Jedi As Eagles!

Let’s talk about depression. That is something all of us have experienced at one time or another, and I believe it is important for us to understand just what it is, and how it affects our walk as Christians.

First of all, what is depression? Let me give you a very simple definition. It is a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It is a depression when you lose yours. In other words, when bad things happen to us, we tend to feel the mental weight of it all and we start focusing inward with an intense longing for things to be better.

George Barna reports that over 70% of Americans today are suffering from some form of mental depression. It touches all of us, but sometimes it stays way too long.

There was a lawyer in the 1800’s who suffered such severe depression that his friends took all the knives and forks out of his sight. That lawyer was Abraham Lincoln.

Martin Luther was the great Christian reformer of years gone by. He was plagued by depression, too. His wife was said to have told him one day to hurry up or they would be late for the funeral. He asked whose funeral and she said, “God’s funeral.” He immediately explained that God could not die, and she said the way he had been moping around for the last few days, she thought He had.

I believe that we can learn a lot about how our Jedi Path should be by looking at how eagles live their lives and what they go through. The eagle is like no other bird. It is regal; majestic; and powerful. Scientists say that, pound for pound, there is nothing in the world stronger than an eagle except for the ant. The average eagle weighs in somewhere between 20 – 35 pounds, and eagles have been known to carry 100-pound animals for more than a mile. Their wings are the strongest of all birds. They come from a family called falcons, which consist of condors, hawks, and eagles. And even in this family of birds, the eagle distinguishes himself from all others because of its spirit. He has a different honor, a different heritage, and a different habitat.

Eagles live from 60 – 100 years of age. The mother eagle taught her children well. She taught them early on to use those powerful wings to soar above everything else. She taught them how to avoid those areas that might be dangerous and how to glide through the sky.

And every eagle has a rock. They are born on rock ledges, they nest in rocky clefts, and they will always use a rock as a home. There was an experiment some years ago in Lafayette, Georgia. Four golden eagles were hatched and raised inside a building. When they were small eaglets, they were taken outside for the first time and turned loose in the compound.

As soon as they were turned loose, they spotted a rock, and they all rushed straight for that rock and huddled against it. Their natural instinct drew them to the rock. When an eagle needs rest, it will go to its rock. When something is wrong with it, it will immediately fly back to its rock. It will go to its rock for daily cleansing. And the neatest thing is that once an eagle has his own rock, he will never leave it for another rock.

As Jedi, our natural instinct draws us to a rock, too. We are drawn to the Rock of the Force where we find our stability. We find comfort in our rock just as the eaglets found in their rock. We should go back to our rock for daily cleansing from the dirt this world throws on us. And we should never leave our rock.

The eagle will come back to its rock every day, so if you ever want to find an eagle, find the rock and wait. Jedi need to go back to their rock every day, too. And that includes meditating in the rock. But many Jedi are too busy to do that. And using the plight of the eagle, we are going to find out what happens to us when we are away from our rock for too long. If we don’t spend time in the Force, through focus and meditation, we are bound to diminish our connection

Did you know that eagles go through a depression too?. They go through a time of depression that is called the “moping” period.

It is during this period that he (male eagles) quits depending on his power and he seems to lose the will or the knowledge of how to fly. He comes down to earth and, well, he just stays. He does not take off again. And the first thing we notice as he stays in the wilderness is that his power is gone.

There are some people who forget the Force and lose their power too. They were given power in The Living Force of Creation, and they were able to soar above their problems, but they wandered into the desert regions and quickly forgot what they possessed in themselves through their intimate connection with the Force. They got entangled in the things of this world.

During the moping period, it is up to the eagle whether he lives or dies. He can stay in that valley of depression or he can climb up the mountain and go back to his rock.

In Cherokee, NC, there was an Indian guide by the name of Tacoma. Tacoma took a man out into the wilderness to a place called “Eagles’ Bluff.” This is a natural bowl formed in the top of a mountain. It is a couple miles in diameter. It is wilderness. There are rocky cliffs that surround this bowl, and you can see many eagles flying high in the sky above.

When the two men drove as far as they could, they got out and walked another couple miles to the center of the bowl. There, they saw three eagles walking around on the ground. They were not like regular eagles, and they could quickly tell that these eagles were in their moping periods.

