The Potentium was the name of a sect of beings who had a particular way of viewing the Force as a whole (without its traditional division into light and dark sides). They also used the term to refer to the Force itself, instead of the vernacular term common to most of the galaxy—"the Force." Counter to millennia of Jedi teachings, the followers of Potentium claimed that there was no inherent evil in viewing the Force. They claimed that what others called the light side of the Force was actually just the Force itself, which was inherently good. What others therefore called the dark side was a perversion of the Force, twisted by those who used it. This belief system was originally known as relativism.
 
About a century before the Battle of Naboo, the followers of Potentium were expelled from the Jedi Order, parallel to the Jedi Order's treatment of Gray Jedi as "misguided." Yoda and the rest of the Jedi High Council did not consider them Dark Jedi, but they said it was the duty of the Jedi to use the Force to protect others, not study its absolute limits. The Council said that testing the Force to its limits would lead to the dark side.
 
The Pontentium lightsabers are relics of an old way of thinking that went against the grain. The wielder of this type of lightsaber does not conform to standards. Let us rejoice in the acceptance of free-will and dance to the beat of our own drum while wielding Pontentium!