What does being a member of the group "Jedi" mean to you?

Goken wrote:
I feel like that's a pretty good analogy. :laugh: I do believe, however, that at least a small majority here agree on the doctrine in general, just not on the interpretations or applications of it.

Thanks! Yes I would agree completely about the doctrine group. I would consider that another subset group as I described above about the Sith subset. This "doctrine" group tries to follow the doctrine on this site as it was written and try to live up to that code as Dude says above. but not all Jedi do this. Other Jedi at other temples do the same for their particular code. Christian Jedi do this as well for a version of code they find meaningful and so forth. But beyond that I wanted to try to get to the underlying philosophy that binds all these groups together.

Goken wrote:

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote: These are interesting thoughts. LOL sort of reminds me of the island of misfit toys. Not to say that anyone is broken but its just the idea that we are all different enough as individuals to have very diverse philosophies, but at the same time similar enough in some way to cling to one another and form a group.

It seems that just our diversity would not be enough to hold us together. So what is it about us that is similar enough that we find comfort in as a group? Do you think it nothing more than the paradox of the island of misfit toys? Meaning each of us as individuals have searched but have found no meaning in other groups/spiritualitys. So we have come together in an ironic group called Jedi because we have that one thing in common, that we find it impossible to conform to any one preset doctrine. We each have radically diverse and individual spiritual paths that we carve out for ourselves vs following a crowd. We are nietzsche's uber-mensch and in that we find a commonality?

I feel like that's a pretty good analogy. :laugh: I do believe, however, that at least a small majority here agree on the doctrine in general, just not on the interpretations or applications of it.

The Doctrine is pretty universal and easy to follow for the most part. Myself I simply dislike the Name "Doctrine" and alot of the interpretations/descriptions and.....Its way more lengthy than it needs to be. Very repetitive.....But the Ideals are no different than any other Jedi group with their own sets of behaviors/codes/tenets.

Being a Jedi was once about discovering myself and to train to be better than I was....And then I reached that Gauntlet.

Then it became about the community and how I might be apart of it's evolution and growth....And then I reached that Gauntlet.

Now it's about setting up my own legacy so that one day my daughters can learn about the best of themselves and find an honorable direction in life.

The meaning and purpose of being apart of a Jedi Group or the community in general - is to follow your own Hero's Journey that lead you here. Perhaps it will one day lead you away from it...or perhaps you will forever hug the edges as you continue forward. That is indiidual.

@ triskar

I can understand that. I have followed a similar path in my journey as a pagan. I had that season of deep intospection, that one of selfless sacrifice to community, that selfish one of deep training just for me and so on. Do you think we as Jedi find ourselves seeking that group of kindred spirits that are walking separate paths but also somewhat parallel paths? We follow our heros journey but through the thick of the wood we see others also walking towards what seems to be a similar destiny and we can wave at them and say hi, maybe even share a meal. And we find a comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this dark wood that we have decided to tread but where most others fear to go. This seems the very core of what Cayce touched on with the idea that we seek to challenge ourselves at every opportunity physically, mentally and spiritually. We never turn down that "heros journey" in any aspect and when we find others of similar ilk we are drawn to them. And that is what binds us as Jedi at a most basic level?

From my experience it is just the name. Get rid of the name and watch the numbers die out with a quickness.... :dry: But I suppose that could just be my pessimist shadow seeping out it is past midnight here.... :whistle:

The name is Appealing. Its represents the best parts of what we all want to be...so we cling to it.

I wish I could say it is because we are drawn to the people in the community....And while parts of it might be true there is equal measure of people here we don't care for and often but heads with....Force knows there are plenty in the community I could live without :whistle: :dry: So....Why stay?

So its the ideologies that appeal to us. The Doctrines/Codes/Tenets/Teachings..... Except that these things are found in many faiths and belief systems. Not Just for Jedi. So....why not just be Pagan and stick to it? If that is truly what you are most familiar and comfortable with why bother trying to make something else work when it clearly doesn't? For me it could be because....even though I have encountered plenty of unpleasant people in the Jedi Community....I have also made some real close friends. I stay....because of them...And even that has been....faltering.

But now we get to the part that many here don't like Experience. Myself I have stuck to this for a very...very...long time. I have poured so much heart and soul into this single word "Jedi." that it is hard for me to just turn around and walk away. I have suffered great pains and experienced great joys and it takes up a great measure of my life since I was sixteen...

