A Certain Point of View

In the famed movie series Star Wars there are Jedi and there are Skywalkers. Luke and his father Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader are two developing Jedi who learn to use the force to fulfill their destiny. The final movie of the series, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, shows Luke struggling with the task of facing his father, who was once a powerful Jedi but has turned to the Dark Side of the Force, now the awe-inspiring Darth Vader. To help him fulfill his destiny Luke receives mentoring from two prominent Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Obi-Wan tells Luke that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker, but Luke eventually learns the truth that Vader is Anakin, and therefore Luke’s father. When Luke confronts Obi-Wan about the discrepancies in his statement Obi-Wan tells him that it is true, from a certain point of view.

Blaise Pascal once said, “There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other.” Anaïs Nin put it another way, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Luke struggles with this same concept as he approaches the confrontation with the Dark Side. He knows that the objectivity of truth is subject to perspective. His father sees the Jedi as wicked, while Luke sees the Empire as the essence of evil. His destiny involves choosing a perspective. This trend of multiple perspectives is a common literary theme, especially as we enter the twilight zone of postmodern fragmentation, which shows the truth of an event through multiple perspectives. Truth, defined through the term true, means the actual state of things. This clears up nothing. Actual defined, means existing in fact, and fact is defined as truth. This looping definition confirms Luke’s confusion because as an abstract concept, truth is subject to interpretation.

Eventually Luke confronts Emperor Palpatine, convinces Vader to return to the Good Side, and assists in bringing down the Empire. All in a day’s work, for a Jedi fulfilling his destiny. Luke’s ultimate success comes after he acts on the truth of his perspective. Through the Force he feels that his father, Anakin/Vader, has good in him however deeply buried it may be. Ignoring both Obi-Wan and Vader’s assertions that Anakin no longer exists within the dark psyche of Vader, Luke reveals the truth and brings his father back from the Dark Side. Luke’s success depends on his actions with regards to truth.

As I near the end of my college career I often contemplate the truths I’ve learned about the world. Mark Twain says, “Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education.” In my college career I’ve read approximately one hundred and seventeen books about a variety of subjects. I’ve read old books, new books, French philosophy books, books about cells, books about planets, and books about people. I’ve even read books about truth and success. There are books about financial success, marital success, career success, spiritual success, and how to navigate success. The truth is that schooling is fragmentation because it splits the world into perspectives. We study the world through economics, history, literature, mathematics, chemistry and philosophy. Each subject brings a different version of truth to the chalk board. School teaches you to take something and break it down into parts to better understand it as a whole. It brings the frog out of the swamp and places it under your knife, and the wonders of nature are dissected under your magnifying glass.

Education is the world teaching you how to use your schooling. It provides you with a set of truths, how to cook an egg, prune juice is for the elderly, no shirt no shoes no service, and don’t eat Chinese food after 9:30; all this because conformity resolves conflict. Growing up I used to sit in my dad’s courtroom and watch the lawyers argue the truth of a case in front of my judicial father, who defined the truth pertaining to the law for twenty five years. I sat at the prosecutor’s table hoping that the defendant wouldn’t notice the small brown-haired boy with curiosity in every passing glance. I would listen to people who were on trial for violating the heaviest rules of a society obsessed with truth. Some were dressed in orange prison suits, with handcuffed hands and feet. Some were covered in tattoos, others looked like my neighbors, some were old, others young. I was afraid of them all.

In court the attorneys represent both sides of the issue. The judge hears both sides of the issue, and researches the precedents involved after which she makes two decisions. The first is called the rule, or the black letter law, which is a general rule applied to a variety of situations. The rule resolves the issue on a general level, meant for society as a whole. The second decision, the holding, resolves the specific case at hand. Sometimes the rule and the holding agree, sometimes they do not. This may look like a clean cut process, like cooking soup or making a bowl of cereal, but it’s messy. The research takes weeks, the language is exact and the explanations run on for pages. Truth merits long explanations and succinct wording.

As I prepare myself for law school I wonder how my perspective will change the truths we accept as society. How will I decide between two truths as represented by either side of an issue? If our fragmented sense of truth is valid from each perspective which one is most valid? I think of my father, with his judicial robes, and focused facial expression and wonder how he knew. I think of my schooling, the dissected frogs, the endless book count, and the chemistry lab accidents and hope that I can piece together the fragments to form some kind of whole truth that will give me a standard to judge against. I hope that I can link into some greater source of truth that will make my choices clearer, and help me to see which Vaders can be rescued. For now I can grasp the truth that other perspectives are more truthful than my own.