Jediism Speech for Philosophy Class

Hello everyone, i'm putting together a speech for my philosophy and historical studies class where i can pretty much talk about anything i want. I chose to discuss Jediism focusing in on the aspects of the Jedi philosophy that take from Joseph Campbells philosophical ideas. I was wondering if you guys had any main points you think i should add into my speech, for i am still just learning and wrapping my head around all this new information and i know many of you have tons to say about this. All credit will be properly given and cited. Thank you guys so much, and if you need me to provide more specific details on how i plan to structure my speech i can post that as well.

Hello Ryan --

I admire your profile avatar, by the way ...

As it were, I'm not sure what you got out of Campbell that was 'philosophic', strictly speaking, unless it may be related to cultural relativism. And that, my little friend, gets really easy to refute.

Not that refuting is bad, the best philosophers are the ones that get refuted (or, at least they try) all the time. It is just that in your place, I would go with Watts or Krishnamurti. In that way you could come at either the materialist or dualism arguments from the monoist idealist perspective. But if you are intent on doing Campbell, there's a way to do that too ... that would be using a philosophical approach to what he actually did.

What had you planned on talking about ?

:laugh: This could be fun !

What are the points you'd like to address? I can supplement things you already want to discuss. So, maybe a mini-outline?

Alexandre Orion wrote:
What had you planned on talking about ?

Connor Lidell wrote: What are the points you'd like to address?

I'm working on putting together an outline and should have it done soon. It is however straying from my earlier topic of Joseph Campbell and seems to be morphing into a commentary (not sure if that's the best way to put it) on the creed. Thanks so much for your help, i should have more information up later.

Sure. When I see what you want to speak on specifically, I'll offer some comments.

So far i have this, about a third of my first draft. Though not anywhere close to being done and probably loaded with typos,I wanted to post it now to see how you guys felt about the direction i'm going in. Thanks.


“I am a (Jedi), an instrument of peace;
where there is hatred I shall bring love;
where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
I am a (Jedi).
I shall never seek so much as to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The (force)is with me always, for I am a (Jedi).”

Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace. Many roadblocks stand in our way in the pursuit of finding these qualities within ourselves. Our nemesis in the fight to achieve these comes from the struggle, within ourselves. Restricted by ego, suppression placed upon ourselves and lack of will to change,we are inhibited from walking the path of peace. Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace; as humans these live inside all of us, always have lived inside all of us and always will live inside all of us. The problem is many of us don’t have the courage to take the journey to find them. Within our lifetime (or lifetimes) we will all come to opportunities to walk whichever path we chose, though not many chose to plow through the monotony of our day to day lives, and reach for something more. A higher understanding, a connection to something more than ourselves. Not many will reach through the sludge and muck surrounding their mind to cross over the abyss into the light. Yet, “(even) Where there is darkness, light.”

There will come a time when it is your duty and only your duty to stand up for what you believe, follow your heart, live for your true feelings and follow your light. I want to stress that it is YOUR light and only yours, don’t let your parents, friends or societal restrictions hold you back. Stand up for what you believe and fight for it. To see the world without any silver linings, we must live a life of complete honesty but what does it take to realize all of this in reality? It takes focus.

Through focus i learn;
Through learning, I gain knowledge;
Through knowledge, I learn who I am;
When i know who I am, I gain wisdom
Through Wisdom, I find peace.

As it were, I'm not a utilitarian : I do not believe that maximising happiness is the highest good. I'm offering you this disclaimer, but at the same time should direct you to Peter Singer (who is a utilitarian, but has done some impressive [to me] work in ethics) -- So you see, I'm not going to do your homework for you, but I will show you where you can enrich your arguments :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPtYA0u5m70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR-tzgU07XY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVViICWs4dM

Or/and Martha Nussbaum :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbcGbflpFzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oir5YC3NW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocJ0zVmWMkg

Anyway Ryan, I proposed you these videos - of course their books are good too - but you may not have time to dig through lots of books.

We encourage questions - so pose some ...

