What would help the Temple Be A Better Place? Suggestions please...

Bradly wrote: but as jedi it is our duty to show the will of the force
and not gorge lucas.

Does the Force tell you these things? What if it tells me the opposite? That the fiction is helpful? What if the Force is bored and is telling us different things to watch us lash it out in a forum, for its entertainment?

I am being silly, of course.

I see where you and Rickie are coming from. I personally do not own a robe, or a saber, nor do I publicly call myself a Jedi.

They are all props. Similar to a cup and athame for Pagans, Cross and Wine for Christians, we have our own symbols that can aid as a tool to focus the mind.

So, while I understand your point, I would postulate that forcing anyone to remove the props for the sole purpose of "looking more serious" to outsiders would be a misstep.

I completely agree, and I never once said to kill the geek. to be honest my reply was my best attempt at a common ground. as you can see I have a robe as my picture and I love it. but like I stated the will of the force can be from the movie or something completely different entirely.

Bradly wrote: ...but like I stated the will of the force can be from the movie or something completely different entirely.

The Force (and most of the Jedi "religion") in the movies is a bit of a Rorschach test: it is vague, incomplete, and people project their own mind onto the imagery and fill in the blanks with their own bias.

As I see not one person here who believes the Star Wars films to be fact, or divinely inspired, or George Lucas as a prophet of sorts, I must ask: what makes you think we are trying to fit into the movie concepts, rather than adopt those concepts to arrive at a firmer grasp of the "real thing"?

i apologize but yo must be mistaken I never once stated that the movie is fact or anything of the sort. I apologize if my wording made you think I was. but that is not the case.
the closest to my statement to what you could be meaning is as I said. some things from the movies could be profound as in some quotes but never did I say we are trying to be the movie. at all.

but I must attend different matters. I apologize if I came off rude, I was just giving an opinion and agreeing with both sides. thank you for listiening and taking time to convere with me. may the force be with you.

Bradly wrote: but I must attend different matters. I apologize if I came off rude, I was just giving an opinion and agreeing with both sides. thank you for listiening and taking time to convere with me. may the force be with you.

No need to apologize. At no time were you rude, and my questioning is aimed more at an attempt to understand your view more (which I believe I failed on this occasion). Have a great day, and see you soon.

Manu wrote: The Force (and most of the Jedi "religion") in the movies is a bit of a Rorschach test: it is vague, incomplete, and people project their own mind onto the imagery and fill in the blanks with their own bias.

How much of this could also be said to be true of religion and philosophy as well - including here.

"In other words: Let the geek die. Kill it if you have to."

No not at all! I said nothing about geeks and consider that statement nothing but a diversion from the point I was making.

To help illustrate my point try this little experiment. Tell people you know and don't know that you are a Jedi studying Jedism as a Religion for spiritual development and and to cultivate the living force in your life. Observe their reaction and statements. Many will snicker, think you're joking and a role player.

You will say they don't know what Jedism is all about and they are confusing it with the movie. Now we'e getting close to my point. What happens here to dispel or confirm their observation. The opinions of others may mean nothing or something. Listen to them and think about them before you so easily dismiss them.

That is a struggle we all will face. And must stay. True to the force. We do not recruit into our religion if they laugh they laugh but there will be someone that will think hey this might work.

Rickie wrote: No not at all! I said nothing about geeks and consider that statement nothing but a diversion from the point I was making.

I was not intending to divert from your point, simply playing it out. I did try to address it later in my post.

To help illustrate my point try this little experiment. Tell people you know and don't know that you are a Jedi studying Jedism as a Religion for spiritual development and and to cultivate the living force in your life. Observe their reaction and statements. Many will snicker, think you're joking and a role player.

You will say they don't know what Jedism is all about and they are confusing it with the movie. Now we'e getting close to my point. What happens here to dispel or confirm their observation. The opinions of others may mean nothing or something. Listen to them and think about them before you so easily dismiss them.

I am all for improving the quality of the explorations that go on here, if that is what you are gettting at. Personally, I feel the politics and arguments that pop up from time to time are a much better disuader for newcomers than the goofiness of StarWars fandom.