Lessons from the Light

Hans I believe Mark meant this particular thread. I logged out and the Articles and Blogs are visible as always except for the ones that the publisher chooses to make registered only like we must do when we repost copyrighted articles from other sources.

General Discussions in the forum is all public by default and should be so. If some things accidently got restricted it's only a click to put them back to public again.

The article that got Perris all riled up was never public. It was only visible to registered members from the start.

Jon wrote:

Excuse my questioning this but why should all the blogs be shut off from the public? If we do this with the blogs then we most certainly will have to do this with the whole forum too. TOTJO is an open site it always has been right from day one. Now because someone got upset everything gets shut down. Life is one big risk, but not worth living if we do not take that risk. So what message are we now conveying? It seems a more clandestine one. I most certainly do not agree with this.

I have not commented on this as I had already spoken to Master Perris on chat, and I am now wondering whether we should be continuing this conversation on this thread or create a new dedicated thread about site openness.

But since the point has been raised about openness I thought I would voice my opinion.

I think I have to agree with Jon on this one Mark. I completely understand why we would not want people to get the wrong idea by reading our articles and blogs, but I think we should definitely stay an open site. If people are going to judge us then they are going to judge us, the worst thing we can do is to hide something from them in whatever form that might be.

I think we should pride ourselves in our openness and never try to hide anything from anyone. If people want to learn then I'm sure they won't just immediately judge us based on our articles and blogs.

Let the people who are prejudice judge us and let those who wish to learn see everything about us.

This is completely my fault. During discussions about this matter it was mentioned that articles are always viewable by registered members only. I wrongly assumed that this meant ALL articles were supposed to be this way as opposed to just the one in question. When I checked the settings, I saw that this was not the case and wrongly assumed that these had been altered when we changed configuration and servers a short while ago and acted to rectify what I thought was a fault.

I have corrected my error and rest thinsg so that authors of blogs can choose whether they are viewable by everyone or just registered members. I take full responsibility for this and can only apologise for the misunderstanding.

No big deal.

I've reread all the comments to the article (and they were never public) and I can't find anything offensive in any of them even using my best imagination. Except for the author's poor choice of the ad hominem slur against Mormons the article merely presented facts and many of them are horrific.

Here are all the comments. Can anyone find something even remotely offensive in any of them. I've tried my best.

The article (that is visible only to registered logged in users) is here http://templeofthejediorder.org/content/view/1818/1/ .

---

Comments
#1 Jestor
2011-02-0511:14:02 Wow…


#2 Akkarin
2011-02-0616:06:45 Shameful and heartless acts by fanatical fascists.


#3 ZaphBot
2011-02-0711:42:35 I will never understand why peope think that God needs an Army, or want to kill people due to their nature (like homosexuality).
It's vry saddening.


#4 Coperiana
2011-02-1415:08:04 this makes me feel physically ill. How can people be so… ?


#5 MikeBudo
2011-03-2101:16:28 Greetings Each
Gosh there are some strange folk out there…And to think some folk think I'm ..ODD lol


#6 Lycaenion
2011-03-2302:48:26 It seems they always skip\"thy shall not kill\"oh wait I forgot it can be forgiven.Sorry if that was in anyway rude or insulting I just find that that is a main excuse in most cases.senseless killing it makes me wonder about the human race.


#7 War Beauty
2011-04-1107:00:20 I find this offensive acutally.

I would like to apologise if anyone took offense at my comments, they were aimed at the just those individuals and groups that performed these acts against innocent people. My comments are not aimed at anyone else outside of those particular people who were involved in those actions.

I do however standby my statement, and am saddened that such things occur anywhere in the world.

In response to Master Mark most recent post, nor worries about what you previously said. I was talking more about openness in general rather than just the articles and blogs. So please don't feel the need to apologise to me if I am one of the people you were apologising to. If what I said read like an attack then that was completely unintentional!

Text makes for a very emotionally dry and sometimes cold debate (at least in my case!)

Akkarin,
It was more of a general apology on my part for the error that I made. While I will tenaciously defend what I believe to be right I am also willing to hold my hands up and apologise for when I make mistakes!

I did not find anything offensive. Always feel free to speak your mind.

A concerned member sent me some screen captures of recent chats. I'm clueless about the notion that we inhibit light studies (whatever they are) since we've gone to great lengths to make sure we cover the full spectrum of The Force. I personally find it difficult to think of The Force as merely light and dark but see it as a rainbow.

