What is the Force

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5 years 1 month ago #334250 by Kobos
What is the Force was created by Kobos
Yep, what is it? Lay it on me baby!!!!!!!!

What has to come ? Will my heart grow numb ?
How will I save the world ? By using my mind like a gun
Seems a better weapon, 'cause everybody got heat
I know I carry mine, since the last time I got beat
MF DOOM Books of War

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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #334260 by Adder
Replied by Adder on topic What is the Force
I used to answer that question with one word; yes. Meaning the 'asking of what' is the Force :D

These days its more about being an epistemology then an ontology, as one of the 5 trials of being a Jedi Knight, to quantize perception to engineer deeper cognitive capabilities, a non-dual process of inner and outer.

The Force, the Path, the Way, the Art, the Craft.... of Insight, Courage, Skill, Spirit, and Flesh. This way the Force can be everything, and attributes of it reflect ones relation to it rather then it.

Knight ~ introverted extropian, mechatronic neurothealogizing, technogaian buddhist. Likes integration, visualization, elucidation and transformation.
Jou ~ Deg ~ Vlo ~ Sem ~ Mod ~ Med ~ Dis
TM: Grand Master Mark Anjuu
Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by Adder.
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5 years 1 month ago #334265 by
Replied by on topic What is the Force
What a question...

I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I fear nothing, for all is as the Force wills it.

- Mantra of the Whills.

I think this mantra actually gives us a lot of insight into what the Force actually is. Obviously, this mantra implies that the Force is bigger than each of us. And yet, we are a part of it. If we trust this cosmic interconnectedness, then we can sit with whatever comes to us no matter how difficult.

The Force, then, is something we have faith in. It is something we come to know intimately through whispers of the soul. From our depths, we feel it churning and boiling from within. You may notice it when you are alone and particularly quiet.

Is it too cheesy to say that the Force is a "force"? It binds the universe together in a really forceful way.

Oh, and I don't try to discern its make up or prove its existence. It doesn't play ball with our limited understanding. An ant cannot comprehend the world. It just exists within it with trust and faith. When I let go of having to know what the Force is, I became a lot happier.
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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #334266 by Proteus
Replied by Proteus on topic What is the Force
Hmm... Although we could just throw this very broad and vague question of "what is the force" out here and just throw subjective (or even objective) answers at it, I can't help but feel it will be very difficult for us to really take this much of anywhere due to the vague nature of the topic. I would like to suggest creating discussions (presenting questions) that tackle more specific ideas within the notion of the force. Scientific topics, psychological topics, spiritual topics, poetic topics and practical topics. :)

Also, how about we use some reference material such as a video, article, etc to present an idea or ask a question about it.

“For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.”
― Bruce Lee

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Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by Proteus.
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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #334267 by Zenith Felwood
Replied by Zenith Felwood on topic What is the Force
Well this is a funny question. What this question should say is what is the force to you? There is so many perspectives of the force. I would not be able to say what one is wrong or right.

The force for me is how it sounds. We see it everyday. Push, pull, Gravity ect. But there is another aspect of the force. For example when someone does something you don't like and it effects people this is a force as well. Some forces are stronger then others. The strongest force take over either way can have consequences. This is why balance is so important. Once you have balance I believe with knowledge one can tip the force for the greater good. But this is no easy feat. Even of the greatest of Jedi Masters. Or if you stray away from those terms the ones who understand the force the most.
Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by Zenith Felwood. Reason: Just standard editing
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5 years 1 month ago #334269 by
Replied by on topic What is the Force
"The Force is all things, and I am the Force"

That's my take on it.
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5 years 1 month ago - 5 years 1 month ago #334270 by Loudzoo
Replied by Loudzoo on topic What is the Force
When we applied for charity status in the UK back in 2016 we had to answer this question precisely.

This is based in part on what we wrote. It is necessarily ‘Light side’ heavy as we weren’t trying to explain the Dark side or the Sith. That would not have helped the application!

I’m not telling you what IT is (that isn’t possible) but this is the best signpost I could come up with:

“The Force is not a power you have. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together.”

There are many different, and personal, views of The Force. The purpose of the essay isn’t to tell you what The Force ‘is’, rather, to outline some basic parameters. Much like photographs taken of a mountain from different places, in different conditions they will give you some idea of what The Force is like, but they will never tell the whole story – or ever be the mountain itself! To begin to know the mountain you must visit it yourself. Hopefully the following words will help you develop your own conception, and your own personal relationship.

The Force is as intrinsic to Jediism, as the Holy Spirit is to Christianity, as Brahman is to Hinduism, as the Tao is to Taoism, as the void is to Buddhism, and it shares similar facets to these spiritual principles. In this sense “The Force” is not a new spiritual principle – it is the ubiquitous and metaphysical power of the Universe – which humans have worshipped since before recorded history. What Jediism provides is a new way to worship, appreciate and integrate this spiritual principle into peoples’ lives. We call this spiritual principle by a different name to others before us, but as per a perennial analysis of world religion there is only one underlying, ubiquitous, uniting spiritual principle. We call it The Force.

As many others have said, within the context of many other faiths, The Force is ineffable – words will never do it justice. It is to this point that the first line of the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching (“The tao that can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao”) refers. A similar message is sent by St. Paul in the 2nd Letter to the Corinthians 3:6 “. . . a new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.”

Having said all of that, there are words we can use to describe aspects of The Force, these include, but are not limited to: omnipotent, omnipresent (therefore immanent), limitless, eternal, transcendent, creative and cyclic.

