The natural order encompasses balance. Day and night, life and death, light and dark-each pair represents a different kind of balance. As a part of the natural order, the Force follows the same rules. The light side embodies peace, knowledge, and serenity. The dark side encompasses fear, anger, and aggression. Both sides exist simultaneously, but not always in balance. Sometimes the light side has predominance; at other times, the dark side dominates. When balance tips too far in either direction, conflict usually results.
And in conflict, the dark side flourishes.
Force-users of all light side traditions are warned from the very beginning of their training, in whatever terms they can comprehend, to beware the dark side. To give in to fear, to embrace anger, to relish aggression: These are the first steps on the dark path. The dark side dominates the destiny of any who follow it. It's easy to start down that path and exceedingly hard to step off it.
Fear leads to the dark side of the Force. When a person gives in to fear, he opens himself to anger. He directs anger at himself for being afraid and then unleashes it at the world around him as a way to mask his fear. The anger leads to hatred as the dark emotions grow more powerful and destructive. Hatred ful of hostility and animosity, sets the stage for suffering-the eventual destination of the dark path.
Any Force-sensitive being risks far more than suffering when delving into the dark side. More to the point, a Force-user who draws upon the dark side risks corruption and terible loss in return for the shortcut to power that the dark path provides. Faster and easier, the dark side is quick to give of itself, but asks a terrible price in return. No matter how well a Force-user is trained, no matter how steeped in the techniques of the light, the temptation to draw on the fast and easy power of the dark side always exists. And that's only the beginning of the danger.
