could be due to feelings of inadequacy, codependence, envy, jealousy, low self-esteem, and hatred (either of oneself or others).
The Origin and Destination of Fear
From where and to where does fear lead? A life driven by fear leads the fearful person to lie regularly, keep secrets, misportray themselves and the way things are especially with their life story, become torn between the different worlds they’ve created for themselves (this is known as fragmentation), have self-contradictory behavior (this leads to loss of self), loss of rationality, and taking refuge in darkness and self-hate (including intense feelings of guilt and low-self esteem).
Such was the person I knew, and such is Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga.
Anakin has trauma from his childhood by being sold into slavery and having only one close relative (his mother). His trauma is added to when he is freed and leaves her to become a Jedi while she remains a slave. (There is something theological here in that he is freed in body but is still enslaved in mind). Something good happened to him, but apparently, he was not able to accept that good thing. Ten years later, he begins having dreams about his mother (whom he has not seen or spoken to since he was freed) and begins suffering anxiety (the type that is clinical) over her. Now, for those unfamiliar with Star Wars, the Jedi are like monks: no attachments (property or personal), no relationships (familial or intimate), pure detachment [there is a virtue by the same name in Christianity mentioned in The Ladder of Divine Ascent as Step 2, but its origin and goal are different], inner peace and peacemaking in the community at large. But Anakin has personal and familiar attachments (and actively seeks to develop them). One would think ten years would have washed away attachment, but with him it is the opposite. He obsesses. It goes to show that time does not heal all things nor does it cause one to let go of things, only God can do that.