Path of the Jedi Episode #2: THERE IS NO TRY

It is beyond matter of opinion that Master Yoda is the wisest of Jedi. If there’s one quote from Star Wars that screams personal development it’s Yoda’s quote, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  In fact, this is perhaps the most cherished and time-honored (and most quoted) piece of dialogue in all of Star Wars.

With these two short sentences, Yoda single-handedly cracks the Star Wars universe wide open, transforming it from mere popcorn science fiction to the rich literary experience that it truly is.  And when examined in the wider context of the entire scene with Luke Skywalker, we can garner deep insights into our own inner workings.

Achievement.  Accomplishment.  Many of us have things we wish we could do or wish we had done.  So what is the barrier?  Why do we sometimes struggle fulfilling our goals while others seemingly achieve everything they set out to do?

With this quote from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is in essence telling Luke that there is no middle ground when it comes to making a decision to go after a goal.  You either commit to it or you don’t.

While it could be said that anything is truly possible within the Star Wars universe, one can argue that despite whatever constraints we face in this world, any and all goals can actually be achieved if we commit to doing whatever it takes to see things to fruition.  

So saying you’ll TRY is like saying that you’ll make a non-committal effort.  You’re unconsciously saying, “I don’t believe I can do it.  I don’t believe it can be done.  But I’ll give it a try, just in case.“

Did Luke believe he could lift his X-wing fighter out of the swamp using his Force powers?  Or does this scene from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back betray a deeper self-doubt that only the wise Master Yoda could detect?

We discuss this topic in Episode #2 of Path of the Jedi.

You can listen to the episode and read the transcript below:

Transcript: Path of the Jedi – Where Star Wars meets Personal Develoment

Episode #2 – Yoda: “There is no try”

[Intro soundbite]

I suspect that Yoda already knew this when Luke told him that he would give it a try.  And that’s why Yoda said, “No.  Do or do not.  Those are your options.  There is no try.”

[Intro music][Main podcast]

All right, welcome to Episode 2 of Path of the Jedi!  In this episode we’re going to dive into what is perhaps the most venerated quote in the entire Star Wars universe:

[Yoda sound clip from Empire Strikes Back]”Do or do not.  There is no try.”

Now before we get into the meat and potatoes of the episode I just want to take a moment and thank all of you for tuning in and supporting this fledgling podcast.  I know I’m only two episodes in and a lot of this is still very much the honeymoon phase, but I’m having such a great time and I look forward to continuing this amazing adventure with you guys.

I do want to give a special shout-out to Dan Z, Corey Club, and all the gang over there at a Coffee with Kenobi.  They’ve been incredibly, incredibly helpful.  I was messaging with them, just asking questions on podcasts and things like that.  They’ve been super gracious getting back to me.  Their guidance has been incredibly helpful as I navigate my way around this completely, completely foreign medium to me.  So, thank you guys over there at Coffee with Kenobi.

For all my Star Wars fans who are listening who don’t know or listen to Coffee with Kenobi… I mean I don’t think they need my help in promoting Coffee with Kenobi, but if you’re not already listening to them and subscribed to their podcast, please check them out – Coffee with Kenobi.  Incredible what they’ve done in this space for… I mean years now, years.  I think they’re going on 10 plus years, if they’re not already there yet.  So yeah, thank you to Dan Z and Corey Club and the gang at Coffee with Kenobi.  I really, really appreciate it.   

Also understand, this is just the second episode so I’m still getting my sea legs in a sense.  There’s definitely a lot more coming.  From the production standpoint, still very bare bones.  And things like the website are still being put together, the blog, social media outlets with Facebook and Instagram.  I eventually want to do a video version of this podcast and get that up on the internet, maybe get a YouTube channel going so that our friends in the Deaf Community can have access to this information.  So, there’s still a lot coming, there’s still a lot happening, still a  lot yet to be put together. But yeah we’re going to take it one day at a time, one step at a time and it’s going to be a fun ride along the way.

Now, to remind you guys what this podcast is all about: its personal development through the lens of Star Wars.  What we’ll be doing is we’re going to be taking quotes and themes and storylines from the Star Wars universe and translating them into life lessons.  Things that can help expand our perspective, help us navigate this thing we call the life experience.

I didn’t realize this at first but for those of you who are just casual Star Wars fans, some of this might be pretty deep cut stuff.  That said, the lessons are still going to be relevant and still going to be applicable.  It’s just that some of the Star Wars references might be deeper than what many of you have been exposed to.  In which case I’m ecstatic and happy to help you discover the many layers of this vast, vast Star Wars Universe.

That’s why I absolutely love Star Wars.  Beyond the entertainment value, it’s such a dense and rich mythology.  It can really serve as a perfect backdrop and reflection of our life experience that if we’re really willing to explore, can expand our perspective and shed light on things and help us see things in a way that we may not have seen before.  That’s why I wanted to use Star Wars as the framework for this personal development podcast.