And so that is the crux of the matter. At least to me

Each of us stumbled upon this community by one means or another. We found things that was interesting....some things that were not so much....and over days....weeks...months....years....we weigh and measure its worth and in that course...make friends and personal soul deep history.

Like attracts like.

okay....now im just rambling aimlessly....I best try that whole "Sleep" thing....Night!

I think jedi sounds cool. Imagine if Lucas had called them the "splurts" or something like that. :laugh:

What I find holds us and calls to us as a group is enlightenment. We all have found our own truths to the world. We have learned ourselves and our place in the world. It is the search for our own personal truth that binds us.

steamboat28 wrote: My major problem is that, moreso perhaps than any other religion, we all point at the same source material and wildly, wildly diverge from it. It's true there were many kind of Jedi in both canon and the newly-defunct EU writings, but we don't even necessarily hold together that well. It's interesting that we all choose to use the same word to describe something that is so wildly, vastly different from one another, and I'm curious if it just comes down to interpretation of that original source material, or if the word itself has been forgotten as a part of this movement.

It's always been that way. Our differences (oddly enough) are what make us whole. Like my friend Tionne from Jedi Creed used to say, we're all part of a mosaic:

The Mosaic

A mosaic is a picture comprised of many different colors and materials, all forming one picture. A shard of yellow topaz could form the center of a flower, with bits and pieces of green glazed tile for grass and leaves, and bits of white porcelain for the petals. Around that could be lapis lazuli for the sky, and perhaps diamonds for stars. Terra cotta tiles could form the trunk of a tree, or perhaps a rock. Yet all these many pieces comprise one picture, with no one segment any more or less important or useful than the rest. We are all a mosaic. We are all the lapis lazuli sky. We are all the diamond stars, the terra cotta rocks, the green tile grass and leaves, the topaz and porcelain flowers. We each have our own color and texture to add to the human experience. We all have our own different lives to add to the bigger life Force. We are all different, and yet we are all one. Our differences unify us, just as many different colors and textures form the mosaic.

—Tionne

Trisskar wrote: From my experience it is just the name. Get rid of the name and watch the numbers die out with a quickness.... :dry: But I suppose that could just be my pessimist shadow seeping out it is past midnight here.... :whistle:

The name is Appealing. Its represents the best parts of what we all want to be...so we cling to it.

Thats been my dilema, i cant decide if there is nothing more to jediism than a name or a movie which to me leaves us just sort of pretending to be something we are really not. Or is there some deeper inderlying philosopy that has been tapped into, even if accidently that we are striving as a group to develop.

I know what you mean about the people. For me its not the relationships im developing so much as the attraction to the heros journey philosophy that we have undertaken. However i still cant decide if all or even most jedi have that same focus or if they are more enamored by the name as you say. Thats the reason for my inquiry here. To get other opinions.

I get what your saying about the investment in time in a community as well. I have experienced something similar in my pagan path. Invest all to have it shatterd at some point and then having to make the decision to either carry on with the lie or leave the path you were on. Its a hard decision to make. In my case i chose to leave and ironically that decision was what brought me to explore jediism.

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote: Thats been my dilema, i cant decide if there is nothing more to jediism than a name or a movie which to me leaves us just sort of pretending to be something we are really not. .

The greatest strength of Jediism is that we know its mythology is fictional. So, if you want to take the traditional approach towards fitting into a religion, from the very start you are pretending to be something that you are really not. And as long as you keep trying to fit in, you will forever be overly concerned with definitions, labels and what is and not Jedi.

Or, you can simply enjoy the fact that there is nothing to fit into. YOU make Jediism, not the other way around. After all, the purpose of myths and symbols are not for us to emulate them, but to use them as tools to discover who we are, what we want and more importantly, live accordingly.

Manu wrote:

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote: Thats been my dilema, i cant decide if there is nothing more to jediism than a name or a movie which to me leaves us just sort of pretending to be something we are really not. .

The greatest strength of Jediism is that we know its mythology is fictional. So, if you want to take the traditional approach towards fitting into a religion, from the very start you are pretending to be something that you are really not. And as long as you keep trying to fit in, you will forever be overly concerned with definitions, labels and what is and not Jedi.

Or, you can simply enjoy the fact that there is nothing to fit into. YOU make Jediism, not the other way around. After all, the purpose of myths and symbols are not for us to emulate them, but to use them as tools to discover who we are, what we want and more importantly, live accordingly.