I kind of always looked at it like a kind of possession. Once you stray over a certain line, the m*******ians (we shall not speak their name) flip over into 'dark mode' instantly and then the partially "controls your actions" kicks into gear. The same way it didn't take very long for Vader to come back to the light once Luke's cries for help triggered him. I mean, Luke spent less time trying to convince Vader to come back than Palpatine did manipulating Anakin.
...that's a novel thought. But the midi's weren't in the OT, and would have to be retconnned in to both TESB and ROTJ after the PT for that to have "happened"
QuiGon said : "
Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you'll hear them speaking to you."
So the midi's are radio receivers of the Force, receiving its intent/will. Which lets you know that the Force is:
1) Sentient (it has a will, and can act on others to accomplish its will)
2) Ambivalent. Violence, death, chaos, pain, suffering, destruction as well as love, peace, patience, etc. are "valid" tools the Force uses to help bring about its will
3) Apprently, it is "male" in as much as the Clone Wars series would reveal the Force is embodied by the father and his two children (light and dark, female and male), and he struggles to keep them in balance. Neither side is ever supposed to prevale overall.
4) An energy field that flows through all living things, so it is omnipresent where living things exist, although not omnipotent
5) A fictional construct based on eastern theologies, used as a generic religious device for an entertaining space fantasy film from the 1970s