Romantic love is a complicated thing in the Star Wars universe. Princess Leia and Han Solo were flirty, feisty and largely off-screen and it was quite effective. Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker were confusing and clunky in their on-screen courtship. Rey, Finn, Po Dameron and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren are like everything else in the newest movies: conflicted, enticing, immature and on unstable ground. Overarching all of these love interests is the dogma that to be one of the Jedi Order is to sacrifice any personal relationships for the higher purpose of fully committing to a Jedi's purpose.
Precept 6: The practical Jedi is free to seek a life-long lover or be celibate as per one's own desire. While the counter-argument of rigid celibacy is understood in an academic sense for such a higher purpose, in the real world of the practical Jedi it's frankly not practical to live one's life in dogmatic solitude. How can one be humble, thankful, joyful and live entirely for others and yet close oneself off from the core of human contact and passion? In my own opinion, celibacy has been a weakness of the modern Catholic clergy -- a terrible price paid for a higher purpose on at best questionable ecclesiastical law. Certainly there are trade-offs to opening oneself to love, but while the movie Jedi has mortal enemies who could identify a lover or life partner as the Jedi's weak spot, the practical Jedi's partner is a living symbol of what the way teaches. Regarding specifically sex outside of a relationship, sexuality, monogamy and marriage, the practical Jedi Order has no specific teaching other than sex should never be initiated by force or by power dynamic.
From my own experience, a loving relationship has been the foundation of my own happiness for half my life. I might be lucky or I might have known my priorities from an early age. Your life could unfold in exactly the same fashion or much differently. As long as you are safe and happy, I support you.
Precept 6: The practical Jedi is free to seek a life-long lover or be celibate as per one's own desire. While the counter-argument of rigid celibacy is understood in an academic sense for such a higher purpose, in the real world of the practical Jedi it's frankly not practical to live one's life in dogmatic solitude. How can one be humble, thankful, joyful and live entirely for others and yet close oneself off from the core of human contact and passion? In my own opinion, celibacy has been a weakness of the modern Catholic clergy -- a terrible price paid for a higher purpose on at best questionable ecclesiastical law. Certainly there are trade-offs to opening oneself to love, but while the movie Jedi has mortal enemies who could identify a lover or life partner as the Jedi's weak spot, the practical Jedi's partner is a living symbol of what the way teaches. Regarding specifically sex outside of a relationship, sexuality, monogamy and marriage, the practical Jedi Order has no specific teaching other than sex should never be initiated by force or by power dynamic.
From my own experience, a loving relationship has been the foundation of my own happiness for half my life. I might be lucky or I might have known my priorities from an early age. Your life could unfold in exactly the same fashion or much differently. As long as you are safe and happy, I support you.