The Shades of the Force
Many religions and philosophies believe that there are different 'aspects' or 'sides' to the energy field known as the Force. The Guardians of the Whills believe that rather than competing aspects, the Force consists of five distinct but harmonious 'shades', similar to how visible light is comprised of many different colors. True balance comes when an individual is able to walk the path of their shade without falling victim to its particular vice. It is believed cosmic balance will be achieved when those who are colored by each shade cooperate, and no one shade holds a disproportionate amount of power in the galaxy.
The Five Shades
The White Shade: The White Shade encompasses the virtues of law, order, protection, honor, and justice. When the Force casts its white shade, individuals are driven by a strong moral conviction to provide protection to those around them. Those colored by this shade believe strongly that the needs of the greater good outweigh their own individual needs. They prefer methods of strategy and defense over revenge, but when their moral fiber is taken to an extreme it can lead individuals to become uncreative and autocratic with those in their care. Prayers of the White Shade are many times geared towards seeking the purity of justice, the moral fiber of honor, and actions that serve greater goods.
The Green Shade: The Green Shade is expressed in the tenacity of growth and life. With regards to the living, those following the Green Shade favor natural order, community, and consistent personal growth. They place a high value on cultivating strength that is instinctual and adaptive. When prayers are sent to the Green Shade, one calls for strength, growth, and connection to the Living Force. The Green Shade encourages individuals to live in the moment and to make the most of their natural strengths and insight, but they often face the temptation to become shortsighted or predatory.
The Red Shade: The Red Shade is the embodiment of fury, passion, emotion, and impulse. Those colored by the Red Shade are known to be driven by their strong emotions, value the freedom, and believe in the power of the individual. Often preferring an offensive approach to life, those in which the Red Shade falls on tend to be dynamic and unbound, but sometimes being blinded by their own righteous rage. Prayers to the Red Shade are often for power and for dynamic action.
The Blue Shade: Expressing itself through the acquisition and usage of knowledge, the Blue Shade can be easily become manipulative, overly logical, and deceitful, but with patience and guidance it is also a subtle way to power. Followers of the Blue Shade value a person's intellect, their ability to be creative, and progressive. Those colored by this shade often pursue scientific or technological progress, scholastic discovery, or careers in politics. Choosing to employee secrecy and schemes, Adherents need to be mindful that they do not become overly manipulative and treacherous in pursuit of this shade. Prayers sent to the Blue Shade ask for both knowledge and wisdom.
The Black Shade: Never has there been a shade of the Force that is so loved and hated as the Black. Devotees of this shade love power over others, but often forget the price that is paid for such power. The Black Shade utilizes fear, ambition, and death. The Black Shade often cause those colored by it to be ambitious and unashamed, but the momentum of such ambition often carries the adherent in direction they did not itend to go. One can not serve the darkness without the taint of death, decay, and corruption being ever-present. However, as hated and or feared as it is, there can not be light without darkness, or life without death. Prayers to the Black Shade seek dominion, arcane knowledge, and needs of those praying in all matters of fear and death.
Relationship of the Shades
The Guardians teach that while each individual is colored by a certain shade of the force, they can also naturally be pulled toward another shade. In other words, each shade is a swatch of wavelengths that exist on a spectrum. To illustrate this, they visualize the force as a flower with five pedals which overlap with those nearest it. Each pedal represents a shade of the Force, and they proceed in this order: White, Green, Red, Black, and Blue. So someone colored by the Red shade may also feel an affinity with the Green or Black shade, but not normally the Blue or White shades. Likewise, a devotee of the Blue shade may walk closer to the Black or White shade, but normally not the Green or Red shade. Therefore, the shades may be thought of more of general descriptions of one's journey and relationship with the Force, not a prescription of how to follow that path.
Because the shades are description and not prescriptive, it is not expected that an individual will remain within one shade for their entire lives. While an individual may not move through all the shades and mastery is not associated with ascending through them all, it is fully possible that as one's relationship with or perception of the Force changes, their journey will become colored by a different shade of the Force. Normally this transformation will still follow the order of the adjacent petals.
Many Guardians have borrowed a belief from the Church of Reansucru that beyond their relationship on a circular continuum, some of the shades may be opposite sides of one another. Devotees of the Church of Reansucru believe in three Force-related deities called The Ones: the Father, the Son, and the Daughter. The Father represents balance, and is associated with the White Shade. The Son represents what is normally thought of as the 'dark' side, and is associated with the Black and Blue Shades. The Daughter, then, is represents the 'light' side and is associated with the Green and Red Shades. This system clearly gives primacy to the White Shade, but it brings out the close relationships between the Blue/Black and Green/Red Shades. Both the Blue and Black Shades are outwardly focused. Their gifts lend themselves to guidance and leadership of others- Blue more subtly than Black. Both shades' vices, however, predispose them toward manipulation (blue) and tyranny (black). on the other hand, both the Green and Red Shades are inwardly focused, prioritizing the desire for control of the self over control of others. While the Green looks to receive power from without ( guidance of the Living Force, natural order of the galaxy) the Red looks for power from within (anger, fury, emotions). They both lend themselves towards a wise and disciplined lifestyle, but without care and training can easily fall into shortsighted aloofness (green) or shortsighted rage (red). While some of the Guardians of the Whills associate The Ones with the Whills, most do not give primacy to the White Shade or see the shades in conflict with one another, as the Son/Daughter duality implies.
