I will say this for the midichlorians (as overall a dumb idea as it was): it gives some meaning to Luke’s line to Leia in Ep VI, “The Force is strong in my family – my father has it, I have it, my sister has it.” If. as Ben tells Luke in Ep IV, the Force “surrounds us, binds us together, penetrates all living things” – then Luke’s line to Leia makes little sense. He can’t mean “my family is very attuned to the Force,” because Leia clearly is not (she has the one moment of telepathic contact with Luke in Ep V, but Luke initates that). So, I guess the “harmonizing”/conflating/making excuses for Lucas answer is that, while the Force is indeed a mystical energy field created and shared by all life, some creatures are predisposed to be more attuned to it than others by virtue of their midichlorian count.
The Force-bugs be with ya!
