Michael William Bennett

The Way of the Force Michael William Bennett

The Way of the Force is an interpolation of the Tao Te Ching. It is as much an original work as it is derivative of Lao Tzu.

The way of the Force is a way of spiritual life. It is simple and straightforward. Commentary is superfluous. As with humor, if the way of the Force isn't understood immediately no amount of elaboration is helpful.

I have included eighty-one aphorisms of my own, not as commentary, appearing opposite the text of The Way of the Force.
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The Force is not "the force." A name is not the thing itself. The truth is nameless. Names are misleading. To know the truth, abandon your preconceptions. Truth and falsehood are the same, merely names. Right conduct begins in the heart.

Opposites define one another. We know pleasure in comparison to pain. We know success in comparison to failure. The way of the Force reconciles opposites. Make use without being possessive. Succeed without taking credit. When no credit is taken, success is incomparable.

If you credit the successful, there will be envy. If you covet possessions, there will be theft. Desire leads to conflict. Empty the mind and fill the heart. Relinquish desire and experience peace.

The Force underlies existence. It unties the knots of attachment. It binds the universe together. The Force is palpable yet immaterial. It exists prior to thought.