First off, we ask you to introduce yourself twice.
We ask for a Journal introduction, and a General introduction.
The General introduction, done in the "Introduce Yourself" forum, so others can greet you, and welcome you aboard. We are a friendly community and we first enjoy greeting new people. First contact can be a little bit worrisome.
So, to prevent the first few pages of a Journal from getting filled with people just saying "hello". We ask for the other introduction as well.
The Journal is where all training exercises are posted. It’s similar to a diary in some ways, and like an exercise book in others. The purpose of this Journal is simply for you (the Novice) to have somewhere to post your work, whereby yourself, and potential Masters, can easily access it. You will more than likely continue to use the same Journal should you be taken as an Apprentice by a teaching Master. Some people continue to use their Journal even long after Knighthood and beyond as a ‘dear diary’. It is quite educational to look back over ones own Journal and see how they have changed.
A teaching Master is different than a Jedi Master. This can be a slightly confusing concept at first but simply put, the difference is this, YOUR Master (should you become an Apprentice) can be either a Jedi Knight or a fully ranked Jedi Master. So in simple terms, any level of Knight or Master can be a Teaching Master. Your Master will be your guide to Jediism until such a time as its felt your ready to be called a Jedi Knight yourself. The formal training process isn’t like school, or having a one to one teacher as such. The whole exercise is more like a journey, and your ‘Master’ is more like a guide at the start of this journey. Your Master ought to get as much from the experience as you do. It is by no means a one sided affair.
For this reason, it is very important that before a teaching Master can, and/or will, decide if they can help you, they have to feel for, a connection with, or something in common with, you. This is why we set these Exercises and use Journals. It is a way for Masters to get to know you, how you think and approach matters and generally view the world. No two people are the same and we all have our own personalities and styles. Because the training process is time consuming, and involves no small amount of work (for all involved), it is important no one's time is wasted.
It is absolutely essential that any work you do is your own work and done truthfully and from the heart. You may find yourself doing some deep thinking and soul searching during the process. This is quite normal and is part and parcel of the process. We know it is possible to ‘cheat’ and to copy work from others and elsewhere. But who is truly being cheated by this? Besides, the fact most, if not all, the Masters will know you have cheated, and even if this isn’t immediately evident, such cheats are usually revealed in time. So don't waste your time, or that of others.
The really simple fact of the matter is that nothing in life is black or white. Likewise for these Exercises, there are no right or wrong answers. As has already been said, the point is for you to tell us your views of the various pieces and thus give a potential Master a better understanding of you, the person. Your Journal (or log or diary) is your spiritual property, So identify it as such. In the New Member's Forum, there is a section called Journals (http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Journals). Go there, and to create your own Journal, click on the NEW THREAD button, give the new thread a title that will easily identify the thread as being your Journal, If your username is JediJim, call it something like ‘JediJims Journal’.
The easiest item way to begin is to introduce yourself (and thus Exercise I would be immediately completed). Simply, we would like to know a little about you and your background. We are not asking for your full life history and/or information of a ‘personal’ nature (or anything that would potentially be of use to criminals like full address, etc), but an outline of your educational background, religious background (if any) hobbies, interests, whatever you feel happy telling us about.
As a side note, if you are under the age of 18 years, we ask you to also drop by the Young Jedi League (http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Young-Jedi-league) section of the forum and say ‘hi’ there. It is so our Youth Officers are made aware of you, as well as other real world legal obligations the Temple has to fulfil under the State of Texas and USA law, If however, you feel very uncomfortable in posting this, then please private message one of the Masters about your concerns. This also applies to anyone who is worried about privacy issues and their real name. We can work anything out so don't hesitate to contact us.
There is nothing wrong in reading other people's Journals (as long as you don't intend copying them). However, its preferred that only those ranked as Knights and above, post in Journals belonging to others.
Many newcomers become somewhat disheartened by an apparent lack of ‘replies’ to their Journals from potential Masters. Be assured that your Journal will be read and digested by these Masters. But they wont necessarily respond to them. The reasons are many, but mainly, it is preferred that you post your thoughts, feelings, etc as they come to you. Sometimes, when/if a ranked members responds to the Journal of a relative newcomer, the wrong impression is given or assumptions made. This can, and does, lead to people changing the way they post, some people have even tried to ‘select’ a Master by changing their style and wording Journals in a manner they believe will get them noticed.
ALL Journals are ‘noticed’ and read. There is no need to ‘bump’ your journal as there is no competition. This ‘Programme’ does NOT have to be completed/posted in the order set out in this document. However, when posting, please do start each post as suggested in Exercise IV. Most people do in fact go through this course in the order laid out here, but this is really just an advised order and the order we (TOTJO) feel makes the most sense.
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Studies - Initiate
