Entry 2: The Duality of the Force, and What It Defies
All things exist in duality. For every positive, there is a negative. For every down, there is an up. A left, a right. The Force in no different in this regard. Even it obeys this law of duality, and possesses two parts: The Cosmic Force and The Living Force.
The Living Force is an energy generated by all living things in the universe. From the smallest microbe to the largest beast, the simple act of living creates this energy, permeating the air and reality all around us. The Living Force is given further strength by focusing on the present, and letting the instincts an individual has obtained throughout life guide their actions. Then, following the end of life, the Living Force is what enables a person to manifest as an incorporeal version of themselves, also known as a "Force spirit".
The Cosmic Force is the aspect of the Force that binds all living things together. When an individual dies, they become part of the Cosmic Force, and exist without time or age, as the Cosmic Force exists beyond the confines of either. The Cosmic Force is not only composed of the deceased, but is also fed power by the Living Force. Because of this, the Cosmic Force is more than a sum of its parts, and its power is such that it even could leave enough weapons capable of destruction on a planetary scale inferior.
The Living Force and the Cosmic Force, originally two separate and distinct aspects of Force, are brought in communion with each other by what has, in most recent times, been dubbed "midi-chlorians". The midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms, born within the heart of the galaxy in a planet known as the "Wellspring of Life", that enable the Living Force to feed into the Cosmic Force.
As time passed, the midi-chlorians spread out from the galactic center and into the rest of space. From there, they formed a symbiotic relationship with the cells of other living organisms, and inhabited those same cells. This caused all living entities to become connected to one another by the Force, and in turn enabled the Force to connect with them.
The energy of the Living Force made by these now midi-chlorian-containing organisms funnels into the Cosmic Force, and the Cosmic Force then enabled life to be made anew. This created a self-perpetuating cycle that, to this days, still exists. The Cosmic Force causes the creation of new life, life creates the Living Force that feeds into Cosmic Force and then joins with it upon death, and the circle is closed, beginning anew.
As previously discussed, the Force possesses its own will. It is through the midi-chlorians that the Force expresses this will to individuals and creates the path through the life that they may either reject or take. To be able to utilize the Force as a whole, in both its Living and Cosmic aspects, is only possible because of the existence of these tiny organisms, who have formed a bond with the very building blocks that compose our bodies and reward this with the power to control the universe's essence.
But if this is to be taken as true, why do only some individuals manifest the power to channel the Force? If midi-chlorians are bonded with the all the cells of the quadrillions of life-forms in the universe, why are only a fraction of them able to utilize the Force's power? The answer to this is, surprisingly, rather simple. The answer is chance.
Chance is most simply defined as 'the possibility of something happening'. If something is to occur purely by chance, there is no higher power that determines that it must happen, no endless list of circumstances that must align perfectly for an event to occur. But rather, chance is the pure, unbiased possibility of something happening, with it just as likely to have occurred, as not.
It is pure chance that answers whether two people, who did not have so much as an inkling of the existence of each other beforehand, will encounter one another and form a bond. It is pure chance that answers whether either of two cells, will formed via the division of one that came before them, will exhibit the exact same properties, or form a mutation that can either help or hinder the organism as a whole.
Much the same, it is chance that determines whether an individual will be able to reach out through the midi-chlorians and channel the power of the Force. There is no rule stating that only one midi-chlorian be bound to a cell. Rather, a single cell may have multiple midi-chlorians bound to it, numbering in the tens, hundreds, even thousands. The average number of midi-chlorians per cell within an organism's body are calculated and called that organism's "midi-chlorian count". The number of midi-chlorians bound to a cell, and therefore the midi-chlorian count of an individual, is determined by that same unpredictable and uncontrollable element that is chance.
From there, it is once the average number of midi-chlorians per cell reaches a certain threshold that an individual obtains the ability to effectively channel the Force, and use it to affect the universe around them. There is no true limit to how many midi-chlorians may be attached to a cell, though this number only determines an individual's potential with the Force. To become truly skilled with it still requires time, practice and effort on the part of the user.
