Star Wars has captured the hearts and minds of countless people for over four decades.
Even those not versed in the Star Wars universe have likely heard of lightsabers, the Jedi, Ewoks, R2D2, and Darth Vader.
This is the first of three posts examining facets of the Star Wars universe through the lens of coaching.
It focuses on Anakin Skywalker, lauded Jedi who fell from the path of the light to become possibly the most notorious villain ever: Darth Vader! (“Vader” is Dutch for “father,” and yet no one predicted the infamous plot twist in The Empire Strikes Back…).
I believe his journey into darkness could have been avoided had his Jedi mentors possessed life coaching skills. Yes, one of our greatest stories of all time—the tragedy, the drama—stems from a lack of a well-trained life coach! Read below to find out why!
The Chosen One? This Guy?
Anakin Skywalker was labeled as the “chosen one,” prophesized to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith, sworn enemies of the Jedi.
Yes, this guy. Who hates sand because it’s course, of coarse.
Interestingly, the Jedi always seemed to think that balancing the Force meant bolstering the light side even when they were in power (egocentric much?). How is destroying half of the Force supposed to bring balance?
Shortsightedness aside—
Actually, Let's Stay With This
Oh, okay. I’ll dive into this more in a later post, so I’ll be brief here.
The Jedi lived by a code that promoted peace, harmony, and justice, but also the denial of self, emotions, and forming attachments. They believed the latter pulled them away from serving the will of the Force and towards acting on passion and selfishness, core tenets of the Sith.
Rather than embracing their myriad emotions, they do what most of us do and try to focus only those emotions they want to (or think they should) feel. However, by denying themselves feeling everything, they stifle their own development and emotional maturity.
The point is to feel all the feelings and understand that doing so is part of the human (or whatever the PC term is for all the species in Star Wars) experience. This is the only way to come to terms with these emotions and not let them control you.
Teach You I Will
So how does this apply to Anakin?
Before we proceed further, here’s a basic primer on Anakin’s life to give you some context. Oh, I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT for Episodes I – III of the Star Wars saga.
- He was conceived without a father and possessed an uncanny ability to wield the Force, thus raising eyebrows that he was the “chosen one.”
- He was discovered at an older age than typical for training in the Jedi way, and had formed a strong attachment to his mother (remember, the Jedi frown at attachments).
- He was a slave whose freedom was secured by the Jedi who wanted to train him; his mother was left in slavery at the time.
- His mother was later murdered in a raid and he felt powerless to save her despite having “power” as a Force wielder.
- He exacted revenge upon the raiders, wiping out an entire settlement.
- He fell in love; protecting his love interest from death became his obsession.
- The Sith Lord Palpatine (soon to become everyone’s favorite emperor) convinced him that he had learned how to cheat death and could share this knowledge with Anakin so that Anakin could save his love.
- He betrayed the Jedi, protected Palpatine by killing many of his Jedi brethren, and became the Sith second in command as Palpatine ascended to power.
- Oh, and the love of his life died during childbirth while he himself was recuperating from losing three limbs, suffering severe burns over most of his body, and being placed into the menacing, masked life support suit complete with the scary helmet and sweet James Earl Jones voice modulator we all know and love.
The tragedy of it all gets me every time.
After assuming the mantle of Darth Vader, he became the most feared being in the galaxy and committed untold atrocities in the name of the Empire.
Obviously, other than a full psychiatric evaluation and a few life sentences in a high security penitentiary, Anakin really could have used a life coach!
Oops, We Chose the Wrong One
The Jedi like to point out that Anakin turned to the dark side because he was too old when he started training and was too attached to his mother. While those may be true to some degree, I’d posit that the Jedi lost him because their unwavering code stymied his emotional growth and their ability to help him.
I’ll write a more in-depth piece on the failings of the Jedi in the future, suffice it to say: had they provided some wiggle room in their absolutist beliefs and truly helped Anakin process his troubling thoughts and pain, then things may have turned out differently for that galaxy far far away. Just sayin’.
