This is YOUR Temple!

Alright Members! So we are all aware that this temple belongs to you, the members!

So what am I about to ask you say? Simple:

What do YOU want to see? Tell us your ideas, your thoughts, and anything you would like to see imporve, change, fix, or alter here at Temple of the Jedi Order! :woohoo:

Who should respond to this? ANYONE with an account of course! All Members to include Knights and Above! This is a chance to not be shy and TELL US, the council, what you want! No fear of reprecussions, no fear of judgement, just ideas!

We will look over all that is being said here and do our BEST to respond with positive actions! Please note however, that something may already be in place, or be unrealistic at this stage in our history, so do not feel down if your idea doesn't come to fruitation.

So open up and tell us what needs to be done! This is YOUR temple and we want to keep it that way

-Master Perris

Just off the top of my head: The initiates studies section I think could be better organized, guided, and lessons more clearly explained. I'm not sure about others but I have had a little bit of trouble in the past getting a clear enough grasp of them at my earlier stages of being a member and novice.

I think something that is VERY important to have in the program is a good clear starting point for the new member to begin on. When I first began the program, it was "Ok, you wanna be a Jedi... here some JOSEPH CAMPBELL!!" Now, as great as he is... I had no clue who the hell he was or what he had to do with anything. So it was very confusing. So I am suggesting that before any initiate begins getting into a bunch of philosophical videos, lectures, and interviews, there should be some section they begin on that teaches them the basics of what a Jedi generally is, what their function is, and the basics of how Jediism at least according to this temple, is set up. Now, a lot of this stuff is in the FAQ. However, I think that a lot of that essential information will be a lot more useful and clearly understood at the beginning of things if its also included in a beginners lesson, to learn the basics of Jediism and its fundamentals. These basic lessons can include video lectures by one or more of the council members as well as reading material. Also, in the future, what I think would be PERFECT to aim for, is a complete web-based lesson system for the new members to use to learn these things and then be quizzed on them. And maybe among that, they can have the option for including their own written material on what they've learned.

AFTERWARD, after they've been through this introductory set of lessons about the foundations and basics of Jediism, then they can move onto other material that can introduce them into the philosophical areas of it all. The thing is, I think they need to know how philosophy and perception applies to Jediism, and why it is important. Then, when they get into the actual parts of the philosophical material, each section of material should be a bit more explained. For example: Who is Alan Watts? What does he teach? What does this material have to do with Jediism and how does it (or how CAN it) apply to me as a Jedi?

From there, the initiate can go on into the further exercises (which HONESTLY I think the exercises should be called "Lessons" and the lessons should be called "Exercises", unless maybe one or both words should be replaced with something a bit more accurate since "exercise" makes me think of practicing something more than just learning something.) And again, as they go into each section and lesson, it needs to be elaborated what the relevance is to where they currently are now in their Jedi studies.

A public affairs/relations course aimed at teaching people how they should approach the media when opportunitiesmarise to represent Jediism.

In the initiate program under Personal Tools, Apologetics should be added to the list of topics for research. Apologetics being essentially how a religion defends its position, it is a foundational skill to understand for religious study and goes hand in hand with didactics and semantics. No theology course would ever be without it, and so it would be valuable for analyzing any religion we study.

I'd also echo a sentiment of Proteus's. I actually like the initiate program as it stands however I think that while Campbell should still be early in the course, I think the creed and tenants might be better placed earlier in to give at least one guideline about our approach. In a way we are kind of asking people to analyze things before they are taught analysis in Personal Tools.

Prehaps adding a Temple Calendar to the site on which events and dates can be clearly tracked and which has an approval based function that all users can add items to but that don't appear until reviewed by someone or a group of someones given the duty of managing the calendar.

Currently, tracking the live sermon days and observation days, while doable, requires that Temple members keep their own calendar or regularly juggle through the Forums looking for all the upcoming dates. Further, members wishing to setup live discussion groups or group meditations without doing a lot of chasing down of individuals seperately, could create a Topic in a part of the Forum dedicated to Calendar events and once a date and time had been settled there it could be added to said Temple calendar for all to see, so even members not privy to the initial discussion about when to perform the activity, could see it and participate.

If the calendar were also restricted to seeing the general approved items, and those items created by speciific people (say your Master or Apprentice), it could be used by Master's and Apprentice's to help schedule live one on one training. While communication with apprentices is generally more consistant then to the Temple as a whole, it still provides a ready tool, rather than the Master and apprentice needing to keep something external.

Other than the calendar, which I think is a great idea; I like the site just fine.

There are some books that I would like to add to the library, but that comes with time.

