Critics have long been wise to this, from Roland Barthes to my breathless undergraduate essay about Thomas Malory and Star Wars, but this is of more than academic interest, at least to me. Maybe it's the way it recalls many Eastern belief systems. When Yoda says, 'A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. . . For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is.
Life creates it, makes it grow.
Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter,' I found myself thinking that, give or take the odd name, that doesn't sound too weird. Against all this, The Bible didn't stand a chance in my house. It didn't really speak to me in the language a ten year-old would understand. The merchandising was rubbish, for a start.