Mace Windu

If you dig Star Wars, I recommend picking up the Shatterpoint book by Mathew Stover. It's all about Mace Windu skirting the edge of the dark side to save his former padawn. Here's a quote I really liked:

"'This isn't about good and evil,'" I told him. 'This is about the fundamental nature of the Force itself. Jedi are not moralists. That's a common misperception. We are fundamentally pragmatic. The Jedi is altruistic less because to be so is good, than because to be so is safe: to use the Force for personal ends is dangerous. This is the trap that can snare even the most good, kind, caring Jedi: it leads to what we call the dark side. Power to do good eventually becomes just power. Naked force. An end in itself. It is a form of madness to which Jedi are pculiarly susceptible.'"

Something about this seems to resonate even on a personal level.

I also recommend picking up the Star Wars: Republic line of comics from Dark Horse. They're really well drawn and the stories are superb. In case you couldn't tell, this whole Clone Wars deal has me fascinated. I'm dying to play Republic Commando and I'm getting the next Clone Wars novel as soon as it's released. Awww yeah.

Oooh... last Star Wars thing... I got my copy of Knights of the Old Republic yesterday (I'm behind the times, I know, but I was afraid of the RPG elements... now that it was $20, I don't feel so bad). This is a kick ass game, people. Long, but kick ass. There's lot's to do and many different ways to approach your character. I've been playing for 5 hours on and off and haven't even gotten to the point of being a Jedi. The only thing I don't like is that your main character can't be an alien... and I suck at saving, so I repeat a lot of spots...

On a more serious note... I've often wondered how much to heart it's safe to take ideas in novels. I know that there are some really good novels that present ways of looking at life that don't become apparent until late in life (Siddhartha comes to mind here), but that requires faith in the author... faith in someone I've never met. I've always known there are a lot of things that can be expressed in words that can't be understood until certain experiences are gained, so does this mean until those experiences pass, we should distrust the lessons put forth? It's kind of a Descartesist (if that's even a word) question, if we can no longer trust our senses, can we trust experiences that aren't even our own?

I don't really like reading Descartes... but some of what he put out there gets to me.