I don’t know what the financial status of the site is; but, I would like for there to be a committee or something that could allocate resources to charitable work. Even if it were no more than Jedi volunteering their time to a cause, which can easily be done by the individual on their own time. But I think that it would be good to have something in place so that charitable donations could find a good home or go to good use.

From a technical standpoint, I would like to see some sort of "subscribe" feature for the threads, and one that gives you an option to receive a notification email whenever someone posts in a thread that you have subscribed to.

i thought there already was a feature like that...

and i believe we have a calendar somewhere here...or at least i remember there being one on the old site format...

Red Lila wrote: Prehaps adding a Temple Calendar to the site on which events and dates can be clearly tracked

That used to exist.. once.. a long time ago (my birthday was on it ) probably got lost in the move to this new site though

I agree with having a personal calendar

I would like my personal calendar to update itself automatically if there's something of interest I like (It will give me sermon times, if I sign up to a thread or part of the forum where gatherings in the UK are posted then I'd like them to be automatically put on mine etc...)

But having an overarching calendar at least would be nice

Proteus wrote: The initiates studies section I think could be better organized, guided, and lessons more clearly explained

Agreed, a bit of explanation might be nice

Also the Initiate's and Apprentice Back Catalogue should probably be re-worded, there is a lot of stuff mentioned (completion and time dependent dates) which are pointless. In addition I think the minimum word limit should be removed and 'implied'

Hadi Apollos wrote: From a technical standpoint, I would like to see some sort of "subscribe" feature for the threads, and one that gives you an option to receive a notification email whenever someone posts in a thread that you have subscribed to.

There is already a 'favourite' feature, there used to be a subscribe, though I might have just forgotten where the button was lol

Wescli Wardest wrote: There are some books that I would like to add to the library, but that comes with time.

If you have books then send them their names to ren, he can sort it out


Some stuff of my own which I have already been talking to ren and some others about:

1. TOTJO radio, 24:7 where members can choose to take on a slot and play their own music (with an optional jukebox playing anyway if you don't like the song ) This is a great example: http://eve-radio.com/

2. TOTJO video chat: ren has already experimented with different chats, but having to put @templeofthejediorder.org (only relevant to you if you tried the other version) is laborious and I'd like a chat where that was needed. Having a voice/video feature is awesome

I of course recognise that the above (video chat) might not be achievable, but hey it's what I would like

3. Having a record of each sermon, topic and author etc... With a list I can look through to read sermons of a particular type (I'm willing to put some time in to compile this list if you wish)

Those are the first few things that came into my head

Get a move on guys and gals!


ADDENDUM: Perhaps make the Initiate's work longer? Or maybe once completed, to have a list of lessons and activities to do before being taken on as an apprentice? Just so people don't get bored waiting (it might takes months and months to be taken on etc... )

But also I think there should be a requirement whereby you have to make yourself known on the forums i.e. I would want an apprentice to explore other ideas that are brought up on the site

If there are none available then they should post one

I don't want members to invisibly get through being a guest/temple member/initiate/apprentice and finally knight

They should at least attempt to make their presence known and to explore material that isn't just on the programme

I like the aforementioned idea of a web-based initiates programme. It did feel a bit scattered for an "introductory course" to Jediism. It may help if the exercises were better explained, particularly in how they relate back to one's Jedi training. I'm still struggling to figure out why the Personal Tools exercise relates to my Jedi training, and didn't have much to say on the subject in my own journal. I guess what I'm saying is make it feel less like a philosophy/mythology course, and balance those aspects out with information about the religion itself, and the spirituality and ethics of the Jedi. There are texts out there on Jedi spirituality, after all. Might I suggest some texts/articles to take a look at?

Jedi Prep School
The Dharma of Star Wars
Developing Jedi Self-Confidence
The Jedi Manuals
Anything by the Dalai Lama, particularly texts about ' secular ethics .'

My only other concern I've already expressed: the "gender" SIG of the Ladies Forum. I repeat what I said there: the few thriving topics have a home in the health and wellness forum (bodies, menstruation, etc). If the temple is to have a SIG on gender, it must be all-inclusive, not just female-bodied Jedi. I suggest its removal/alteration/integration with the health forum.

And speaking of health and wellness, I think there should be more emphasis on physical training. We learn how we're supposed to balance our training in body, mind, and spirit, and the latter two are certainly addressed often, but there's so little in the forums helping a Jedi to find the best method of physical training for them. Martial arts, yoga...even within those two labels there are plenty of varying areas for us to explore, from the more athletic ones to the more meditation/nonviolence-oriented. That would make a nice addition to the temple, I think.