In The Phantom Menace, "the Jedi" is not simply an abstraction. For all its religious overtones, the Order is an organization like any other, subject to historical forces and, if we watch the film's Council scenes carefully, ideological dissent.

Episode One starts right up with two Jedi knights interfering in the Republic's internal affairs. Although Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi claim to be impartial ambassadors, the Neimodian Trade Federation has a point: the loyalties of the Jedi lie with a specific faction in the Senate, that of Chancellor Valorum.

The Council sent Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to "meddle" in the blockade of Naboo.

Does Yoda Ever Lie?

"Fear is the path of the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." -- Master Yoda

"Trust your feelings." -- Obi-Wan Kenobi

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The tyranny of the majority

Any organization without opposition inevitably slides into decadence, tyranny or both. By the start of The Phantom Menace, the Jedi are by no means tyrannical, but they do seem to be on the road to decadence.

The Council -- supposedly the most enlightened humanoids in the galaxy -- sits within the Order's enormous tower on Coruscant, keeping themselves at a physical and a philosophical remove from the simple folk of the galaxy.

The Jedi turn a blind eye to the existence of organized slavery on the Republic's borders until it suits the immediate tactical interests of Qui-Gon Jinn, and even then it doesn't look likely that the Council will work to free the slaves of Tatooine and other planets. It's none of their affair.

Perhaps the rules of the Republic prohibit it. But should secular rules constrain agents of the Force from putting an end to suffering?

If not for the fact that the Council felt the hand of the Sith in the Naboo affair, would Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan even been allowed to return to the planet? Hints of atrocities -- "our people are dying, senator" -- are too strong to discount. And yet the Jedi only get involved in order to ferret out signs of the Council's shadowy counterparts, the rival religion, the Dark Side.

Seeing your own shadow

Complacency of this magnitude carries with it the seeds of downfall.

By the time members of the Council come face to face with the true enemy -- in the person of Palpatine -- they are too intent on seeing evidence of the Sith to recognize it when they find it. The Phantom Menace himself escapes, unnoticed while Yoda and Mace Windu pontificate about the nature of the Sith Way.

If you spend your life retreating from the people and things you have discarded as belonging to "the Dark Side," how will you recognize them when circumstances force you out of your ivory tower?

The Force doesn't reward us for trying too hard. It comes to our aid when we see things for what they are.

Bred in the bone

As such, it's only natural that the Sith should rise to take advantage of a Jedi order in decline. The Force seeks "balance," as Mace Windu wistfully recites.

If Shmi Skywalker is telling the truth, the midichlorians -- particles of the Force or whatever they are -- spontaneously created Anakin as their champion. This suggests that the Star Wars Saga, Anakin's inevitable fall and redemption, may be less a matter of seduction than destiny, perhaps even basic biology.

In Anakin’s case the road to Sithdom isn't something that just happens; it is a virus.

Those who can't, teach

The path to the Dark Side is said to be easier than the Jedi way, closer to adult thought patterns and the everyday world. Sith masters don't have the luxury of stealing Force-talented children from their families -- the Sith spent centuries one step ahead of the Jedi, and caring for a baby would be a severe impediment on the run.

Although the idea of Darth Sidious with a baby Darth Maul on his back has a certain bizarre charm, it probably didn't happen that way.

Instead, if Palpatine/Sidious is any indication, the Sith are perfectly willing to take apprentices from the adult world. In direct contrast, the Jedi Council turns even the most Force-talented non-toddler away as "too old," too tainted by the secular world outside the Jedi lifestyle.

Is the outside world contradictory to Jedi philosophy and practice? Should it be? Does the Force surround and penetrate all things, or just those bits "pure" enough to satisfy the Council's rarefied tastes?

Serve the Force or the Council, but not both

Sith apprentices serve one master. The ease of Sith power lies in the fact that it is divorced from the formalized Jedi system.

In contrast, Jedi training not only teaches power but -- no matter how subtly or well-intentioned -- reinforces the rules and precepts of the Jedi order.

