Important Beliefs of Jediism

Dear all,

We're writing a few new books and are re-structuring our training course over at the COJ and were wondering if any of you have any suggestions as to any important issues/key areas which you feel should be covered?

It's important to have an idea of what other Jediist communities think, first - training manuals should be multi-laterally agreed between organisations I believe

MTFBWY.

Training manuals should also be free. I'm only speaking for myself, but I don't see why we would share information that CoJ would charge people for. But then, i'm operating under the assumption that that's what you plan to do.

The suggested donation for the training course will be revised as well. although the new course will include lectures and seminars in the form of videos and audio guides from top people within and outside of the Church - I agree, an e-book is a lot harder to justify charging than a number of resources, however as I mentioned before, they are free. They're listed with suggested donations.

Thanks for your contribution, every little helps as they say!

MTFBWY.

Also another thing I would like to know, out of general curiosity, is a reason for the suggested donation given, ie, examples of what the donations go to like keeping the site up etc. Understandable a donation can go towards whatever the receiving entity wishes but some people do like to know even a few things that it may go towards, as more of a comfort to them. And even tho it is suggested, does the link to the material go straight to a donation page or is a donation link provided instead, making it seem less of a \"need\" and more of a suggestion...these are merely questions and suggestions from a semi-business perspective

If someone wishes to know where their donations are being spent, they are more than happy to contact us. The majority of our money goes to charities such as Oxfam, Unicef, the American Red Cross, CLIC Sargent and others. We also keep a little in our account for emergencies. Last time we paid for hosting/domain renewal, it came out of Daniel's and my own pocket.

If one desires to download one of the books without paying, we suggest one uses one's initiative to use the contact form on our 'Contact' page and ask.

Thank you also for your kind suggestions, you're all being a great help in this and I hope you're learning from our answers, too.

May the Force be with you,

Firslty - I must make it absolutely clear that what I am about to say is my own personal opinion and not policy of TOTJO or its EC unles such a statement is made by them or by me on behalf.

So here it is..... drum roll...

I agree with angelus

On a side issue and without putting ideas into anyones heads - there is little or nothing stopping anyone simply doing a copy n paste of any other groups training material and using it as their own.

Simple fact of tinterweb - we could if we were lazy enough and so wish, do the same to CoJ's book - copyright or not cos there is sweet FA they could do about it or to prove it - trust me, there are plagiarism programs out there many school and college kids uise to trick their teachers into thinking its their own work and several copyright cases have been thrown out of court as a result.

Personally - im not into 'standardised' or global training - each temple is different and has different teachings as well as different styles and requirements.

Here at TOTJO - our training of apprentices is left largely (except for a few minimum requirements) down the the teaching master to decide whats needed etc for the individual student.

I also believe very passionately about this individuality - i dont believe in mass state education in life and I dont belioeve in it for Jediism.

Thats all I have to say.

Even so, no one should feel obligated to pay for training, which is what one would generally feel when you charge a \"donation\".

But I do agree with Kana, training is generally taught Master to Apprentice and I feel that you shouldn't make all of your training done through manuals. But, assuming that you're a trained Jedi, you should have more than enough to put in your manual.

I am speaking solely with my personal opinion and not on behalf of TOTJO etc.

Baral Fobre, dear, the extra step of forcing one to ask for an eBook at no charge feels coercive and some who truly can't afford it may feel embarrassed and avoid doing it. How about just publishing the download link and having a \"We appreciate any donations\" button by it?

Promoting good causes and suggesting charities is a fine thing to do but why just have a page of their logos without one being able to click on them and donate directly to the organization?

I am not an expert in UK Income Tax Law so you folks who are citizens there can help me out with the UK scenario.

Example: If a person from the US donates to the American Red Cross through you, PayPal gets a cut and thus there is less money left to go to the charity than if the donation had been direct. A person in the lower tax bracket in The US by donating directly to the American Red Cross with a check can give $100 at an actual cost to them of only $85 since they will pay $15 less in income tax on their next return. Or, they can give $115 and it only costs them $100 when the income tax is considered. The person donating through you (in the US) has those two unfortunate facts in the way. Worse, they may not be aware of it or think they will get a deduction since the word church is in your name only to find that when it comes time to file it won't work or even worse they claim it and get audited and pay a fine and penalty. It's not a difficult mistake to make. You're not warning people that the donation is not tax deductible and that PayPal gets part of the donation.

No matter where the person who is donating lives, PayPal gets it's bite out of the money. Why would anyone be encouraged to donate through you instead of you just promoting the organizations and having their logo link directly to the charity?

That way the cause does get more money, there's the possibility of a tax deduction for the donor and you have lots less bookkeeping.

Since our Initiates Program is already free for you to download would you like to send TOTJO complementary copies of your two books?
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So BF is Michael Morgan Jones, Daniel's cousin.

Ok, so we've definitely got the opinion that our training manuals should be free. We'll revise this decision with the launch of our new training course. Has anyone got any suggestions for information to include in the manuals? Any teachings you are concerned may be missed out?

John, that is a good idea - I'll put this forward to our council and the COJ Office for Mission Administration and see what the majority say.

As for donating directly to the organisations, if people would like to do that, they can feel free to. Donating via our site on the Volunteer or Pakistan Flood Appeal pages will be split up between the charities, not just to one sole charity.

You seem concerened about the Income tax and Paypal charges. We have not been charged for any donations we make, only for those we receive. We make up for these charges when donating. For example if someone donates $100, the (call it, for discussion's sake) $10 that Paypal charges will come out of our own pockets to ensure over all $100 is donated to the charities.

Our application to become recognised as a charity with HMRC will officially make us tax-exempt and so this will clear up the concerns you express.

Upon completion of our new training course, we'll send you a couple of copies.

And no, I am not Michael Morgan Jones. I have never even met him. What makes you think I am him?

MTFBWY