I made a few changes incorporating some of the information from those videos. In this 2nd draft I tried to give a clearer understanding of what i'm really trying to say in my speech. I also worked to make it less of an aggressive call to arms and tried more to give a general idea for my beliefs, to lay some groundwork maybe for a more opinionated speech in the future when i have completed more of my studies in Jediism. Thanks for your help so far! I would really appreciate if you read this newer version as well.


“I am a (Jedi), an instrument of peace;
where there is hatred I shall bring love;
where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
I am a (Jedi).
I shall never seek so much as to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The (force)is with me always, for I am a (Jedi).”

Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace. Many roadblocks stand in our way in the pursuit of finding these qualities within ourselves. Our nemesis in the fight to achieve these comes from the struggle, within ourselves. Restricted by ego, suppression placed upon ourselves and lack of will to change,we are inhibited from walking the path of peace. Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace; as humans these live inside all of us, always have lived inside all of us and always will live inside all of us. The problem is many of us don’t have the courage to take the journey to find them. Within our lifetime (or lifetimes) we will all come to opportunities to walk whichever path we chose, though not many chose to plow through the monotony of our day to day lives, and reach for something more. A higher understanding, a connection to something more than ourselves. Not many will reach through the sludge and muck surrounding their mind to cross over the abyss into the light. Yet, “(even) Where there is darkness, light.” We can also find the bridge over the abyss through hatred, greed and power. When one can recognize these emotions inside himself then they are also able to recognize the feelings of love, compassion and peace, for one set of emotion can not exist without the other. Taking this into consideration there are no negative emotions because everything we feel can lead you further down whichever path you chose. Though, being able to recognize those feelings and make a distinct choice on that path that you chose is the true difficulty; follow your heart and believing in your choices no matter the consequences.

There will come a time when it is your duty and only your duty to stand up for what you believe, follow your heart, live for your true feelings and follow your light. I want to stress that it is YOUR light and only yours, don’t let your parents, friends or societal restrictions hold you back. Stand up for what you believe and fight for it. To see the world without any silver linings, we must live a life of complete honesty but what does it take to realize all of this in reality? It takes focus.

What is it for though? Why would anyone spend some of their precious time on finding peace within themselves? When the Buddha reached enlightenment he made it possible for his pupils to follow their own paths towards a similar goal. Through the existence of the enlightened being in our world it opened the doors for others to be able to learn from his knowledge. It only takes one person to reach a state of higher consciousness for that to become available for the rest of humanity to access. Why is that? Because then the knowledge is within the (global consciousness). A pool of infinite knowledge, revelations and peace as well as anger, hatred and power. All these things are interconnected and one can not live without the other. That is our blessing and blight upon our world for to know happiness we must also no sadness. We can only know the color white when we compare it to it’s opposite, the color black.

Through focus, i learn;
Through learning, I gain knowledge;
Through knowledge, I learn who I am;
When i know who I am, I gain wisdom
Through Wisdom, I find peace.

I like what you've got here, but for structure's sake I would suggest flipping two portions. Instead of reading it in this order:

"Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace. Many roadblocks stand in our way in the pursuit of finding these qualities within ourselves. Our nemesis in the fight to achieve these comes from the struggle, within ourselves. Restricted by ego, suppression placed upon ourselves and lack of will to change,we are inhibited from walking the path of peace. Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace; as humans these live inside all of us, always have lived inside all of us and always will live inside all of us. The problem is many of us don’t have the courage to take the journey to find them."

Consider reading it in this order:

Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace; as humans these live inside all of us, always have lived inside all of us and always will live inside all of us. The problem is many of us don’t have the courage to take the journey to find them. Focus, Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace. Many roadblocks stand in our way in the pursuit of finding these qualities within ourselves. Our nemesis in the fight to achieve these comes from the struggle, within ourselves. Restricted by ego, suppression placed upon ourselves and lack of will to change,we are inhibited from walking the path of peace.

How to get an A+ in philosophy class:
Stand before the class and repeat the following:
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(C'mon)
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters,
Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(Let me tell you now)
Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation,
Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna
Hare Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance
(Repeat 'til the tape runs out)