Questions about Jediism

Edan wrote: How you can call yourselves Jedi but ban the source of its inspiration?'

Is it a source of inspiration of origin of inspiration? I like the name 'Jedi'.. borrow a word does happen more often. I feel good with things as they are now, but I do find some things close together. Gives me questions about what is important to use. And why we use things of the past in the way we do..

~ Aqua

Aqua wrote:

Edan wrote: How you can call yourselves Jedi but ban the source of its inspiration?'

Is it a source of inspiration of origin of inspiration?

I would say the Origin.

The Jedi Community did not come around until AFTER Star Wars was created. And even then the Jedi Community first started out as Role Players. It was key members who took their games and role playing stories and said "Hey....You know what. Some of this stuff makes real sense in real life." These key members then started creating website that merged Real Life with Fictional teachings and from there.....they started finding and bringing in other religions and philosophies while at the same time discovered more on how George Lucas did the exact same thing to create it.

Star Wars came first.

The rest developed over 20 years of trials, errors, and practice.

Aqua wrote: Why does the forum have a Star Wars forum, while Jediism does not associate with Star Wars?

Jediism is born from people who were somehow inspired by Star Wars mythos, so they are inseparable. The distinction is drawn only to point out that Jediism is not about roleplaying or fanfiction.

Aqua wrote: People represent the community, do members influence non-Jedi, create stereotype, think about Jediism? A endless movie-circle?

Stereotypes are created by the people who observe from the outside, they are not created from within. It is an automatic mental mechanism by which we as humans try to describe something in terms of its most likely attributes. For example, the stereotype of a house is that it has between 2 and 4 rooms, is built as a rectancle or square shape with vertical walls and a pitched roof. However, you could easily have a house with more rooms (or fewer), built in other shapes (circle, polygon) with walls that are not fully vertical (pyramid houses, dome houses) and in the case of dome houses, no roof.

None of us escape this tendency to stereotype, we are simply more or less aware of it and adjust out attitudes accordingly.

As for influence, we are all that tiny drop in the still pond. The ripples of our actions reach out and touch others. We do this whether we are Jedi or not, and whether others know we are Jedi or not.

Aqua wrote: Would banning Star Wars, except for IP and lessons, be against Jediism teachings? Making a compromise?

One of the greatest strengths of Jediism is that we know that the myth from which it is born is fiction. This is good because:

1. We don't take ourselves too seriously.
2. We value the power of metaphor, and thus are better able to "read" this metaphor in the subtle happenings of daily life.
3. We are immune to religious extremism (because no one in their right mind will go all Inquisition or Jihad in the name of Yoda) :laugh:

If you remove Star Wars from Jediism, it is no longer Jediism.

Manu wrote: One of the greatest strengths of Jediism is that we know that the myth from which it is born is fiction. This is good because:

How to know myth? Is it a strength to know?

Aqua wrote:

Manu wrote: One of the greatest strengths of Jediism is that we know that the myth from which it is born is fiction. This is good because:

How to know myth? Is it a strength to know?

Your question went right over my head, sorry. Could you rephrase? :blush:

Manu wrote:

Aqua wrote:

Manu wrote: One of the greatest strengths of Jediism is that we know that the myth from which it is born is fiction. This is good because:

How to know myth? Is it a strength to know?

Your question went right over my head, sorry. Could you rephrase? :blush:

Sure What is knowing? Do you mean with ,,knowing the myth'' that option A is right and option B is wrong? If I choose option A would I say, then you would say no to option B? Would that limit us? Would knowing be limiting ourselves? Can limiting be ourselves be a strength? If it would be, why? How do you believe that it would be a strength? If you mean something else with knowing, please share it with me if you would like. :blush:

Aqua wrote: What is knowing? Do you mean with ,,knowing the myth'' that option A is right and option B is wrong? If I choose option A would I say, then you would say no to option B? Would that limit us? Would knowing be limiting ourselves? Can limiting be ourselves be a strength? If it would be, why? How do you believe that it would be a strength? If you mean something else with knowing, please share it with me if you would like. :blush:

I'm not sure I fully understand the question (you've gone al C3PO on me :laugh: ), but I'll try to respond as best I can:

I don't think that it's about option A being right while option B being wrong. It's more like colors. What's your favorite color? I like green. You might like blue. Is one of us right and the other wrong? The same way, different myths appeal to different people. But some people believe their myth is real - for example, someone might believe in Jesus as a historical figure who actually resurrected. This might be true, or not (I don't think we can know, for now), but historical accuracy does not take away the value of the lessons he taught. Historical accuracy does not take away value from the creation story in Genesis either. In any case, being inspired by Star Wars and knowing Star Wars is myth keeps us from beating around that bush too much.

If my favorite color is green, it does not mean that I don't accept (or like) other colors. Simply green appeals to me more for some reason, and I should work with that. Like the story of a student, who is bad at math but a prodigy at drawing. The mediocre parent hires a tutor to help him with math. The brilliant parent, hires a tutor to help him with drawing.

No worries, maybe I confuse to much! :blush:

Manu wrote: 3. We are immune to religious extremism (because no one in their right mind will go all Inquisition or Jihad in the name of Yoda) :laugh:

I don't know if I would completely agree with this one. I think its something that we just cant assume but something we need to stay diligent about. I'm sure the original disciples of Jesus never imagined that Christianity would eventually lead to the Crusades or the burning of thousands of "Witches".

As the next generations are born into Jediism it will become even more important to keep the teachings of the temple from being corrupted through high quality education and continued application of the original intent of its principles.

Myth and fiction are not the same. Please refer to the thread: In Praise of Selectivity for a discussion of myth and symbol.

Lucas employed Campbell's theory regarding the ubiquity of the adventure of the hero in myth to structure the plot and characters in parts four, five and six (which compose a unified mythic arc). The structure of the hero's journey shares common plot and character elements with many other myths. The symbols used in Star Wars are not unique which is why the films are not emphasized here at TotJO but are to suffice merely as introduction, that is, as a door through which to explore their deeper meaning. The educational milieu here suggests not to linger with the films, nor even Campbell, but to delve deeper into the meaning and significance of the myths and symbols.


Digression: Even if it is the case that the fence analogy is flawed - replace with threshold - fences, borders, boundaries and frontiers can be defined as much by what they include than exclude.