Whilst such descriptions can impart certain ideas of what The Force is, Jediism (in agreement with many other faiths) proposes that mere understanding and academic knowledge are not sufficient, as compared with a genuine, visceral human experience of this spiritual principle. We recommend and teach two complementary paths that allow this experience to blossom within individual consciousness. One is through collective (group) worship during Live Services. The second is through meditation (or contemplation) conducted on an individual basis or in a group setting.

Our practice of worship and meditation discipline are designed to shift a person’s consciousness away from the so-called ‘Ego’. As individual emphasis on the personal ego diminishes, space (or bandwidth) emerges for us to allow “that still small voice of calm” with which The Force speaks, to guide and animate us. While each individual person will develop their own unique appreciation of their connection with The Force (everyone has different needs, strengths, weaknesses and hang-ups) the actual connection is the same for everyone.

We can use different metaphors to describe this connection: we are all children of The Force, The Force sustains us all, it gives us the strength to take the sometimes difficult but morally right decisions, it is the source of true empathy and it is the comradeship each individual shares that is the source of selflessness and inspiration for mortification and sacrifice. It is the Ground of All Being, the Source of Beauty, and it is the player of all the parts.

To paraphrase Ibn al’Arabi, the Sufi poet, “The Force sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal . . . and awakens in Man”.

a) As Jedi we worship and venerate The Force.

b) The Force is ineffable but it is the ubiquitous and metaphysical power that is the underlying, fundamental nature of the Universe, The Ground of All Being and Manifestation.

c) It is omnipotent, omnipresent (therefore immanent), limitless, eternal, transcendent, creative and cyclic.

d) As human beings we are all embedded and imbued with this power but in modern society we do not typically even notice it. We ignore it – much like a fish is ignorant of the water in which it lives.

e) Union with the Force is achieved through worship and contemplation (meditation): the direction of conscious attention away from the self, and towards The Force.

f) The effect of this Union is profound. Our energies cease to be limited to our meagre individual will, The Force is released to act through us. This energy does not manifest in the form of ‘supernatural’ power but in a resolute and perpetual drive to empathy and love for all sentient beings, and in a drive to bring them into that same Union that we experience.

g) The Maxims and Teachings in the TOTJO doctrine (https://www.templeofthejediorder.org/doctrine-of-the-order) are the behaviours and actions that are manifestations, and evidence of this Union. These behaviours and actions include, but are not limited to: empathy, generosity, patience, peace, compassion, loyalty, commitment, courage, humility, fearlessness, honesty, discipline, integrity and harmony.

h) The ethical and moral frameworks outlined above are the simplest ways to summarise the net effect of this Union with The Force.

i) The Force does not compete, dwell on its goodness, or bathe in the light that it brings - and neither do the Jedi. We let go and move on.
Union with The Force will not look identical for all individuals. Particularly in the early stages of this awakening, it will be in the form of a unique transformation for each individual, and yet, Kabir, in his old age would say “To whom shall I preach” because he saw the divine in all.

The Force manifests all things, and through it all things come to pass. You can feel it when you hold hands with a loved one, smell it in the fragrance of a flower, taste it in choicest morsel, hear it in your favourite music and see it in all, across Nature.

The trick is to feel it when your hand is dropped, when the smell is rotten, when the taste makes you wretch, when the sounds are screams, and the vision is concrete sprawl. The Force is there too.

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Last edit: 5 years 1 month ago by Loudzoo.
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5 years 1 month ago #334271 by
Replied by on topic What is the Force
Force is live, vital energy
and the process of life itself.

It is an essence, through we are able to exist, devlop and change ourselves in consciousness of Universal mind.
Connection between all things and process of life hold the all lifes/things and events together.

Something like one substance from which is Force manifest to other forms.
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5 years 1 month ago #334273 by
Replied by on topic What is the Force

Stormcaller wrote: "The Force is all things, and I am the Force"

That's my take on it.


Well said, Stormcaller.

Sometimes a simple answer for a complex issue is best. One can wax poetic for eternity about the infinitely intricate nature of the Force. The Force is, and the Force is all things.
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5 years 1 month ago #334274 by Kobos
Replied by Kobos on topic What is the Force

Loudzoo wrote: I’m not telling you what IT is (that isn’t possible) but this is the best signpost I could come up with:


This is where I was going to go with this I just figured I would give some time for responses instead of turning this into a journal thread engaging only myself (not that I do not enjoy reading my own error laden typing....)

The Force just is. I could have asked the question is so many forms; but I chose the simplest in least categorized place I could with intent.

Is the energy involved in you pulling up this on a screen, the light of it hitting your eye, to the synapses firing as the words are processed by the super computer that is your brain. Is that transfer of energy not pretty epic and spiritual in a sense?

As a Jedi, I learn about the Force in many forms to try and act with in it for good purposes. I could probably type pages on how, or what to do, to the way I see it, but that's all in my journals (feel free to have look). I saw someone say this is a discussion that is sorely missing figured this was as good of solution as any. Maybe I picked up on the wrong aspect and acted accordingly with the Force as I perceived it (maybe that's wrong). But, that's what these dialogs are for.

Much Love, Respect and Peace,
Kobos

What has to come ? Will my heart grow numb ?
How will I save the world ? By using my mind like a gun
Seems a better weapon, 'cause everybody got heat
I know I carry mine, since the last time I got beat
MF DOOM Books of War

Training Masters: Carlos.Martinez3 and JLSpinner
TB:Nakis
Knight of the Conclave
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