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Monday's segment ended with Luke "gazing at the horizon, yearning for who knows what" as he considers Obi-Wan's radical offer to come with him to learn the ways of the Force—and take his first step toward becoming a Jedi knight. But Luke is unconvinced about the eccentric old man's "damn fool idealistic crusade," when suddenly comes "this chance, out of nowhere, for more adventure and life than Luke ever imagined." That's where we pick up the story …

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There is the strange droid Luke's uncle buys; the meeting with Obi-Wan and the secret message from a captive princess; Obi-Wan's history and his own father's history; the strange potent something called the Force (the audience has already seen it operate in Obi-Wan's healing of Luke and Darth Vader's vengeance on a skeptic of its powers); and the possibility of leaving home to become, of all things, a "knight." That's a lot of news for a young fellow on an ordinary morning on Tatooine to absorb, and Luke is understandably wary. But, whatever reasons he has for his reluctance to follow Obi-Wan, they disappear when he returns home to find his aunt and uncle slain by the storm troopers of the Empire, who have tracked the escaped droid R2-D2 to this planet. Now nothing remains for Luke where he has grown up. Perhaps seeking revenge for the destruction of his home, Luke decides to ally himself with crazy Obi-Wan Kenobi.

So begins Luke Skywalker's long struggle: it is on one level a splendid martial contest, with light sabers and star fighters and plain old guts, but that is not nearly the half of it, as the audience soon discovers. For the rest of the film Luke will roam the cosmos, suffer many close calls, and meet a host of new friends; but no part of his experience proves more crucial than his decision, in the midst of the star fighter attack on the Empire's Death Star, to turn off his targeting computer and trust the Force to guide his natural instincts. The result is triumph, and a grand victory celebration follows, one that will be reprised in even grander fashion at the end of The Return of the Jedi and also at the end of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), which is where the whole grand story starts (the Jedi knighthood's discovery of a young Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father).

The truth is, as The Empire Strikes Back (1980) makes clear, what tentative trust in the Force's reality Luke has found at the end of Star Wars is insufficient to defeat the dark might of the Empire. It sufficed to destroy the Death Star and foil the Empire in this one encounter, but that victory, both spiritual and military, amounts to little when measured by the scope of the military and spiritual struggle that lies ahead. This is especially true of Luke's understanding of the religious reality that infuses his world: he has much to learn about the Force, especially its very nature, to which the first installment in the original trilogy offers but the barest introduction. In that film Lucas was concerned primarily with the necessity of belief in the numinous reality of the Force; that vital leap of faith allows Luke to destroy the Empire's Death Star.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas continues to push the necessity of that belief but expands his treatment of the Force to dramatize its essential character, elements only hinted at in the first film. This shows the Force as something other and more than mere force or supernatural power. Through the teachings of Yoda, the Jedi master who has trained Jedi novices for centuries, Lucas imbues the Force with a notably deeper and richer personality. It soon becomes clear—again to Luke's astonishment—that there is unfathomably more to the Force than mere power for human exploitation. The Force does not simply flow into people for them to use for whatever purposes, much like positive thinking's assertions about reservoirs of divine power that aid people if they simply believe in them.

The Force is far more than another weapon for the macho superhero to add to his blaster-belt; rather, it has a very demanding spiritual and moral content. Believing in the Force is easy enough, especially after witnessing its power, as Luke already has; it is quite another matter to understand and embrace—in short, to live—its deepest intentions. These purposes boil down to two inextricable components, though Lucas never uses these specific terms, no doubt for fear of making his script hackneyed, sentimental, or overtly moralistic. While the Force first counsels "faith" in the reality of its abiding presence and power, its inmost character is far more than power for human disposal. What it is really about is radical love for all things, a posture its devotees must take deeply into themselves if they wish to become full-fledged Jedis. Beyond all the blasters and monsters and space heroes, the genius and ultimately the lasting appeal of the Star Wars saga lies in Lucas's ability to dramatize the necessity, cogency, and poignance of this sacred existential posture in both the lives of his characters and the history of their fictional galaxy. Ultimately, the history of the universe depends not on Luke Skywalker's physical brawn, combat prowess, or strategic wiliness but on the extent to which he has imbibed the lessons of love.

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