Grand Council of Jediism Proposal/Idea

We've tried the ambassador thing before with no benefit to anyone. There is so much work and improvements to finish right here that until if and when a simple directory exists I am not devoting or diverting any energy beyond that.

TOTJO is not a democracy. We are a church and our government is ecclesiastical. A member eventually may get to a point where s/he has a binding vote after they've been around for some time and are well versed in our philosophy, organization and have proven themselves trustworthy.

Anyone can and should feel free to express opinions and suggestions.

Ecclesiastical; I've looked this word up in multiple places and it seems to be a very general term, and democracy has several contexts.

In saying
\"TOTJO is not a democracy.\", and \"our government is ecclesiastical.\" and sound like statements that embrace \"absolutes\", which contradict the idea of a force that likes to \"flow\" and don't tell me very much.

I'm clearly confused. Could you elaborate a little more?

Ecclesiastical only means in this sense a church form of government which can mean many different things. The Catholic Church has The Pope who in theory has the final say. Only a small group of members get to vote for a new Pope.

In some protestant congregations every adult member gets to vote for the pastor. In some only a council of elders gets a vote.

These are just a few examples.

Our structure is not a statement of absolutes or an attempt to limit The Force. Obviously a new member might sign up today and be far more knowledgeable than some current master. TOTJO has no license on The Truth or The Force.

An organization must have some guiding rules and at least a loose framework just like a house needs a foundation, walls and a roof to keep you dry and warm in the winter.

As just one example, before we license a minister we get to know the person and see that they are reasonably qualified to represent TOTJO in teaching, conducting weddings, counseling, holding a funeral service and so on.

It's not a perfect system. It's open to change, growth and improvement.

to define an ecclesiastical government it would be easier to point out that ecclesiastical = theocracy....now the definition of theocracy is:

theocracy
Government by divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In many theocracies, government leaders are members of the clergy

that definition is per http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ecclesiastical+government

i found the same definition at various sources....

:laugh: it seems me and br. john were both working on the same thing at the same time...he just happened to finish before me

Strangely enough, I was reading a transcript on the Force Academy site from when several Jedi orders/sites got together to chat with Daniel Jones (of the UK Holyhead Church) concerning the \"hood incidents\", etc. It makes for interesting reading and shows that we can sometimes come together as a community:
http://www.forceacademy.co.uk/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1370&sid=5b56b291f3442f7729afa6e886c4e071

My personal feeling is that a committe for sharing and discussing of ideas would be useful, especially in promoting a sense of unity. However, it probably would be be able to impose rulings or decrees across the board. Each order has established its own authority and I don't feel that they would all accept the will of a \"governing body\". Would we, for example, accept a decree that goes against our beliefs or practices simply because a committee told us to?

The nature of Jediism is a blessing and a curse - the lack of communal identity and uniformity does not help our public image or sense of direction. However, this is more than compensated by the degree of diversity apparent. You can follow Jediism as a religion, a way of life, a philosophy, etc and within each of those choices are a myriad of other viewpoints. So you can basically choose whatever order you feel at home with. Trying to impose a structure on this would be very difficult and (in my opinion) counter-productive.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for discussion and connection between orders and I hope that it's something that can be done on a regular basis - I like the idea of a quarterly get-together. I just don't think that it will ever be much more than that. Having a simple directory of sites is also a way of unifying the community while still being impartial and allowing each order to retain their own personality.

If anyone needs help with setting anything up, I may be able to support this.

MTFBWY

I know i may be stepping over the mark when I say this as I'm only a minor concept within the jedi church. But you gentlemen are just doing alot of talking and no one is doing an acting. Lets not just Talk the the talk but Do the do, dudes.

I am so ashamed of myself. All the nothing I've done for Jediism and TOTJO. That goes for you too all you officers who spend hours each week volunteering your time and unpaid energy doing nothing here. This site appeared out of nowhere all by itself. It keeps running all by itself. When wicked people attack it with virus' and DoS missions and it goes down it repairs itself and comes right back up. The materials just upload themselves and organize a page for the students. Every month when the bill for the Server comes the money pops into existence and pays the lease all by itself. And this has been going on for almost five years now. Sweet Baby Jesus!

If anyone actually wants to do a little work and help with things (no matter how new or old you are) please PM our Operations Manager Mark Anjuu.

I think we're getting cross-wired over this discussion. It's true that it takes a lot to keep the Order running and most of this is unseen. Add that to the people dedicating their time to training, studying, helping their community, etc and there are a lot of us \"doing the do\".

What sort of thing are you wanting, Sammy? Something that would potentially have major implications for the whole of the Jedi community should be discussed before being applied. An unwise action made in haste could prove to be more damaging than unifying. Plus, there are those of us who have the responsibility of supporting the Order and working in the interests of all its members. What sort of dictatorship would we become if we acted without even finding out how you all feel about such a thing.

All too often it's a case of \"fools rush in where angels fear to tread\"

MTFBWY

sadly it is all the unseen work that goes on in the background that gets taken for granted.


all good things take time and always begin with discussion, lots of discussions in order to get things organized. acting without planning may yield good or desired results sometimes, however thorough planning and discussions are required to yield great results. christianity took hundreds of years to become what it is today, every major religion took time...even scientology took about 30-40 years to reach where it is now....before the past decade many that followed the jedi path did so without a temple, without a means of meeting others, without a way of spreading their views. the growth of jediism was very slow during that time.

now there are many places for jedi to meet, talk, share ideas and views. none of these places would exist without the busy little bees behind the scenes. 5 years worth of work and effort and jediism has spread quite a ways and has began gaining notoriety. yet it is still no where near the status of the other religions because it takes time.

one of the tenets of a jedi is patience, we may do a lot of discussing but it serves a purpose. it gets ideas out there, establishes connections, and gets people interested. by doing these things we will, in time, be able to make many of them a reality.

in the mean time one should enjoy what has been achieved so far and appreciate the effort and sacrifices made to reach them...just because you don't see something doesn't mean it don't exist.....