Syncretism

Write about what relevance a reasonably thorough comprehension of syncretism/syncretisation has for Jediism (as a religion or otherwise) and especially for Ministers of the Force (Jedi Clergy).

Past, present, and future. An understanding of the process of syncretism, both constructing and deconstructing, is important for truly seeing where Jediism comes from, fully experiencing how it works now, and helping to shape where it is going in the future. When I meditate on this process, I liken it to the weaving of a tapestry on a loom: some of it is completed, and the picture is beginning to emerge, but we still need to take up the threads and continue the work.

It's not common for a religion to so openly acknowledge its syncretism; far more typically, religious leaders will decry syncretism as a diluting of the faith. But we are all aware that the fundamentals of Jediism comes from a variety of sources, what I think of as universal truths that have been bled out of our modern society. Even so, the way it has developed in actual practice over the last twenty years has undoubtedly been colored to at least a limited extent by the religious backgrounds of many of its early practitioners. For example, right now we're having a debate about whether we should continue to use clerical titles that were appropriated from Christianity. We have an opportunity to look back on the progress made on our tapestry, trace that thread back to its origin in the earliest weaving, and determine whether it's structurally sound to continue to weave on or whether we need to pull that thread and reweave. Syncretism in this way also leads to a deeper understanding of why some of our core tenets work and why some might not. You can look back and say, "OK, that thread maybe came from ___ but it also winds through ___ and ___."

The idea of syncretism as a neutral meeting place serves the Temple in the present if for no other reason than our adherents come from a wide variety of backgrounds and religious traditions of their own. Like Buddhism, Jediism can bet taken as a spiritual philosophy that is compatible with most other religions, and we frequently see people come into the Temple to seek the Jedi Path while still retaining their own religious beliefs. Syncretism, and the study of other faiths, helps us meet the new people where they are, whatever they believe, and thereby minister to them in a way that is meaningful for them without sacrificing the essence of what we ourselves believe. We should also be striving to use that platform of syncretism in order to achieve cross cultural competency, every one of us, because we are truly a world religion, with adherents coming to us from numerous cultures and geographic locations and faith backgrounds.

Because Jediism is still developing, it falls upon the clergy to help shape the form it takes in the future, and this is another area where an understanding of syncretism will be invaluable. As an example, our liturgical calendar is recently becoming the object of attention -- what holy days should we observe, and how should we observe them? Christianity has long assimilated observances and feast traditions from the peoples to which it spread; why should Jediism be any different? It could well be that as this discussion continues, it resonates with us to adopt the flavor of a variety of different observances for different holy days. But how that occurs, and why it occurs, requires a deeper understanding than "That sounds like a cool thing to say here." Do we assimilate, simply co-opt some other faith's tradition? Or do we blend old observances with new ingredients to create something wholly our own? It's not just coming up with elaborate pomp and pretty phrases. Whatever we are doing with this Temple and Jediism more broadly moving forward, we have to understand how what we create serves the faith, speaks to the mythologies, furthers the spiritual needs and goals of the community. Going back to the tapestry metaphor, if we go on weaving without a clear idea of where we have been and where we are going, and more importantly why, we end up with an uncoordinated mess on our loom, the picture long since lost in a tangle of conflicting ideas.