Deitism was the name given to a body of philosophical schools of thought that arose in the formative centuries of the Jedi Order. Deitists aimed to investigate and explore the implications of the Force having a will of its own. Dozens of branches of the movement developed, presenting a wide variety of viewpoints on how sentient the Force was and where the people of the galaxy stood in relation to it. Some Deitist movements argued that its interest in mundane affairs was minimal and that it had no conception of ethics as mortal beings understood it. Others claimed that it was interested in the affairs of lesser beings and that Force visions were one way that it revealed its will to them. Some went so far as to conclude that if the Force had a will, then as the most powerful and pervasive th