if someone actually built a temple dedicated to the teachings of jedism and the practices would you.

Alethea Thompson wrote: What the previous three individuals said.

Anyways, even if you asked me to try it temporarily I wouldn't do it. I'm not into communal living beyond it's purpose for something like a summer camp or Basic Training. If you were to tell me it was a training facility and I was going to train on a specific type of job, or I was sending my kids there for a legit summer camping experience, I might go for it. But it would have to be highly organized.

I'm sure it would be possible to come up with a highly organized program which dictates what you must do every minute of the day. We could even make a special badge for people who want to be identified as "not into communal living". Sounds like fun to me!

What exactly are the practices of jediism? So far all I've seen is the weekly sermons, meditation, and the apprentice+master training. So what exactly would the templers do when not involved in these activities?

I think it would be way better to put a temple in a tropical region. Then you could put in a pool and go swimming, eat good fruit, make pina coladas, etc. Then go swing from trees in the jungle followed by a mountain bike ride up the mountains, and topped off with herbal foods and drinks to ward off cancer, etc. Go to the beach and learn to surf... oops I mean watch the ocean for people who need rescuing, hehe.

You could call this swimming "water therapy".
Call eating fruit "cleansing diet".
Call swinging from trees "rainforest canopy tour".
Call riding a bike "spinning cardo workout"
Call herbal foods/drinks "homeopathic medicine"
Call surfing "balance training" or "lifeguard training".

It would cost you like $15k to get some land in South or Central America and another $10k to get the infrastructure to live there. I'm pretty sure the food just grows on trees and electricity is reasonable so you can have your iPad, lol. If you opened up to the public and charged for all that stuff I just mentioned you could probably make a go of it. Just saying.

Or you can take the blue pill and you'll wake up tomorrow in your flat in a city, go to your job, and believe whatever you want to believe.

I wouldn't call it accessible. To live like this you have to put up with mayors smashing your belongings with sledgehammers, people calling you a bum, police harassment, etc. You'd be lucky to get through 1 week without being murdered or locked in a cage.

Not really. Many people live off-grid without such stigmas, and also dont have to resort to dumpster diving, which I doubt you actually do.

Living off-grid requires a good deal of work though, it is in essence, a job in itself.

How do you water your garden now? A hose? Sprinkler? Tap water, etc? How about if you had to trek for a good deal of time back and forth for the water, collect rainwater, hoping, and relying on the weather, and that is just one time consuming aspect of what it takes to live off grid.

I am wondering, how you pay your internet and electricity bills without a job, or intend to.

Unless your somehow living with your parents, or leeching some other way off of someone else with a job, etc, paying those bills.

Or, even if you did go dumpster diving, how you ignore the fact your still dependent upon those with jobs to provide for you food, golf clubs( people get paid to make those, and someone with a job paid for, and later decided to throw them out.)

Your more dependent upon the current system than those with jobs by the sound of it.

Without it, I wonder how well you would actually do.

You talk alot, but I dont see alot of commitment from the lifestyle you apparently advocate.

Khaos wrote:

I wouldn't call it accessible. To live like this you have to put up with mayors smashing your belongings with sledgehammers, people calling you a bum, police harassment, etc. You'd be lucky to get through 1 week without being murdered or locked in a cage.

Not really. Many people live off-grid without such stigmas, and also dont have to resort to dumpster diving, which I doubt you actually do.

Living off-grid requires a good deal of work though, it is in essence, a job in itself.

How do you water your garden now? A hose? Sprinkler? Tap water, etc? How about if you had to trek for a good deal of time back and forth for the water, collect rainwater, hoping, and relying on the weather, and that is just one time consuming aspect of what it takes to live off grid.

I am wondering, how you pay your internet and electricity bills without a job, or intend to.

Unless your somehow living with your parents, or leeching some other way off of someone else with a job, etc, paying those bills.

Or, even if you did go dumpster diving, how you ignore the fact your still dependent upon those with jobs to provide for you food, golf clubs( people get paid to make those, and someone with a job paid for, and later decided to throw them out.)

Your more dependent upon the current system than those with jobs by the sound of it.