So what better way to kick things off then with again one of the, if not the most famous quote in the entire Star Wars Universe from Yoda, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”

This quote comes from episode 5… I was about to say episode 2… Okay, so this is one of those things that even after all this time I still think of the original trilogy as 1, 2, and 3.  Obviously they’re not.  They’re 4, 5, and 6.  

This comes from Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back.  In this part of the movie Luke was deep into his training with Yoda on Dagobah and he had come to a point where he wanted to leave, he wanted to go help his friends.  But his X-Wing Fighter had sunken into the swamp. And so Yoda suggested that he lift it out of the swamp using the Force.  And Luke’s response was, well all right, I’ll give it a try.  And of course, that’s where we get the line “do or do not there is no try”.

What does Yoda mean by this?  On the surface it’s pretty straightforward.  When Yoda says do or do not, he’s saying that there’s only really two possible outcomes when it comes to any goal or task that you set out to do – you either accomplish that goal or task or you don’t accomplish that goal.  So “try” then is simply the gap between the “do” and the “do not”.  It’s the effort that you put in that determines which outcome you end up with.  That’s your “try”.  But then you have to really ask a question if the effort determines the outcome, why then did Luke after his effort end up with an unfavorable outcome?

Now we really have to start peeling back the layers of the onion here.  Number one: I didn’t say that effort will lead to a favorable outcome.  I just said it will lead to one of those two outcomes, and that is you either accomplish a thing or you don’t accomplish a thing.  The issue with Luke is that after having failed the first time, he quit and walked away.  He quit and stopped trying.  So it’s not just the effort necessarily, it’s not just the “try”.  It’s the continual effort if you want a favorable outcome.  If you want to actually accomplish a thing you have to try and try again.  You have to put in repeated effort until you get that thing done.

Clearly with Luke, he doesn’t.  After his first try, he gives up and he walks away and he ends up with a “do not”.  Now it gets even crazier because if you rewind back to when Luke says he would give it a try, you actually already get a sense that he’s not going to do it, that he’s not going to follow through.  When he tells you he’s going to give it a try, in essence what he’s doing is making a decision to be non-committal in his effort.  What he’s communicating to Yoda at that moment is that he doesn’t believe he can do it.  And of course this is that pivotal moment when Yoda responds back with, “Do or do not.  There is no try” 

When it comes to any goal or task, there really are only two possible outcomes: you either accomplish the thing or you don’t accomplish the thing.  And the determining factor really is as simple as making a decision.  Now the strength of that decision however rests entirely on whether or not you believe you can actually accomplish that thing.  In Luke’s case as we see it, he clearly did not.  And I suspect that Yoda already knew this when Luke told him that he would give it a try.  And that’s why Yoda said, No.  Do or do not.  Those are your only options.  There is no try.

After failing to raise his X-Wing out of the swamp Luke actually affirms and confirms all of this when he tells Yoda, “You ask the impossible.”  You see, Luke didn’t believe.  Luke did not believe that he had the ability within the Force to raise his X-Wing out of the swamp and that’s why he didn’t accomplish it.  That’s why he tried and then he quit.  That’s why there wasn’t a second try, that’s why there wasn’t a third try.  There wasn’t a continual effort until he achieved his goal because he did not believe he could actually achieve that goal.  

What happens next is in my opinion the most beautiful moment in the entire movie.  After Luke huffs off in frustration, Yoda proceeds to, by himself using the Force, do exactly the thing that Luke thought was impossible and he lifts the X-Wing Fighter out of the swamp.  And thereby shattering any and all of Luke’s belief systems around it.  

So, I think it’s easy to see why this quote is so popular, why it’s the most famous quote in the entire Star Wars Universe, why it gets repeated time and time again.  Because it reminds us of the single fact that we are capable of anything and everything that we believe we can do.  Do or do not.  There is no try.

And that does it for this episode.  Thank you guys again for tuning in and spending time with me here.  Let me know what you guys think, send an email to info@pathofthejedi.com and let us know what you think about today’s topic: “Do or do not, there is no try.”  Let us know what you guys think about the podcast, the format, any suggestions especially that from those of you guys who are in the podcasting space.

I would appreciate any feedback that you might have for the production here and for us moving forward.  And yeah also any future suggestions, any topics or things out of Star Wars that you’d like to dive into and examine.  I’d love to hear all that stuff.  Again the email is info@pathofthejedi.com.

Of course please share away.  If you’re enjoying the podcast, if you’re enjoying the show, share on your social media feeds.  I’d appreciate the help in getting the word out.  Subscribe if you haven’t already subscribed to it.  And give us some ratings and reviews.  That really helps us get found on the searches in the various podcasts platforms.  I’d really appreciate any help that you guys are willing to give on that.

But beyond that, just the fact that you guys are listening is plenty enough for me.  So thank you again.  My name is Ronnie Cruz.  We will catch you on the next episode where we’ll be diving into:

[Quigon sound clip from a Phantom Menace] “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.”

All right everyone!  Be well, be safe, and as always may the Force be with you all.