The Empire Strikes Back

Special Edition Laserdisc Side 5, Chapter 29

Yoda is still training Luke, and things aren’t going well. Luke’s ship has just sunk into the swamp, Artoo is beeping excitedly, and Luke has just fallen to the ground from a one-armed handstand while balancing Yoda on his foot and causing stones to float in mid-air. Yoda, who has taken a pratfall with Luke, talks to him about unlearning what he has learned and how he should just "do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’" Luke extends his hand and the ship begins to rise; Yoda looks hopeful; the ship sinks; Yoda looks dejected.

L: I can’t. It’s too big.

Y: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm? And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life breathes it; makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminous beings are we; <touching Luke’s shoulder> not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. You. Between you. Me. The tree. The rock. Everywhere. Yes, even between land and ship.

L: <Standing> You want the impossible. <He walks away and sits in defeat.>

Yoda extends his hand, raises the ship from the swamp, and deposits it safely on solid ground.

L: I don’t believe it.

Y: That is why you failed.

1) Size matters not. (Definitely one of life’s great truths!)

2) The energy of the Force is "around" us. (But not "in" us? It isn’t "in" the land and ship, but it is "between" them?)

3) Life is the source of the Force.

4) Using the Force requires faith.

5) The human body is "crude matter" compared to the Force, which is either in all of us or in just those of us awash in midichlorians.