Ethics [Thursday, November 8, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin was quieter than usual, trying to shake off the feeling of foreboding he'd woken up with. He hoped it had nothing to do with the bachelor party he'd be attending later in the day.

His weekend plans weren't far from his mind, though, as the day's lesson made clear. "Love is patient, love is kind," he began, then made the universal symbol for "blah, blah, blah" with his hand.

He might secretly be a soft touch on the subject, but no one in this room would ever know it.

"In the Jedi Order, we were taught that in order to maintain proper distance, to negotiate impartially across our galaxy, we were to strive for serenity, not passion. To be proper Jedi, we shall not know anger, or hatred, or love."

He crossed his arms over his chest and glanced around the room, eyes resting on Qui-Gon and Jaina for longer moments. "Is this an unreasonable standard to hold someone to?"

Comments

Discuss!

[sith_happened]

Loving people is bad, bad, bad. Yes?

Re: Discuss!

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I can understand the need to suppress those, you know...things, for the sake of duty," John had a difficult time with some of these terms. "But to not experience them seems a little...unreasonable and complicated."

He tried focusing on that stop sign, but the concentration thing was difficult when faced with topics like passion in class.

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"And Jedi are unable to handle complicated?" Anakin retorted.

Re: Discuss!

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I didn't say that," John replied. "I'm just saying it seems a little extreme."

Re: Discuss!

[intraspective]

"Serenity would be useful while negotiating but," Ino looked indignant. "what kind of a life would that be all the time? It's totally unreasonable to expect someone to be able to just... eliminate, their emotions. Especially off the job."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"Not eliminate," Anakin corrected. "Move past. You take a deep breath, figure out what made you react that way, then set it aside."

Obi-Wan had only told him that about a billion times. It had never really taken.

Re: Discuss!

[intraspective]

Ino frowned. "Like, constantly meditating or something, to move past it right that instant?" 'Cause she could meditate, but... that was like, way beyond her.

Re: Discuss!

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"My brother saved me because of love." She felt that was a strong argument against the point of view Anakin had argued for, and not just in a personal way, for her and her brother. "Love makes people do things they would not otherwise be capable of. Like anger or hatred. Some good, some bad. Very human." She couldn't help getting some flashbacks from Miranda and the strategy the government had chosen to get rid of violence. "Serenity in the midst of the turmoil."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"Very human," Anakin echoed, nodding. "Jedi were supposed to be better than that -- above wallowing in emotional baggage. Properly trained, we can be seen as living weapons. Without control over what we feel, it could be a weapon without a safety lock on it."

Mace Windu had been fond of that analogy.

He met River's gaze, sending her a wave of reassurance. "Love can make people do amazing things. It can also set catastrophes in motion if the person doesn't care for the consequences affecting everyone other than their loved one."

Re: Discuss!

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

Living weapon. That sounded a little too close to comfort. "Control over is not the same as not feeling," River pointed out. If it was, she'd be in trouble. "Couldn't love be the safety lock?" She felt it was, to some extent. It kept her human and further away from what the Academy had tried to turn her into.

Everyone other than their loved one. Yes, she could see that risk, and for some reason her mind flashed back to sparring with Lee and taking out all her jealousy on him. She pulled away from that memory, not wanting Anakin to see. It had been innocent though, compared to what she had done in other circumstances.

Re: Discuss!

[solo_sword]

See, when phrased like that, on paper, Jaina would be a really bad Jedi. So would a few other people she knew, too.

"I'd say it can definitely complicate things," she said, "but I don't think emotions or feelings are a bad thing. Especially love. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be dead a couple times over by now. It's just that sometimes you need to know when to keep yourself in check to do what you need to."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"Keeping yourself in check is so easy?" Anakin asked a little sharply. He was reliving his argument with Mara in his head. "When saving the galaxy is a family business, you run into unique vulnerabilities. How many times has someone tried to leverage one of your brothers against you? Your family against a planet full of beings?"

Not that he'd ever done that last one. Really.

Re: Discuss!

[solo_sword]

"I never said it was easy," Jaina said, raising her eyebrows at the tone. "It's happened before and it'll happen again and I'll try to make the best decision I can. I know that being in the position I am, it's not just about me."

Re: Discuss!

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka snorted. "This is a joke, right?"

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Anakin snapped back.

Re: Discuss!

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"I think they're asking for you to remove your humanity, to make yourself into something you cannot be," Aravis said quietly. "I've tried. The soldiers of Calormen are taught something similar about love, that it merely hazes your sight lines and clouds your judgment, so it is best to leave behind thoughts of family, friends and wives when faced with battle. But to live without any sort of passion...how does anything get done if no one cares about things?"

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"You care in a more general way," Anakin said, suddenly transported back to a barge full of refugees and trying to convince Padmé that Jedi were really encouraged to love.

What a young idiot he had been.

"We serve the entire galaxy. We can't hold certainly beings more dear than any others."

Re: Discuss!

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"There'd be a lot of things to miss out on if you didn't let yourself love people," Gavin said. "And let them love you back. Some really good parts of life."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"I have a son and a daughter," Anakin said with a very small smile. "I'm not exactly the holoposter pin-up for following this doctrine."

Re: OOC

[jedi-qui.livejournal.com]

"It's unrealistic to expect anyone, even a Jedi to not have emotions," Qui-Gon said. "We're living beings, not droids."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

"But we aren't held hostage to those emotions," Anakin replied.

Re: Discuss!

[mrodneymckay.livejournal.com]

"Repressing emotions like that is a really bad idea," he said. Rodney was not the type of person to repress anything. "Eventually, it will all come out. It's better to release your emotions as you have them, like a pressure valve, than to let them build up until there's a major explosion."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "That's what Jedi do. Figure out what has made us react, then make it stop doing that."

Well, most Jedi. Anakin had never really gotten the hang of it.

Re: Discuss!

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"Many things are done for the sake of emotion," Kabuto said with a shrug. "Using someone's emotions against them is one of the easiest tools there is."

Re: Discuss!

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Which is why we try to nip that sort of thing in the bud from the beginning. It's harder to manipulate a person who has no attachments."