You may not know it, but you're a Jedi - at least according to the thousands of people who compare their own faiths to the spirituality of "Star Wars."

According to the character Obi-wan Kenobi, a Jedi knight: "The Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us."

There are definite connections between the Tao and The Force. Yoda said The Force is everywhere - the tree, the rock - and binds all things together. The Tao is called "the Mother of All Things" and is described as humble, the giver of life, patient, and so forth.

Tao, often translated as the way or the path, is the ineffable, eternal, creative reality that is the source and end of all things. Te refers to the manifestation of Tao within all things. Thus, to fully possess Te, one must be in perfect harmony with one's original nature.

Take the scene from the first Star Wars movie, where Obi-wan Kenobi is teaching Luke Skywalker the "ways of the Force" on Han Solo's Millennium Falcon. Luke is trying hard to avoid laser blasts from a remote, but fails miserably. When Obi-wan Kenobi places a blaster helmet on his head so he can't see, he easily deflects the remote's laser blasts.

Luke Skywalker turns off his targeting computer to take a shot at the first Death Star. That's really Taoist.

The last battle scene when Luke blows up the Death Star is interesting too. Several deliberate attempts by the Rebels, using a targeting computer, end in failure. But when Luke, once again listens to Obi-wan Kenobi to "use the Force", he turns off the device and takes a successful shot.

But we won't go deep into philosophy. Instead let's think about this force in terms of its reality. What is used to complete the hardest projects, to hit the goals seen by others as unrealistic or very complicated? Some sort of energy. Energy of your mind. Energy that unites all living creatures and that can do miracles.

This energy can be trained by meditation, by mental excersise, by your life experience. It exists for you to use it.

May the Force be with You!