Posting Star Wars refrences

For me, I love Star Wars. I have aspired to the Jedi way since I was a boy. I see nothing wrong with referencing the fiction. That being said I don’t do it too often. Usually only if I find it relevant. There is a lot we can learn from the fiction though.
Yes, like rosary beads, runes, shrines, or talismans, the fiction is a tool and shouldn't be confused with the destination. I have robes and sabers. They have a use and a meaning to myself. I’m more than willing to share about that, but they shouldn’t be my main focus. They shouldn’t pull me from the way.

You take away star wars and the philosophies within... and this place becomes just another forum. No one will keep coming back, or very few people at least, because this place would have nothing unique to offer. People come back because they feel they can become Jedi here, a dream of many. They overlook many of the obvious flaws of this place because they want to achieve that dream. Take that away, and those flaws become ugly sores no one wants to look at.

Hell, even I'm willing to overlook some major flaws because I have no ambitions here. I want to help people, that is it. I try to inspire people to get active with my lightsabre practise. I am bold, I burn bright. Because I am a Jedi. I don't hide my candle under a bushel. And I love Star Wars, and I'll quote it's timeless lines until the day I die.

Honestly, do you see Churches that refuse to reference the Bible, Mosques the avoid the Quran, Latter Day Saints that hiss when they hear passages from The Book of Mormon?

I know Star Wars isn't our holy books, but it is our inspiration. Some Christians don't view the Bible as law, but the lessons within are what they aspire to follow. The same should play true here.

If you translate the "yoda speak" into proper syntax, you basically end up quoting the Tao Te Ching, Buddha or The Art of Peace. It's no secret that Luke is on Campbell's Hero's Journey. Darth Vader basically smacks us in the face with Samurai and Bushido culture. Most of the Jedi depicted in the films also model their Stoic behavior after Aurelius and Seneca. The moral and ethical dilemmas in the fiction are taken straight from both ancient and modern philosophy along with mythology from all over the planet and throughout human history. Failure to acknowledge this and to use it in our quests to be better humans would be truly unfortunate.

Connor L. wrote: Perhaps we should just drop the whole Jedi thing altogether. *shrugs* It’s a thought. Maybe not a good one. Haha.

If you do then what's left is Taoism.

Zero_storm wrote: So, there seems to be talk about weather or not it's acceptable to post about Star Wars.

The two sides- 1. Posting about Star Wars and making Star Wars references makes us look as though we worship Star Wars fictional Jedi. Or that we believe we really have telekinesis powers and carry real lightsabers(movie functionality). This inturn pushes new comers away or provides a bad image to the public.

2. Posting about Star Wars provides a good reference when explaining our beliefs. Quotes from the movie are bennificial to our spirituality as well as other things we take from the movies.

I'm sure there are several shades of gray in between the two, but I'm curious to hear everyone else's thoughts. This is a topic that has came up in a cpl other threads with great responses for bothe ends of this topic.

Ready..... go!

Inspiration quotes are one thing and instructions on how to building and using a light sabes are another. The line is crossed when the movie is the center of discussion more than the living force.

This place is defined by what is discussed. My point is a Star Wars section encourages the former and diminishes the later. Fandom or religion? There are lots of other places to discuss fandom. This is a place of religion.

Rickie wrote: This place is defined by what is discussed. My point is a Star Wars section encourages the former and diminishes the later. Fandom or religion? There are lots of other places to discuss fandom. This is a place of religion.

And to some, part of the fiction is a part of their religion, or path/ philosophy. Most here don't even look at it as their "religion" They see it as they choose too, not how others suggest they should...

I find myself very curious about not just what would happen if the theme of this temple changed from a Jediism community to just a simple philosophy/religion community, but also Why. I have a large suspicion that, as Arisaig says, many people will not return. Can we examine why this might be? The whole guise of the Jedi would no longer be a part of it. Those who would not return would then seem to have not been here for Why the idea of the Jedi existed more than for the guise of the fantastical aspects of being a Jedi that the fiction portrays. I have a suspicion that only the people who are here now for the most genuine reasons would be the only ones to continue, because their concerns lay more with the origins of the idea of a Jedi, and not with crutching on fictional imagery to make them feel like their lives are less boring and plain than it seems like it would be without it.

I rarely post here anymore, and one of the reasons is actually the opposite: This temple over time began feeling more and more like a clubhouse of kids griping over who (or what) is more righteously Jedi than anyone (or any other way) else. The temple began worrying so much about itself and its own integrity that it sat here creating self-fulfilling prophecies. What I saw here were people who were becoming so attached to shallow ideas of "virtue" that we think we find in the fictional Jedi that they began trying to use it as a social weapon against others here instead of people worrying about themselves and opening up. People were too concerned about "being Jedi" to work on "being human".

Everyone will have their own subjective understanding about what it "means to be Jedi", but I rarely ever see anyone here really discuss the factual origins of where the archetype of Jedi came from, and about the nature of that origin itself as being what any of this whole thing is really about. To me, none of it is about the "jedi layer" itself, but about the representational layer which we use Jedi as a handle to reference. It gets so easy to forget about that, that it soon seems like some obscure topic that people here think is just fluffy philosophical thinking. People here forget (or never learn) that the sign itself is not what we were ever after, but the symbol on the sign that communicates to us. The sign could be blank and it would be useless, and that is what I've seen people here turn into... the blank sign.

Rickie wrote: Inspiration quotes are one thing and instructions on how to building and using a light sabes are another. The line is crossed when the movie is the center of discussion more than the living force.

This place is defined by what is discussed. My point is a Star Wars section encourages the former and diminishes the later. Fandom or religion? There are lots of other places to discuss fandom. This is a place of religion.

Question: What if the discussion of the movies leads to better understanding of the living Force?

Example, I have a lightsabre *points at avatar*. I love it, and I love using it. When people ask about it and my Jedi Path, I tell them the same thing. "It is part of my Path, but not because of it." I think, if I had never discovered this place, I would still find myself swinging about a lightsabre eventually. I am, after all, a nerd for all things Star Wars. Its my love of the core philosophies that led me to wanting to become a Jedi.

When it comes to lightsabre construction, it can be a very spiritual practise, if albeit nerdy af. It can be an introspective study to discover more about yourself and the statement you want to make every time you ignite it (my white sabre signifies the healing I've undergone and my desire to heal both myself and others). I also encourage those with sabres to go out and get active, swing those glorified glowsticks about. Its all well and good to discuss the core philosophies of being a Jedi, but Jedi strived to become the best they could be, the best tool in the Force they could possibly be. Mentally, spiritually, and physically. If going and swinging a lightsabre about helps get people get in shape, so be it. I see no reason to dissuade them from doing that in an effort to separate ourselves from the fiction.

Zenchi

"Most here don't even look at it as their "religion"

But it is a religion. Isn't it?

Proteus really should post more. Well said P.

Arisaig

Is this religion for you or fandom. Are you stubbornly sticking to what you want this to be? If you are you can use any justification you want to support what you believe.