To say this is one of the most important parts of the Jedi Code is to understate things. It is important precisely because it encourages the Jedi towards internal balance, calmness and peace with the world within and without. It is this ability to achieve harmony and balance that is why the Jedi have always succeeded in conquering the Mandalorians and the Sith.
The thing about Chaos is that it is always there, Order if anything is a passing thing, one might even call it fleeting. Times of Order pass swiftly as they come about, and typically signify a great deal of trouble for a lot of people. There are however two types of chaotic periods; ones in which everyone benefits, and where there is enough ‘order’ for things to be peaceful and for folks to contribute to a healthy age and in which there is an explosion of culture.
If one was to use an example, one could use periods such as the the age of Rome from Nerva to the end of Aurelius’s reign, or the French period from Philippe Auguste to the end of Philippe le Bel’s reign.
In Star Wars, arguably the ages of Odan-Urr’s reign and the two millennia of the Jedi Exile’s Order are two examples of such an age.
That said, a negative Chaotic era would be those such as the New Sith Wars, the age of the two World Wars in the real world, or even to return to Star Wars, the Old Sith Wars from Exar Kun through to the end of the Dark Wars of Kotor II.
That said, there are internal chaotic periods that can accompany external ones such as the internal struggles and difficult lives lived by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Neither of them had easy lives, but the key difference between them was that Obi-Wan sought with the assistance of the likes of Siri Tachi (his lover) and the likes of Mace Windu and Garen Muln to master his circumstances, make peace with his losses as they came. Sure he eventually cracked, but before Ep 3 he did a bang-up job making peace and accepting his fate even as he mastered it.
Kyle Katarn is another example of a Jedi who sought to master his fate, who lived an EXTREMELY difficult life (one that makes Anakin & Obi-Wan’s lives look fun), and yet he achieved harmony (with the aid of his friend Luke Skywalker & his wife Jan Katarn). Kyle did not let himself become overwhelmed by the chaos in his life, and sought to find balance and harmony at every difficult point in his life.
Another example is Luke, who always sought balance and harmony despite not being taught how to do so by anyone (save Beru).
Anakin for his part, was to let the chaos in his life rule over him, letting himself be thrown about and tormented by the pain he endured and chaos that took over. Never in harmony within or without, he was to turn and then require his son to rescue him and teach him harmony.
The thing about Anakin is also that he never truly mastered his fate, never truly achieved balance and was always a reactionary in life.
When faced with the choice of being proactive, or reactive he always preferred to react. Truthfully, he was never really a leader by nature, not even as Darth Vader. He preferred to defer to the likes of Jinn, Kenobi or Jerec or Palpatine. Following whoever seemed strongest or most able to give to him a sense of stability and joy.
This isn’t balance or harmony, the sad thing is that what this means is that Anakin was to deprive himself of his own internal strength. As it takes strength to take control of one’s own life, to test one’s chances as well as to entrust oneself to others. The key is to know when to do either of those two things, and Anakin never knew how to compromise between these things and achieve internal or external harmony.
Balance and harmony are difficult things to achieve though, so one should not be too harsh with him. Few are those who ever truly achieve this ‘perfect’ state of being. Not everyone is Musashi, or the likes of Tolkien, or for a Star Wars example Odan-Urr or Luke Skywalker.
And the thing is that the Sith are all like this; they are reactive rather than proactive. They react to the Galaxy around them, and seek to dominate it even as they fly into rages or seek to respond to the Jedi.
Weirdly the Jedi are the more proactive ones, as they seek to restore balance to the Force, to the Galaxy and to assist others, interferring far more than one might think. Idleness on Coruscant is unnatural to them, so that what Yoda sought to do runs counter to the Code and to the way of the Jedi.
The other funny thing is that Jedi since they seek to be harmonious and harness the strength of those around them, and wtihin themselves they can react perfectly with laser-focus to a singular problem when the situation does call for them to be reactive. But by also being the first ones to typically make a move, be it to seek out the Sith (as in the case of Obi-Wan & Yoda in Ep 3 or in Dark Forces II or Jedi Outcast), this enables them to set the rules of the encounter.
Psychologically they are always the first to make the move, egging on the Sith to attack, or to act in impatience, even as they seek to figure out a weakness. They are also the ones to seek to understand the problem, to find a solution and then to apply it. This is called being proactive, so that the Sith are forced in a way onto ‘defence’, even the Mandalorians are always made to kind of fight or war on Jedi terms.
That’s the thing whether characters acknowledge it or not, Jedi by being laser-focused, balanced and harmonious have always been able to conquer the Sith and all other enemies. It is why they are the perfect problem-solvers (see Obi-Wan, Jaden Korr, Kyle Katarn for examples of this trait), while the Sith tend to run into walls and break and prove themselves unable to properly solve problems (see Sion, Nihilus, Palpatine and Vader).
I've always been a supporter of the Jedi even as I became aware of politics and saw many edgelords larp as the Sith I could never get into it. Sure the Jedi aren't perfect and had grown complacent by the time of Episode 1. But they had a pretty good run a thousand years of peace is no joke. Any organization decays over any amount of time like that. Great article. Peace