He'll Figure It Out, Right?
Instead, the Jedi, including Master Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi, who was tasked with training Anakin, offered him half-pearls of wisdom such as:
“Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin. They’ll betray you.”
What the hell, Obi Wan!? What is he supposed to do with that? Become paranoid that his thoughts are out to get him!? C’mon!
Everyone gave Anakin the first half of something useful, but no one taught him how to self-coach. Sort of like Ron Burgundy saying “When in Rome…” but not knowing the rest of the phrase.
At least Obi Wan gets it.
I should note that Anakin was only 22 years old when he turned to the dark side; his prefrontal cortex hadn’t even fully developed! All the more reason he needed better mentorship and guidance, instead of being left to figure it out on his own.
Send the Pain Below
Anakin tried to bury thoughts that clashed with how he thought he was supposed to think. This avoidance caused his pain to fester, as Brooke Castillo (Master Life Coach Instructor), would say. Brooke would further elaborate that the more he avoided his pain, the more he had to avoid it, worsening the pain.
Avoiding negative thoughts and not exploring them with curiosity unleashed within Anakin a whole host of negative emotions including shame. These further made him feel inadequate and out of place as a Jedi, creating distance between him and the other Jedi. The more he experienced these emotions, the larger this distance became.
It was within this space that the dark side took hold and eventually consumed him.
There Is Always a Better Way
But what if things were different? What if Obi Wan was not only a Jedi, but a life coach? Better still, what if the Jedi adjusted their philosophy to create space for conflicting thoughts instead of creating shame (even if unintentionally) around them?
Well, this is my post so I can let my imagination run wild. I acknowledge that Anakin would also benefit from a therapist, like for real, but I will focus on the coaching aspects here.
Master Jedi Coach
Obi Wan and the Jedi needed to teach Anakin how to process his pain. Put the lightsabers down for one second and teach him this invaluable skill!
If he could experience his pain on purpose, then he would see that the pain itself was actually harmless. The same holds true for other negative emotions like shame and doubt.
If he could realize no harm would come from feeling those feelings, then he could have learned to sit with and witness them without trying to purge or avoid them. He would be in control.
Anakin needed to hear that life is 50/50—there are both good and bad elements and feelings in life, and both need to be embraced for a full life. The negative can be present and we can accept it. When we resist the negative, we create more negative.
If he could have been fully present with the negative part of his life—the shame, doubt, misery, self-loathing—then he could have authority over it, and not let it control him and ultimately lead to the evil decisions he makes.
Your Thoughts Betray You, So Chose Better Ones
A coach could show Anakin that his thoughts create his feelings and not the circumstances he blames. (In fact, his thoughts do betray him). But instead of stopping there, the coach could show him how to create the results he wants by thinking more useful thoughts.
Separately, Anakin also relies on arrival fallacies on numerous occasions including (paraphrasing him on his behalf):
- When I join the Jedi Council, I’ll have their full respect.
- When I’m a Jedi Master, I’ll have the power to save Padme (his love interest).
- (And later) When I pledge myself to the Sith, I’ll have the power to save Padme.
As you can see, these are limiting beliefs about being good enough in some way. By believing these beliefs, Anakin constrains himself from actually manifesting them (i.e., gaining the respect and having the power).
This results, for example, in him feeling him disempowered and doubting his ability to save Padme on his current trajectory, causing him to seek shortcuts and alternatives—an easy set-up for seduction to the dark side.
All told, Anakin could have benefited from life coaching. Such thought work could have helped him unpack his conflicting thoughts, taught him to give himself permission to feel the negative, and empowered him to nurture the mindset required to achieve the results he wanted (e.g. protecting his love).
I hope you enjoyed my somewhat tongue-in-cheek examination into the mindset of Darth Vader, and where intervention may have changed (fictional) history, and made for a far more boring story! Let me know your thoughts below in the comments section.
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