Normally, eagles look proud and strong. These eagles didn’t. The calcium had built up around the holes in their beaks to where they could not breathe properly. And the talons that are used to catch pray were bloody from the swelling and cracking caused by walking around on the ground.

Eagles are meat eaters from the cradle to the grave. They will not eat anything but the freshest of meat and will never eat anything that is rotten or polluted like the buzzard does.

That’s what’s wrong with many Jedi. They partake of the world’s rotten pollution instead of the meat of The Force. They act more like buzzards instead of like eagles.

An eagle is not made to walk around like a chicken or turkey. And all this walking had caused the eagles’ feet to swell and become sore. Eagles were made to soar above the earth, because he is not made for this earth.

And neither are Jedi. This world is not our home; we are just passing through. We are citizens of The Living Force of Creation, and we are only here as ambassadors of the Force on a temporary basis. We were also made to soar above the dirt found in the world.

An eagles eye is normally moist and alert. The eyes of an eagle in the moping period are dry and crusty. They are unfocused and cannot see the many dangers that surround them. And it has forgotten about its home on the rocks above, so it just looks down at the ground.

Many Jedi have forgotten that we have a home on the Rock, too, and we forget that our rock is The Force, so they spend their days looking downward, unfocused.

The two men hid in the bushes for a while and then they saw eight eagles flying in a straight line over that wilderness where the eagles walked about. As they looked at the eagles, they saw they were older eagles. The guide explained that every one of those eagles flying overhead had been down here during their moping periods. He said they know how to get out and they come back as an encouragement to the eagles that are down here now.

They had something in their talons and as they flew over the moping eagles, they dropped big chunks of rabbit and squirrel. They were dropping fresh meat so the eagles on the ground might be strengthened and be able to get out of their valley of despair – their valley of death.

I thank God that The Temple of the Jedi Order has some experienced eagles who also drop tidbits of purpose and knowledge to the moping ones. We have a choice. Our choice is to do nothing but stay in a valley of depression, drying up and forgetting the power we have as Jedi, or to digest the sustenance in the Force, so that we can mount up on wings as eagles – for the purposes of service. We dedicate our lives to the Jedi Cause. But if we spend our time moping we're going to miss the mystery. We're going to Miss the glorious path laid before us in the Force.


Adapted from a sermon by Pastor Bruce Ball.

I missed the first line about Christians...this message has been heavily adapted folks but forgive that one line. It should say Jedi.
Here we go again.


Jedi As Eagles

Let’s talk about depression. That is something all of us have experienced at one time or another, and I believe it is important for us to understand just what it is, and how it affects our walk as Jedi.

First of all, what is depression? Let me give you a very simple definition. It is a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It is a depression when you lose yours. In other words, when bad things happen to us, we tend to feel the mental weight of it all and we start focusing inward with an intense longing for things to be better.

George Barna reports that over 70% of Americans today are suffering from some form of mental depression. It touches all of us, but sometimes it stays way too long.

There was a lawyer in the 1800’s who suffered such severe depression that his friends took all the knives and forks out of his sight. That lawyer was Abraham Lincoln.

Martin Luther was the great Christian reformer of years gone by. He was plagued by depression, too. His wife was said to have told him one day to hurry up or they would be late for the funeral. He asked whose funeral and she said, “God’s funeral.” He immediately explained that God could not die, and she said the way he had been moping around for the last few days, she thought He had.

I believe that we can learn a lot about how our Jedi Path should be by looking at how eagles live their lives and what they go through. The eagle is like no other bird. It is regal; majestic; and powerful. Scientists say that, pound for pound, there is nothing in the world stronger than an eagle except for the ant. The average eagle weighs in somewhere between 20 – 35 pounds, and eagles have been known to carry 100-pound animals for more than a mile. Their wings are the strongest of all birds. They come from a family called falcons, which consist of condors, hawks, and eagles. And even in this family of birds, the eagle distinguishes himself from all others because of its spirit. He has a different honor, a different heritage, and a different habitat.

Eagles live from 60 – 100 years of age. The mother eagle taught her children well. She taught them early on to use those powerful wings to soar above everything else. She taught them how to avoid those areas that might be dangerous and how to glide through the sky.

