Opinions needed for article about Jediism

As discussed in another thread, I'm the webmaster of Pentacle, the leading independent pagan magazine in the UK. The magazine welcomes articles and discussions on paganism and spirituality and I was hoping to submit one about Jediism in order to promote our beliefs and hopefully dispel some of the negative perception about Jediism.

So I welcome everyone's viewpoints - I am hoping to compile all responses (as well as general and specific information about Jediism) into an article which will be available for review before being submitted for publication.

I hope that you will take the time to offer your insight into Jediism and contribute to this positive portrayal

Also, could a member of TOTJF repost this request on their message boards so we can also gain insight from our brothers and sisters there. Thank you!!

MTFBWY

Mark, it seems most requests for information come in a questionaire form it seems... Some of us (myself. bigtime) have a run-on problem once we get to going....

jestor

The main body of the article is going to be compiled from sources at this site, the holocron, etc to describe Jediism. What I was after were some personal insights - in other words, how you feel about being a Jedi. That way I can give a personal aspect to the article, and so they only need to be brief. I won't add names unless you people specifically want me to

Excuse any issues that are here, I am entering from my phone...

How it feels to be a Jedi...

Spiritualy Home. 

I was lucky to stumble upon TOTJO.  I have had a curiosity about life since I was way to young to question adults comfortably. Although, my father did his best to answer my questions as I grew. The main stream religions seem to stuck on the symbolism. And of what I knew of the pagan rites, I wasn't a tree god, flower god kinda person. 

One thought I had had before coming to TOTJO was that God, like all of us, but on a much grander scale, was multitasking. There is God (to some) with his fingers in everything.  There are gods, where duties are somewhat assigned. But no definition ever really made me happy, so with the knowledge I had, I went with a combination... Leaning on the multitasking, being seen as many personalities.  

After listening to the Joe Campbell lectures and realizing that people were taking the symbolism to be actuallity. Which actually explained quite a bit.  When people take figurative ideas, and turn them into literal objects, all heck breaks loose. 

I feel more relaxed. I feel more at peace. I'm not so concerned for my future.  If I send out positive energy, both mentaly, and physically, then that will make me happier. Thus, make me more content and satisfied.

It makes sense to me, the interconnection of everyone and everything, that is.

But, that is for me. The really great thing, in Jediism, is that we all can have our opinion. No one is right or wrong. There are just opinions and I can happily live mine (I lean toward Pure Land Rite, I believe in the (Life) Force, not a Omnipotent Being), while a Pagan Jedi can live theirs, and a Abrahamic Jedi can have theirs and we all get along....  

James Foster a.k.a. Jestor @ TOTJO     

Thank you James! I should be able to find some time in the next couple of weeks to start to compile the article. I've just heard from the editor that the next issue is full so we've got 3 months to prepare something!
It's great to get a personal perspective so thank you for sharing

Ive been a 'Jedi' for a good few years but in terms of 'formerly' so, its now 2 years (more or less to the day )

So whats it like being a 'Jedi' well, whats it like being a pagan, a christian, a muslim, etc etc? - at the end of the day - we are all free to make our own choices and this is something that still seems to be missed even in this day n age. In many respects, many folk 'practise' their chosen faith out of some sort of social duty/obligation, habit or fear - which really is wrong. Yet jediism is as old as humanity itself, only recently has it been given a name an thus a firm identity.

Ok so being named after a scifi religion may in hindsight not have been the smartest move - but the real world Jediist and fictional jedi are not the same. We do make good use of the mythology etc from the movies but in all honesty - where did these ideas really come from? They came from existing stories etc which lucas simply turned into characters.

Would this be any different than (for example) making a film about the life of jesus but setting it 2000 years in the future?.

The problem with jediism is the public perception that were all scifi fanatics who cant or wont speparate the real world from fantasy land and we dress in costumes and play with plastic swords. The other problem is that most people are unwilling to learn the truth of the matter so there are many deep seated misconceptions, which i guess is common to kost faiths.

