Will of the Force

The Will of the Force was a philosophical concept developed by the Jedi to explain a course of events. The Jedi often invoked the philosophy in order to explain events of improbable feasibility or an occurrence that has yet to happen. Many beings outside of the Order likened the concept to divine will; a fixed series of events planned by a superior being.

Adherents to the "Will" concept believed that a Jedi should remain passive to the Force and the circumstances in which they find themselves, since "the will of the Force show you your next course of action". Proponents of the philosophy also followed concepts of the, which mandated one to live in the moment and trusting one's instincts since the Will of the Force guides one, and the ; it borrowed the viewpoint of ultimate destiny, one that was predetermined by the Force.

Historical perspective
The historical perspective of the Will of the Force determined the creation of this philosophy circa the time of &mdash;3,900 BBY. The concept was in reaction to the "choice" of Revan to return to the after falling to the. The belief that a Jedi could fall to the dark side and return permanently to the light was still a foreign concept and was attributed to as a pre-planned occurrence to eliminate the unnatural dark side taint; or the destiny of that being to fall in order to infiltrate the Sith and then destroy it. Antagonists of the "Will" believed that any being may be redeemable regardless of circumstance and that it was not the symptom of a plan.

The Will of the Force gained steam, particularly in the Living Force circles, in the following centuries and had become fairly popular by the time of the Great Galactic War.

Free will vs will of deity
The Will of the Force came into major conflict with the free will Jedi factions that believed in freedom of choice. The Will dictated a pre-planned path that a Jedi would regardless of any efforts to derail it, that the Force would auto-correct any attempt to do so. Free will camps felt that the destiny of a being was open to interpretation, citing the ever changing future and the permanent fall of Jedi as examples of choice. Proponents argued that the future appeared to change due to an auto-correct that Force was instituting to keep the Jedi on their predetermined path and that the fallen Jedi had been planned to fall, it was not their choice to make.