And every eagle has a rock. They are born on rock ledges, they nest in rocky clefts, and they will always use a rock as a home. There was an experiment some years ago in Lafayette, Georgia. Four golden eagles were hatched and raised inside a building. When they were small eaglets, they were taken outside for the first time and turned loose in the compound.

As soon as they were turned loose, they spotted a rock, and they all rushed straight for that rock and huddled against it. Their natural instinct drew them to the rock. When an eagle needs rest, it will go to its rock. When something is wrong with it, it will immediately fly back to its rock. It will go to its rock for daily cleansing. And the neatest thing is that once an eagle has his own rock, he will never leave it for another rock.

As Jedi, our natural instinct draws us to a rock, too. We are drawn to the Rock of the Force where we find our stability. We find comfort in our rock just as the eaglets found in their rock. We should go back to our rock for daily cleansing from the dirt this world throws on us. And we should never leave our rock.

The eagle will come back to its rock every day, so if you ever want to find an eagle, find the rock and wait. Jedi need to go back to their rock every day, too. And that includes meditating in the rock. But many Jedi are too busy to do that. And using the plight of the eagle, we are going to find out what happens to us when we are away from our rock for too long. If we don’t spend time in the Force, through focus and meditation, we are bound to diminish our connection

Did you know that eagles go through a depression too?. They go through a time of depression that is called the “moping” period.

It is during this period that he (male eagles) quits depending on his power and he seems to lose the will or the knowledge of how to fly. He comes down to earth and, well, he just stays. He does not take off again. And the first thing we notice as he stays in the wilderness is that his power is gone.

There are some people who forget the Force and lose their power too. They were given power in The Living Force of Creation, and they were able to soar above their problems, but they wandered into the desert regions and quickly forgot what they possessed in themselves through their intimate connection with the Force. They got entangled in the things of this world.

During the moping period, it is up to the eagle whether he lives or dies. He can stay in that valley of depression or he can climb up the mountain and go back to his rock.

In Cherokee, NC, there was an Indian guide by the name of Tacoma. Tacoma took a man out into the wilderness to a place called “Eagles’ Bluff.” This is a natural bowl formed in the top of a mountain. It is a couple miles in diameter. It is wilderness. There are rocky cliffs that surround this bowl, and you can see many eagles flying high in the sky above.

When the two men drove as far as they could, they got out and walked another couple miles to the center of the bowl. There, they saw three eagles walking around on the ground. They were not like regular eagles, and they could quickly tell that these eagles were in their moping periods.

Normally, eagles look proud and strong. These eagles didn’t. The calcium had built up around the holes in their beaks to where they could not breathe properly. And the talons that are used to catch pray were bloody from the swelling and cracking caused by walking around on the ground.

Eagles are meat eaters from the cradle to the grave. They will not eat anything but the freshest of meat and will never eat anything that is rotten or polluted like the buzzard does.

That’s what’s wrong with many Jedi. They partake of the world’s rotten pollution instead of the meat of The Force. They act more like buzzards instead of like eagles.

An eagle is not made to walk around like a chicken or turkey. And all this walking had caused the eagles’ feet to swell and become sore. Eagles were made to soar above the earth, because he is not made for this earth.

And neither are Jedi. This world is not our home; we are just passing through. We are citizens of The Living Force of Creation, and we are only here as ambassadors of the Force on a temporary basis. We were also made to soar above the dirt found in the world.

An eagles eye is normally moist and alert. The eyes of an eagle in the moping period are dry and crusty. They are unfocused and cannot see the many dangers that surround them. And it has forgotten about its home on the rocks above, so it just looks down at the ground.

Many Jedi have forgotten that we have a home on the Rock, too, and we forget that our rock is The Force, so they spend their days looking downward, unfocused.

The two men hid in the bushes for a while and then they saw eight eagles flying in a straight line over that wilderness where the eagles walked about. As they looked at the eagles, they saw they were older eagles. The guide explained that every one of those eagles flying overhead had been down here during their moping periods. He said they know how to get out and they come back as an encouragement to the eagles that are down here now.