However, while the ability to manipulate the Force depends on chance, and the Force itself does obey the law of duality in having both the Living and the Cosmic Force, there are still several laws governing the universe that the Force can choose whether to ignore or obey. The first of these is the law of universal gravitation, the law stating that every particle in the universe is attracted to each other by a force directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them.
Consider this example. A rock is lying unmoving on top of a planet. Both the rock and the planet exert gravity on each other, though the gravitation exerted by the planet is much larger in proportion to that of the rock. Yet an individual who can utilize the Force is able to lift the rock above the planet's surface.
Realistically speaking, the gravity exerted by an entire planet would be greater than anything a single individual would be able to harness. Even when jumping, the planet's gravity may temporarily lose hold on us, but without assistance, we are swiftly brought back down. Yet the Force enables a person to complete bypass this. Through sheer application of mental effort, and not even a large amount of effort at that, an individual can overcome the entire force of gravity exerted by a planet and move an object away from that planet's surface without coming into contact with it, even indirectly. And the same can occur in reverse—an object moving towards a planet with ever-increasing speed can be slowed down or even stopped through utilization of the Force and the Force alone. To those who can utilize the Force, size and mass can lose any meaning, if they wish.
Another law that the Force may choose whether is that of electric charges, known to us as Coulomb's Law. Similar to the law of universal gravitation, this law states that, when two particles are given a static charge, they will exert a force on each other proportional to the product of those charges over the square of the distance between them.
For this explanation, here is another example. Take two objects, one given a positive charge, and another given a negative charge. Due to their charges being opposite, the two particles would naturally exert an attraction towards each other, and draw closer together. As the distance between them decreases, the magnitude of the attraction would exponentially increase, until eventually the distance would approach zero and the attraction neared infinity. And unless an outside particle with its own charge were enter this system, the magnitude of the total charge would stay the same.
Yet the Force is able, again, to defy the laws set in place. The Force enables an individual to increase or decrease the charge on an object without adding any new particles to the system. This is done through either projecting the electrical energy at the object (e.g. Force Lightning) or through absorbing the energy into themselves in a process known as Tutaminis. Therefore, a person can change the total electric charge of system without adding any new particles to the system. This can lead to major changes in the nature of whatever they are affecting, especially if they are changing the total charges in systems such as, say, electrons orbiting an atom.
Yet either of these examples pale in comparison to the defiance that can be committed by the force in breaking this third law, one of the most fundamental laws in all nature as we know. That law is known as the Law of Conservation. It states simply that, while it can change in location, form and even type, energy cannot be created or destroyed. This law is essential to our understanding of physics and life itself, and to defy it would be to change the very fabric of creation at its most basic level.
Take the electric example previously discussed. If a Force-user were to create electricity, where did that electricity come from? Did it come from the Force-user, meaning that they decreased the overall amount of electricity in their own body and projected it at their target? Such a thing would leave the body's muscles no longer able to be stimulated. Our brains could no longer receive impulses to translate into information. If a Force-user is to project energy at their opponent, and that energy came from their own body, they would be left as complete vegetables.
And the energy projected or absorbed by someone does not come from or go into the environment around them. If it did, then the use of the Force within space would not be possible, as there is nothing in the vacuum of space to contain the energy.
So that leaves the final option. If a Force-user is projecting or absorbing energy and that energy does not come from themselves or the environment around them, then how does the energy appear or disappear? The answers is that the individual, contrary to all possible belief, is able to create or destroy the energy as they will, and therefore change the amount of energy overall.
But although we know the Force can accomplish all of these things, that does not answer the question of why. Or better yet, how. What is it about the Force that enables it to pick and choose when and which laws of reality it can obey and disobey? And by reaching out through the Force via the midi-chlorians to use this power, how does the user themselves remain bound by these laws even as they channel this reality-defying ability? And if the Force is capable of such feats, what composes the midi-chlorians that enables us to use this power?
These are the questions that lie at the heart of the Force and of creation. To know the answers to them could very mean unlocking the secret to life and existence itself. After all, if the midi-chlorians can be used to create life, what is to stop them from being used to create death? Or bring an end to either? And finding these answers is the quest of all who wish to ponder the unknown depths of that wellspring that is the Force.