Jedi indoctrination demands strong teachers. Unfortunately, history will prove that Obi-Wan is not a good teacher.

Kenobi has just graduated to full-fledged knighthood himself when he takes Anakin as his apprentice. He isn't up to the challenge of training a student whose midichlorian levels put even Master Yoda to shame, and his rash promise will ultimately doom the Jedi.

Why, then, does the Council allow Kenobi to proceed with Anakin's training? Perhaps they expect him to fail.

Yoda never wanted to train Anakin in the first place, arguing (perhaps ingenuously) that the boy was "too old," too tainted by the emotions and personal attachments of life outside the Jedi, despite all those high midichlorian levels and ESP tests.

From Yoda's point of view, both Kenobi and Skywalker tainted as well by their contact with the maverick Qui-Gon. As such, it is easy to imagine that Yoda approved the training expecting that a weak teacher will prevent Anakin from achieving his full potential.

Branch Yodavidian

There is, after all, a controlling authority at the center of the Jedi web. We see it in Mace Windu's nervous sidelong glances, and in the awed tones with which young Obi-Wan refers to Anakin's midichlorian levels.

Ironically, the being pulling the strings of Jedi and Senator alike is himself a puppet, or rather, a Muppet: Yoda.

Qui-Gon tells Shmi Skywalker that the Jedi would have identified Anakin early if the boy had lived in the Republic. As any good cult leader knows, young minds are easier to mold to the cause of blind devotion, having no strong outside connections or habit of objective thought.

Yoda rejects Anakin -- and later tries to reject Luke -- because he claims the boy is too old to begin the training. Nonetheless, both candidates become capable Force users in their own right. Is the age problem a question of fitness, or control?

Having grown up outside the Republic's sphere of influence, Anakin missed out on the requisite pro-Jedi indoctrination during his formative years. He threatens the Jedi by having a mind of his own. Ironically -- is there ever "irony" where the Force is concerned? -- it is this mind that destroys the Order.

"Not again, Master"

Qui-Gon Jinn is a known malcontent. He has a history of defying the Council, and refuses to join it himself.

When he takes the boy out of slavery in blatant disregard of both Jedi rules and Republican diplomacy, is he acting of his own accord, or are the midichlorians working through him to bring down the Council?

Whether he is a true reformer or merely the agent of a higher power, Qui-Gon goes to his death unshriven by the Jedi sacraments. His body remains material. He does not disappear.

The midichlorians go on to guide their immaculately conceived pawn into breaking the Jedi stranglehold on the galaxy; the Force, seeking balance, dismantles the outmoded garment of the Jedi Order.

Unfortunately, in the short run, this process of restoring balance to the Force operates on a galactic scale, causing immense dislocation and the brief emergence of Palpatine's tyrannical Empire.

The circle is now complete

The fall of the Jedi is only the first half of this cosmic balancing equation. Anakin's pivotal role doesn't end with the elimination of the Jedi order -- it takes years to restore the balance of the Force.

Luke closes the circle of Yoda's complicity by agreeing to confront Vader. When he redeems Anakin, and his father kills the Emperor, Luke stands as the last of the Jedi.

Though he is now a master by default, Luke doesn’t have Yoda’s experience or ideology. He can rebuild the Jedi order, but his knights will be less powerful, and are unlikely to slip back into decadence for some time.

Meanwhile, the Force endures, now unencumbered by the rift between Sith and Jedi, or by the restrictions the Jedi Council imposed on its universal nature.

The true balance of the Force is a level playing field free of manipulation by any powerful leader, be it an Emperor or a Muppet. The nature of the Force is to penetrate all things -- Dark and otherwise, Sith and Jedi, profane and sacred alike.

"Phantom Heresies" will run on SPACE.com until May 11, the first anniversary of Episode One's gala premiere. The goal of the series is to refresh some fans and surprise others through pointing out the film's hidden complexities, culminating in a full appreciation of The Phantom Menace as ritual theatre.

Next: "Phantom Backlash: Has Star Wars Lost its Cool?".