They had something in their talons and as they flew over the moping eagles, they dropped big chunks of rabbit and squirrel. They were dropping fresh meat so the eagles on the ground might be strengthened and be able to get out of their valley of despair – their valley of death.

I thank God that The Temple of the Jedi Order has some experienced eagles who also drop tidbits of purpose and knowledge to the moping ones. We have a choice. Our choice is to do nothing but stay in a valley of depression, drying up and forgetting the power we have as Jedi, or to digest the sustenance in the Force, so that we can mount up on wings as eagles – for the purposes of Service.

What are the risk factors for depression?
Risk Factors for Depression
Lack of social support
Social support serves as a protective factor against depression. People who are isolated and have few friends or family members to turn to in times of stress are more likely to develop depression.

Recent stressful life experience
When people are going through stressful experiences that overwhelm their coping skills, depression often results. Relationship, family, and career difficulties

Previous history of depression
If you’ve had an episode of major depression before, you are at increased risk of having another episode. The probability of having a recurrence increases with each major depressive episode.

Family history of depression
If depression runs in your family, your risk for depression is higher. Your risk is particularly high if one of your close relatives, such as parent or sibling, has depression.

Lower socioeconomic status
Research has shown that low socioeconomic status is associated with increased rates of depression. People with lower levels of income, education, and occupational status face many obstacles and stressors that likely contribute to this risk.

Underlying emotional or personality disorder
People with pervasive emotional difficulties or personality disorders are vulnerable to depression.

Chronic medical condition
Ongoing medical problems or chronic pain can lead to depression.

Female sex
Women are twice as likely to experience depression as men.

Advanced age
People over the age of 65 are more vulnerable to depression.

Depression Symptoms
Depressed mood
Feeling hopeless, sad, discouraged, or empty.

Loss of interest or pleasure
Inability to experience pleasure. Nothing seems to interest you anymore, including former hobbies, social activities, and sex.

Appetite or weight changes
Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month.

Sleep changes
Insomnia or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).

Psychomotor agitation or retardation
“Keyed up,” unable to sit still, anxious, restless or sluggish, slow speech and body movements, lack of responsiveness.

Fatigue or loss of energy
Physically drained. Even small tasks are exhausting. Can't do things as quickly as you used to.

Self-loathing
Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. Harsh criticism of perceived faults and mistakes.

Concentration problems
Inability to focus. Difficulty making decisions. Can’t “think straight.” Memory problems.

Irritability
Grouchy, easily annoyed, and frustrated by little things. Angry outbursts.

Aches and pains
Depression can cause or exacerbate many physical symptoms, including headaches, backaches, diarrhea or constipation, abdominal pain, and aching joints.

The ironic thing about Depression is that its introvert tendeny is nothing else than a desperate call for help to others. Like the eagles who were grounded and were not able either to be with their own or communicate with their own, said a million words to the eagles flying above. It is in what we dont say that others can discover the truth. We just have to really listen....

\"Hey, here I am!\"

To hit rock bottom is a unique chance and a great gift for anyone. Someone in this situation does not seem to have a future, but can use the power of the emotions involved in a Depression to motivate themselves to ruthlessly examine their life. Instead however we become completely absorbed in the FEELINGS and EXPERIENCE of our depression.

Obviously this is more easily said than done. Once we find ourselves in a black hole we are deafened to any message, we do not know what to do, because we cannot discern what is right or wrong any more.

My own experiences of depression are no different to those of others. The denial of my own truth and of the path my soul wanted to walk led to depression. Following the track back down to my soul, and listening to what it wanted, put me back on the right path and the depression melted away. (With a lot of effort and hard work - knowing what’s going on doesn’t make it any easier to deal with!)

It becomes very difficult to heal the root cause of depression when the belief system doesn’t accept that there is such a thing as a soul, or a consciousness beyond the body, feelings, mind and energy.

Depression is merely Anger without enthusiasm.

DK

Interesting Dhagon. I work with elderly people, and in their demence a lot suffer from depression. How may they fit into this Anger with enthusiasm.

They are angry that they are getting old and decomposing, simply. Oh, and they possibly suffer from adrenilitis.

DK

Having passed through clinical depression....there was no anger. Only Sorrow and inavailability of energy.

I see this discussion is far too serious for my bits of humor, I'll take them else where.

DK