The Dormant Members

I give out professional business cards and lead those who are interested in my inital intro to being a Jedi.

I am trying to organize a group in Az which can meet (just for support at this time) and maybe establish a training group which will serve the community through community projects. I have five so far. (all are registered on the site)

I am hoping we can get more folks on Skype (video Conferencing) to meet with their respective Master during thier training.

Thank you for your input.

Sometimes, discussion is hard...

I've got something I've been mulling over for months...

If it bothered me too much, I too may have stepped away from TOTJO to study on it...

But life is life.... I was lucky and found my niche here at TOTJO...

After you are knighted, then what? What are you gonna do?

The education doesn't stop once we've hit knighthood, nor cardinal either...

But people find what they are looking for, then they stop looking... Or they realize they may never find what they are looking for and stop looking...

I still read books post on them in my journal... Br. John scours the net, bringing news and stories to us to discuss, learn from, and discuss...

Its what he and I enjoy doing....

I can only imagine what others that are still here are doing....

Jax said, When the student is ready, the Master appears."

That is my second favorite saying...

My first is under my avatar, and has been since my first day here...

"What you want to learn, will determine your teacher"...

Who is the student? I am...
What do I want to learn? Myself (who am I, why am I here, how do I control my anger)
Who is my Master? I am...
Who is my teacher? I am...

I think I've got my answers, now I'm checking my answers, practicing what I've learned...

Maybe the other people got it all figured out and decided they could learn no more... Honestly, TOTJO was smaller, and less equipped...

You ever get hung up on something, a song in your head, a name you couldn't remember, or just can't wrap your head around a thought?

What do you do?

You distract yourself, hoping your mental block will unplug... Change the subject...

Or go research it, find opinions, get perspectives, ask questions, read books...

After you've hit the wall here, and are bored, nothing new to read or discuss.. Then what?

Will you scour the news for religious articles for discussion?
Go train elsewhere, and bring back what you know?
Go to other sites as a TOTJO representative?
Train your own apprentice?
Help continue to develop TOTJO as the Jedi site of all Jedi sites?

What will you do?

We shall see...

That is what I was looking for in an answer... a bow to you... I will meditate on your posting.

Amen, Jestor, Amen!

I wouldn't bother worrying about dormant Jedi. Like a lot of people have said, sometimes not everything you need is online. I look at the Temple as the beginning of my Jedi path. My journey may very well be with the Temple, but I don't think anyone here would wish me to stay if something were to call me away for a while. Certainly all the stories of Star Wars did not begin and end in the temple. They happened in life, with the Force as a teacher. The adventure of life can be apart from the Temple, but not apart from the Force, which is what the Temple is about in the first place. What if someone wanted to go into meditative solitude for a while? You do it because of your own relationship with the Force, not because of the Temple. I've thought about the idea: What if the Order tried to take a more personal stance in people's lives? If clergy contacted people personally to police the attendance of Jedi, messaged people when they felt someone was in need guidance in the Force, tried to encourage tithing to the Order?
It just wouldn't be TOTJO at that point. It would be what I had come to expect from my former Christian faith: conversion conspiracies, clergy discussing courses of action about the congregation. Basically, the BUSINESS side of the church influencing the church. That has been, refreshingly, not the case. TOTJO doesn't seek to be like Scientology, or Catholicism. We just want a spiritual home!

@ Planet... I appreciate your thoughts. I agree with you.

We are all different for sure. I look forward to knowing people on a personal level and tapping them for guidance in the ways of the Force. I agree that this is a community unlike any other and adventure is apart for this Temple. If you go into meditative solitude I want to hear of your experience and learn form it and absorb your new insight. Your journey is just that... a journey and your home should be a place where you are welcomed back to sharpen your fellow Jedi.

I believe that our Jedi path should be shared with an open heart not with a closed cupped hands. What I learn from my experience should be manifested in the world, not kept within the confines of my home or my discussion group text.

It is clear that your experience with the church is not good. This is not that church and I pray it never becomes that church. I'm sure you would agree this is a different place, now what will you do to make it a a spirtual home for others? That is the challenge.

MTFBWY

I'm in agreement with what everyone else has been saying here.

I'm really glad I found this place and for the moment I'm really getting a lot out of my time here. I don't know whether or not I'll stick with the Order, I don't know anything that's going to happen for sure, all I can do is be happy that for this point in time TOTJO is exactly what I need, and be willing to accept the fact that in a week, year or ten years I may find something that calls me more. Every point is just a stepping stone along the way, there are no absolutes.


(Though I do think I'll be sticking around here for quite a while.)

I try to tell as many people as I can about at least why I find Jediism appealing. That's all I really should do, in my opinion. Most people laugh when they find out I'm a Jedi. I tell them, yeah, it's funny.. but it's also serious! I tell them what I think about Star Wars and myth. I tell them what I think about he the message of Star Wars and how it pertains to our society today.. If by the end of my spiel, I've at least got them thinking! I've done my part. The rest is up to them, but they at least have a new respect for what is now my spiritual home.

To my mind the doors of this temple are always open; all may enter and also leave as and when they desire. We all carve out our own path through life and that may only include TOTJO for a short while. Be it only for a brief moment we each bring a unique life experience to the temple and we can all learn something from even the smallest interaction.

The beauty of the internet is that it is 24/7/365 and available in most countries around the world. This has led to the eclectic mix of people who have entered this temple and the wealth and diverse amount of knowledge that can be gained within these virtual walls.

Personally I believe that after years of searching I have finally found in TOTJO a religious/spiritual community that works for me. I would like to think that in the future I will be able to pass on the knowledge that I have learned in this place to others, so I intend to complete an apprenticeship, become a knight and then when the time is right, take on an apprentice of my own.

I also intend to train as a member of the clergy to further expand my knowledge and hopefully my ability to provide support and guidance to anyone who requires it whether within the temple or not.

I realise that at this moment I have much to learn and that no matter what I will never stop learning, so I am in no rush to achieve anything, but simply have these intentions for the future.

MTFBWY

Well PloKoon...

I know of many dormant senior members...but they don't seem so dormant to me since we remain in contact

Most of it is just people out grow being online for learning and growth. It never means they have strayed from their Jedi path. But merely, followed a different set of directions to see if that gets them where they wanna go

I encourage everyone here to not just interact online in temple. Make personal connections with your brothers and sisters around the world and you may feel less disconnected when they drift away from here