This exact thought was expressed in the concept art book. The production team stated that it was their view that Luke was an "entirely new entity" precisely because he was the first jedi to accept that his dark side was not separate from him: that it was a necessary part of himself, and that learning to integrate it into his person instead of ostracising it--as the Jedi do--was the key to achieving the "Balance" in the Force that had long been prophecied.
I expect Rey also has this ability, and it is why she behaved the way that she did. In the novelisation it was stated that at the moment she had Ren on the ground beaten, she heard a voice in her head which said: "Kill Him!" but she was able to choose to ignore that impulse and instead backed away. It was then that the ground between them split, not immediately as in the film.
I am personally very comfortable with this idea, and think that it is the only true way that there could be a real balance to the Force.
Same here. I always thought that "balance in the Force" -- especially in regards to how the PT Jedi handled it -- was meant to mean that the Jedi stop trying to deny their own emotions, and instead learn to process them.
I'm not certain if Lucas himself ever fully articulated this, but the way I see it, the Force is, to some degree, connected to through emotion and emotional states. This was why the PT Jedi ultimately lost their connection to the Force. If you look at the Sith and the PT Jedi, it's kind of like the struggle between unbridled passion and
denial of emotion, or rather the denial of a certain range of emotion (the "bad" feelings of anger, hate, aggression, etc.). But the problem is, if you cut yourself off from that aspect of emotional existence, eventually you lose the ability to feel the "good" side as keenly (e.g., joy, love, contentment).
So, the PT Jedi attempted to
deny the emotions by just...never feeling them or banishing them somehow. End result, they lose their connection to the Force. The Sith, on the other hand, are like little kids who simply indulge in every passionate whim, with zero regulation. This is why Anakin was so easily manipulated by Palpatine. He was this ball of pent up rage, sadness, etc., and the Jedi trained him to just...tamp that down or deny it altogether. In Anakin's case, that meant that it just snuck out some other way, to destructive effect. After this, his self-loathing, his regret, and his rage -- both with himself and his circumstances -- fueled his power with the Force.
In the end, true balance can only be attained by learning how to feel the full range of emotions, and still control yourself. So, sure, you feel rage, but you don't indulge in it because you recognize the harmful impact of doing so. But you also recognize that, unless you feel the "bad" side of emotions, you'll never be able to reach the same highs on the "good" side. If you don't know the pain of sadness, you'll never know the pleasure of happiness.
If this is how the new team is handling the Force (not in these explicit terms, but with this overall concept lurking behind the scenes), then I think it's awesome. I really, really hope that we'll see that more fleshed out in the films and other materials. You can even begin to do things like rehabilitate the notion of midichlorians by simply stating that midichlorians are force sensitive organisms that congregate as a result of intense emotional states, rather than entities that
create the Force. In essence, you treat the PT Jedi theory as mistaking
correlation for
causation. Likewise, you say that the PT Jedi were simply wrong about what the best way to handle the Force was. It worked for them...until it didn't. And when it didn't, it went spectacularly awry. To guard against that, you need to adopt the path of balance. There will always be those who challenge that, usually by wanting to indulge in the more passionate side (dark side), but the best path is the one where you allow a full emotional existence.
