This line of thinking ignites me to such strong views! I do not want to lose focus of the topic at hand by being distracted into a completely different essay, suffice to say that my views on the Jedi and the future importance of the Jedi is so strong that I self-published a printed tract going into these topics. Luke is here expressing a point of view which I believe to be wrong, but his simply saying these things fills me with great hope! In a film whose entire basis is that heroes can be wrong, make mistakes, and then learn to become masters, this indicates to me that the future of the films will not only address the true mistakes of the Jedi, but that Rey will also restart the Jedi from fresh. The films can get into the true failures of the Jedi, which were getting involved in politics, moving from Jedha to Coruscant, then allowing outside opulence to reduce their own strong-points of aloofness and neutrality in The Galaxy.

We see that Luke has reconsidered his stance, reconnected to The Force, and sought his sister Leia. Upon waking Leia, whose own strong connection to The Force has just saved her life, he then quickly rushes to Rey’s hut. In this moment, it is my belief that the Luke we see running down the hillside excitedly is a Luke who will now announce to Rey that he wants to accompany her and join the struggle against The First Order. That was a sense which I cannot justify except in his behaviors, just prior to realizing that Rey is communing with Kylo Ren. I believe this realization has jilted Luke away from his new momentary intentions. I do believe that upon seeing Leia he has changed his mind, but his resolve dissipates quickly during a disagreement with Rey. Luke cannot follow. His submerged X-Wing has been scuttled, the S-Foils aren’t even on the plane any longer. From the paint pattern, we can see that parts of the wing have become the door of his hut.

“Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, essential to a Jedi's life.”

Making emotional attachments forbidden was something that Anakin completely ignored and considered below him. The Jedi did not have rules about not having emotions, rather they trained their adherents to live in a manner of personal humility and also emotional sobriety. This allows The Force to communicate it's Will, the will and needs of life around them. A Force user who exerts selfish needs is someone who will ignore the needs of other lifeforms and be a taker, not a giver.

The biggest problem the Jedi had to me was getting involved in Galaxy business. Historically separate and apart, they had maintained clarity on Jedha. They were more focused and knew what their role was. They were meant to train young Force users to be mature and emotionally sober adults who wouldn't use their abilities for evil or selfish gain at the expense of others. They were meant to prevent the rise of people like Palpatine or Vader. Moving to Coruscant, being surrounded by politics, tangentially involved with structures of governance, living in a wildly opulent manner, and involving themselves in the business of other people's life is what I see as some of their major failures. They lost their purpose.

By choosing to drag the audience along in the grip of our emotions, by putting us in the position of sympathizing with the wrong choices our heroes are making yet simultaneously making us a participant in the self-righteousness of those characters, The Last Jedi is forcing we the audience down the path of The Dark Side. We participate in Rey’s Dark Side journey and the film allows us to simmer in selfish righteousness during its journey. Is this an intentional effect of the writing and directing? It’s hard for me to say, although if I were to expand on the idea it would be natural to say that this movie is about the Dark Side in the way that Episodes III and V are, however this one compels the audience through their own Dark Side experience. It isn’t pleasant.

“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you see it, you'll never make it through the night."