…In the words of Yoda, I actually think that puppet is on to something.
Is “trying” an illusion?
Can’t you only “Do”, then succeed or fail at it, or “Don’t Do” at all?
I understand that “trying” is sometimes interpreted as “Doing and failing”, so might this be a case of a difference with no distinction, but I’m not so sure. Maybe there’s some finer points to it.
If you try to fail, and succeed, what have you done?
It shows Yoda can’t swim.
You’ve failed in a very meta way.
But you can do without trying. Trying refers to intent. I did reach the height of six feet, but I failed to reach the height of 6’1", I didn’t try to do either.
The problem is that very few people are perfectly in touch with what they absolutely can do and what they absolutely can’t. There are things which I could (in an absolute sense) do, but which I haven’t the faintest starting clue how to achieve. To “try” in the common usage of the word means that I’ll investigate whether I can do something or not, but at least initially I have no idea.
Yoda’s starting to look like an ass.
A lot of people say, “I’ll try”, in not knowing what the outcome will be (success or failure) which is all fine and well, but in the end, they Did. Whether they succeed or fail at their intent is incidental.
When someone says they’re gonna “try”, to me, it sounds like a whiney way of giving themselves a back-door if they fail.
Yoda’s line is simple bullshit. It supposes that the universe is ultimately under the control of the individual, which it is not; it supposes that the willpower of the individual is the ultimate determinant of success or failure in an endeavor. But there are always elements of an enterprise which are beyond our control.
To quote another sci-fi icon: “It is possible to do everything right and still lose.”
Yoda is saying that if you’re going to do something, do it with the intent of succeeding. Starting off by saying “I’ll *try *to do it” is building an expectation of possible failure into your attempt. And the expectation of possible failure can hold you back enough that you actually do fail.
Basically, he’s saying “Either do something with all your heart, or don’t do it at all.”
The OP hasn’t convinced me. Normally I would say that he tried to convince me and failed, but apparently that’s out. So apparently the OP doesn’t exist?
I took that saying to mean that intent is not important. That is, what matters in the big picture is what you did or did not do. Your intentions don’t make a difference to what actually happened.
Except that Yoda acknowledges that are some things that we CAN’T do. That’s the “… or do not.” part. He’s not telling Luke that he can do whatever he wants. He’s telling Luke that, if there’s something he CAN do, then he should DO it instead of merely TRYING to do it.
I think most of the spiritual advice in Star Wars is stupid, but I think that particular line by Yoda is actually pretty accurate.
Except that Yoda is presupposing that Luke already knows whether he can accomplish a given task, which is often impossible to know, because Luke has neither perfect nor infinite knowledge.
I read it as nothing more than a criticism of approaching the situation without complete faith in your ability to succeed. The force is kind of powered by will, see; if you’re waffling about whether you can lift the ship, you ain’t gonna get the same lift as when you come in with faith. Presumably it wouldn’t be as literal of advice for things that don’t directly depend on the will.
That’s all pretty typical of how faith is supposed to work in other religions, too - if your will matters at all, you gotta believe or you might as well not bother.
Except he sort of does, thanks to the midichlorians and what have you.
In my case, I can try to shoot a basketball and I don’t know whether I’ll succeed.
To someone like luke, if they just submit to the force or whatever, maybe it’s obvious if they will or will not shoot successfully. Or something.
Point is, it’s a silly quote that might make some sense in the Star Wars reality.
Yeh, I was meaning to keep the fictional aspect of Star Wars out of it, and take Yoda’s quote on its own merits, as if it had any meaning or layers in our world.
Surely any rational person isn’t going to give any serious weight to the idea that intent will change the outcome. But Trying is Doing. Then from there, you either succeed or fail.
When you miss a deadline… do you say, “Well, at least I tried.”, or “I failed.”? Does your client or boss care that you “tried”? If from the outset, you made the conditions clear that the chances of your success were low to unknown, it doesn’t change the fact that your intent was to come through and succeed.
Trying is an action (you do try), but it is not required for action. I am not trying to emit thermal energy, but I am doing it.
I guarantee you that while my boss will be pissed if I don’t make the deadline, if I spend the entire time twiddling my thumbs instead of trying to meet it he’ll be even less happy.
Yoda was the worst teacher ever. 800 years experience training jedi when he was clearly senile and inept, he had. Episode II (which never happened) showed that it wasn’t his years of swamp living that did it either. Trying to make sense of anything he said is doomed to failure. When he wasn’t fighting astromech droids for flashlights and spouting gibberish he was actively messing with people. It’s a wonder anyone made it out of the Jedi Temple even remotely functional.
(Yoda is teaching Astronomy to “Younglings” when Obi-Wan barges in)
Obi-Wan: I need help! I’m trying to find a place that I’ve been told about, but it’s not on the Jedi Temple’s maps!
Yoda: Curious that is.
Obi-Wan: Even weirder, if you look right here where I was told to find it you’ll see that there’s a clear gravitational force at work but nothing is shown on the map! What could be causing that mystery?
Yoda: Very puzzling, this is.
Random Kid: Look idiots, did it occur to you that someone just deleted the entry in computer?
Obi-Wan: That can happen? You sure the two events aren’t shockingly mysterious but totally unconnected phenomenon?
Random Kid: Uh yeah. What’s wrong with you? I mean I’m 5 and that was a no-brainer.
Second Random Kid: Aren’t we a galactic civilization with even scruffy nerfherders flying around between the stars? There’s got to be millions of different star maps floating around out there. Couldn’t you have gone to the local convience store, picked up another map for like 5 credits, and have solved this on your own?
Obi-Wan: Listen brats, when my bi-polar, manic-depressive apprentice snaps and kills all of you I hope you go first.
Random Kid: What?
Obi-Wan: Hypothetically I mean. I’m just pointing out that one day we call him the “chosen one” and tell him he’s a prodigy and then dump on him the next. It may have affected his head a little. But it’s because he’s dark inside. It’s not like Yoda here has been turing every jedi into a psychological wreck for the last 800 years or anything.
Yoda: True this is. Fawning adoration and excessive indulgence you need. With insults and shunning to follow, yes. For mental stabilty, good it is.
Random Kid: That’s it, I’m joining the Sith.
Yoda: Hmmmm.
Random Kid: What?
Yoda: No judgements, I make. But S&M pederastery vibe, I got. Creepy it is.
Random Kid: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!