Ask anyone what springs to mind about rastapharians - theyll say bright coloured wooly hats, ask about muslims/islam - they ll probably say burkhas or even bombs, chrstianity, crosses and crusades, buddhism - sitting down n humming all day, jahova witnesses, knocking on doors or refusing medical treatment. Now i dont wish any insults to these groups but im demonstrating the publics common view of these faiths, and the jediist community are automatically associated with lightsabers etc.

Its not a matter of embarrisment or 'shame' but i dont 'run about screaming im a jedi' - my faith is my faith and my business and i dont feel i have any right to force (excuse pun) it down anyone elses throat. If someone asks, i'll answer and gladly so, and i'll do my best to dispell misgivings they probably have - the fact is most people are very receptive to the idea once theyve busted through the idea of fancy dress and lightsabers. Most of not all grounded Jediist will tell you that they wont be shooting lightning from their hands or raising aircraft from swamps with the mind anytime soon - but we all know the true power of the mind and its abilities so we do promote such things as reiki healing. Again, here too is the other slight issue, its the east/west collision of cultures. Most of our thoughts and teachings (as jediists) would be very familiar in the east and accepted without too much thought, but in the west, were still largely reluctant to believe things such as medicine can be anything but modern 'technology' dismissing old/ancient (and proven) methods as 'old fashioned' or worse.

The main great thing about jediism is that anyone is free to 'think' how they want to. We wont be saying 'read this book and take it as foact or forever be damned' (even tho the book in question is thousands of years old and designed for people who couldnt read and probably didnt travel outside their home town any more than 100 miles in their lifetime) - such hard n fast archaic rules just dont work in todays modern society. We (jediism) dont teach others what to think or believe - what we teach or try to teach is the ability to educate oneself - to develop free thinking, indipendance from dogma and mind control that has and continues to exist in many forms over many years - ever since societies exosted really.

Most 'religions' exist on a basis of power which once came about from brute force - 'join us or die' type mentality - we believe however it is perfectly acceptable to question what were told without the need to resprt to confrontation.

The creation story is a good example, there are many who take the biblical version literally - even in this day n age of technology and evidence, that some grey hair guy sat on a cloud and made the earth everything in a few days.

So ok - where did the guy come from - where did his cloud come from, where did he et the parts to make earth and everything? Now these are simplostic questions - and this is why as a teenager i walked away from christianity - the more the teachers spoke about the bible - the more it felt to me like a disney tale. This is largely what took me towards a science based career - i had so many questions which in some ways were answered and yet other small details seemed missing in places. I cant remember when exactly but it occured to me that what some folk call god, others gaia, and others simply call 'mother nature' was probably the key - and there are things that humans probably wont ever answer (eg the big bang etc) but 'something' must be at the root of these things or at least connecting us to everything else.

It was when by chance i wandered into Jedism (it wasnt the temple on correscant - it was shut for redecoration) and after a little time, things fell into place (thanks mr campbell) - the rest as they say is history

MTFBWY - A

Thank you for your input, Master Haruki. It will be very useful in spreading the \"good word\"!

[urlhttp://templeofthejediorder.org/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,94/func,view/catid,91/id,30078/#30078]This entire post. Including the linked beliefs inside.[/url]

Use anything from there that you want. You can use any form of my name also, if you are going to be putting other Jedi's names.

Anything I would respond to this, will be in there, and I feel that you would find better info there, than me re-hashing it (again), and it's easier for all of us.

Thank you. I have set aside some time next week to write up the article and will be posting a draft on the forum for anyone to comment on before it is sent for publication. Your input is deeply appreciated!

MTFBWY

If you post it to the \"blogs\" on the left of the forum, I'd think it'll be easier to get comments and input, once you get it up.

Link for blog, click 'only registered' if you don't want non-members reading it before you're done.