I see a lot of gibberish that on the surface seems vague and uncertain but on full inspection is actually meaningless.

Will anyone tell me what light studies are and how we've moved away from them or in what ways we've repressed them?

Please?

People think of darkness as being bad - think of the force as a room, your average living room for example.

Now in 'normal' light, you can see where the tables, chairs, tv, tables, consoles, cups of tea/coffee, the dog etc etc etc are

Now in complete darkness, the room you know can be a dangerous place, there are many hazards to trip on and get hurt on.

But imagine the same room but flood lit - the lighting is so bright and powerful you still cant see anything - you thus find yourself in exactly the same peril as you did in the darkened room.

So whats my point ?

In simple words - Balance, compromise, understanding.

Too much of anything is a bad thing.

We at totjo have many members all of whom have individual paths - some choose to call their path different things but ultimately we all have the same start and end points.

Its all well and good having 'light' studies but should we therefore neglect those who choose darker paths? visa versa - and the same for everyone who falls somewhere in between.

Hell, even the news channel doesn't just have news on it.

My final point it this - instead of moaning/complaining - do something.

If you think there is not enough discussion of a particular topic - start a discussion - this applies to all members and all ranks and even the straight visitors/guests.

As BrJohn says - you cant please everyone all of the time but we do try to reach a reasonable and fair compromise.

And for the record - I dont see any light or darkside to the force only peoples natures and recently, some so called light jedi have been very very dark in nature - but I'll end that point there and leave those of you who know what im talking about to look into themselves.

MTFBWY - A / SYW

That we inhibit light studies is just a lot of rubbish. The reason this has not occured so far is because this Temple has never really entertained the ideas of light, grey, shadow or dark. We concerned ourselves more with rites (Abrahamic, Pagan, Buddhist, Humanist and Sith). Now when I say we concerned ourselves with these rites I mean they were opportunities given to senior members who were ordained Bishops to create something. Unfortunately little was done, so if you see no work on the light aspect then that means that even less was done there. So who is to blame? We are to blame! Like Grand Master Kana said if you don`t do something then don`t winge and whine like children in a Kindergarten. So why this heated discussion about OOOOH those evil Sith! Well maybe that has to do with the fact that something has been done on that level and that these recent light sider, long time absent, returnees just don`t like to see this. I am a Sith, I helped to set up TDO. Hell I even helped to create the greater part of the Jediism Forum, started off the Pagan forum and had a go at the Abrahamic one. Well to all those who feel so offended by the strong Sith presence I can just say \"I really apologise for working hard to get something done, and sacrificing my time!\" Maybe I should make an effort to do less. Why can people just not be happy with what they do and who they are? I am! Are you? But I suppose that there has to be room for those professional moaners.

Oh yes, just to get things straight the Grand Masters of the Order are:

John
Kana Seiko Haruki
Neaj Pa Bol
Mark
Jon

... and that`s it. Just to stop any confusion caused by auto assumptions.

Here is the lesson I have learned thus far....

We all have opinions, and all of them are welcome, here at TOTJO....

As long as the opinions are not insultive, and made in a way as to allow for understanding and rebuttal, all is well...

A senior member, might 'know' more, might be further along a their path, and may have a better understanding than a junior member.... But one thing they must have, is more openness, more understandability, more tolerance.... whatever the name, you get my point...l

But no matter the person, no matter the rank or stature of a person, there will be confusion, there will be misunderstandings....Shoot, there will be disagreements!!

We all have to try to remember this... when we feel that our point is not getting through, or even if someone is being deliberatly obtuse, we must remain calm, and possibly try to explain from a different angle...

And get some help!! Ask for a Moderator, a Go-between... We are all here, looking for answers.... And I believe dang few of us know all the answers... Sometimes, a fresh perspective is all that is needed...

Be flexible, be accepting, be open.... this will allow you to absorb, and send out, the greatest amount of information...

Or, so I think.... lol...

Oh yea, and while I do understand different people react, compare, and observe, in different ways... thereby interacting, describe, and define differently...

I never really got the whole 'color' thing.... Light, dark, grey....

Isn't the point of all of this to show our interconnectedness (not a word!) ?

And here we are, defining people by there 'color' of Jedi? Breaking things down into their little pidgeon holes again?

As I have said before, I will say now, and again somewhere down the road...

I am just Jestor....