What is TOTJO?

Guys ... ? :huh:

Is this the same topic ?

Alexandre Orion wrote: Guys ... ? :huh:

Is this the same topic ?

LOL I had that thought when I started reading the posts this morning. I think the OP has been lost amongst the chatter. I'm probably partially to blame.

Apologies.

Good lads ...

Thanks Pastor

Now that is playing nice. Well done.

Perhaps I should readdress the OP. My personal belief is that the Jedi have a larger role to play and I don't think we'll ever get there without more training. That being said, more training shouldn't be done at the expense of healthy spiritual support or socialization which fosters good relationships and stimulates educational growth. Everyone comes here for different reasons, searching for different benefits, and we should strive to accommodate them all, but I truly believe that training should be a larger part of what this site is about for the simple fact that we are imperfect. It's clear from interactions here that none of us are Yoda or Qui-Gon Jinn, and that is perfectly fine. We are a long way away from expecting that type clarity and wisdom from any member because we do not have the advantage of being trained as Jedi since we were infants. But to begin to move in that direction, the direction of more Jedi-like Jedi (if you take my meaning), we need more training to refine (as it was well put earlier) our abilities. We must unlearn many of the things we've learned from the world so that we can be better at helping the world. That begins with training at an individual, centralized level and spreads to a community wide level in time. We're at a good starting point. I think that this conversation keeps coming up because people are ready for more.

Oneiros wrote: My personal belief is that the Jedi have a larger role to play and I don't think we'll ever get there without more training.

Can you expand on what that larger role might, could, should be? I see in our discussions a subtext of trajectory. It comes up when we talk about Leaders with a capitol L.

What is this role? Where are we to be led? Where do we each think this is going?

Cabur Senaar wrote:

Oneiros wrote: My personal belief is that the Jedi have a larger role to play and I don't think we'll ever get there without more training.

Can you expand on what that larger role might, could, should be? I see in our discussions a subtext of trajectory. It comes up when we talk about Leaders with a capitol L.

What is this role? Where are we to be led? Where do we each think this is going?

It was put to me rather succinctly in a PM that "the majority of the worlds ills come from the things that we attempt to unlearn as Jedi. And I think that our existence contributes hugely to the resolving of those issues."

As individuals, we do good things and those good things are undoubtedly important. The smallest act of kindness and compassion can change the world because it isn't always as small as it seems. Giving someone some food can create a great ripple that truly changes lives and should not be discounted as less important than bringing peace to warring nations. But as individuals we can only accomplish one of those things. No matter your rank here, none of us could have stopped a man from walking into the parliament in Ottawa today and killing someone. Even if we wielded the influence of the Catholic Church we couldn't have done anything about it. Forgive the IP reference but the lesson I'm on says, "If you really want to help this world, what you will have to teach is how to live in it." We can do that, but not without being a recognizable symbol. We can give people hope when things like this happen and we can be a group they look to for hope and guidance. But not without training.
These are turbulent times. People are looking for hope and they aren't finding it where they used to. There are new problems rising that the world hasn't dealt with before and people are looking for answers. What might, could, should this larger role be? It can and should be a symbol of hope and it just might be within our abilities. But we have to train.

16. Jedi make a commitment to their cause and to humanity. Our ideals, philosophies, and practices define the belief of Jediism and we take action on this path for self-improvement and to help others. We are both the witnesses and protectors of the Jedi way by the practice of our convictions.

It is a great starting point to seek and achieve self-improvement here, on this site and on others, and helping people on an individual level is important, but there are larger problems and we are taught that our commitment is also to humanity.

Ah. I am beginning to understand.

We as a community are in the process of creating what that training will be. It will take time. I think we can do it. Again, I think of this process as a very slow boil.

I think we have noble goals here, but I am often reminded of the words of Robert Greenleaf: "The relatively innocent desire to help is so thinly distinguished from wanting to be the helper. But the latter is capable of all sorts of distortions: wanting to be well known as the helper, wanting to dictate, to paternalize, to manipulate."

Here we may have to disagree in peace. I think the world is clogged with symbols. I do not think guidance is lacking. History is replete with guidance to be kind, to be merciful, to be fair. That guidance has been routinely ignored, twisted, and made into more flags.

We should not lead. We should not teach. We should serve.

We serve where our service is welcome, and not where we are not invited. We render aid and safety where we can and the best example of what we would like to see in the world. The help we could render by control is water from a poisoned well.

I will do my bit to make the training in the community just as good as I can. And, hopefully, someone will take my work that much further. I hope that is true for us both.

With regard to the soldier in Ottawa, there are tragedies no one can stop. I'm sure no one here would have chosen that outcome. I lend my heart to all involved.