Without it, I wonder how well you would actually do.

You talk alot, but I dont see alot of commitment from the lifestyle you apparently advocate.

Well first of all, there's something called free internet. Free as in freedom (gratis and libre). Secondly, the sun provides 1,368 W/m2 of power to me for free every day.

I do go dumpster diving and I'm not ashamed of it. In fact, I think of it like community service. I'm saving you people from drowning in your own trash. Last year I rescued 80 used tires and up-cycled them into a greenhouse which now provides tropical foods in the middle of winter in North America. It does a lot more than that but the point is that someone drove to work every day for 20 years and produced waste which had to go to a landfill, which has to be paid for, and comes out of your taxes. So yeah you can thank me for saving you money.

Oh and I eat grass-fed organic beef, all organic vegetables, organic eggs, and organic fruit... All this organic food is transported 50 feet from where it was produced to my table.

I don't have a job, but I work. I don't make money, but I do make a difference in my life and the lives of others. I eat like a king, but I have no kingdom. My lifestyle would cost $60k/year if I had a job. I'm very committed to my lifestyle.

In the end, I have breathed the same air as someone with a job... I guess that makes me dependent upon people with jobs. I guess because I'm somehow dependent upon other people, that I'm less of a person. But I don't think so. I'm so committed to my lifestyle that I work in conditions that would make you cry. How many times can you swing a sledgehammer in 110 degF weather? About 30. How do you single-handedly get a 2000lb cow off your neighbor's lawn, across the street, and back into her pasture? With oats...

If there were a temple, I wouldn't live there as I've responsibilities enough right where I am. I would however love to go there to learn.

Maybe a few weeks a year, travel from Aus to where ever this marvel was located, soak up as much as I could, and then back home to hopefully put it into practice.

To me, being a Jedi is not just a lifestyle, it's a life purpose. And it's not so much about finding the answers as it is about finding the questions. In this, I think a temple of common Jedi learning would be fantastic!

Dipping my oar into the Jedi pond again!


I have often thought of a Temple/Community that is Pagan, though whenever I broach the subject with other Pagans I get many of the same reasons against such a venture, as well as others (such as how we would work the different belief structures inherent to Pagan ways).

One thing I do disagree with is that isolation from the rest of society would be a bad thing, particularly in terms of training young people.

Society is sick. It is evil. One way or another, the very way we, as Humans, organise our society causes suffering. Unnecessary suffering. Worse than this, because the suffering is institutional, and because we are taught that the status quo is good, we become numb, even blind to this suffering.

How wonderful might it be, then, to have a place where we can train ourselves and others a better way to live, to raise and educate children with a different mindset, without struggling against "the system"?

Then, when they have learned to think for themselves, to be compassionate, to live in harmony with Nature (for the purpose of my Pagan beliefs) and given the skills to make a difference in the world and to protect and care for themselves and others, to send them out into the world to do just that; with the comfort of knowing that they have a place they can always call home, where they will be welcomed, protected and cared for?

A bit romanticised? Maybe. Still... I think it would be nice, and I'd support such a venture.

MagnusD wrote: One way or another, the very way we, as Humans, organise our society causes suffering.

It's called hierarchical structure(or vertical). The alternative is a horizontal structure. There are several real-world examples of these from worker co-ops to hippie communes to occupy camps. All of them are wildly successful. All of them isolate themselves somewhat from the rest of society. The ones that are out in the open, like occupy, get attacked by undercover agents, corporate fascists, etc.

Orion Seraphim wrote: in regards to the teachings of jedism as well as other sciences and intellectual and practical pursuites and practices. Would you live in this temple.

imagine a small community that actually focuses on these studies and practices. wouldn't that be great.

It used to bother me that I had so few chances to meet with other Jedi face to face, but I realized that it isn't about me. I think there's a reason we all met on the internet and are so far and few between. We are spread across the Earth, not so that we can get on a plane and meet or live in a temple, but so we can influence the world around us where we are. There are thousands of us! What good could we do if we were all in the same place? Don't get me wrong, the nerdy Jedi inside me would LOVE to live in a temple, but I don't believe it's meant to be.

I believe this to be the will of the Force.