Welcome to the Jedi Praxeum training class! I will be your teacher today and I am very excited to meet and teach you all! Today we will be going over our new training program and all the basics about Jediism!
Before we begin I want to say this:
I may be the teacher, but you all are the community. There is no me vs you all. There is no teacher and students. There is no separation. There is the Force. We are all on the journey through the flow of the Force. I happen to be pointing out the interesting sights. It is up to all of us to decide how we want the community to look, act, and feel. If we wish to raise the quality, then we must all raise ourselves and help those who are struggling. We must unite under the noble cause of making the world a better place. We must always strive for the better, forgive each other’s mistakes, and encourage the light. Look for hope. Shine the light. Feel and follow the Force. Be the Jedi I know you are. And with that, let’s begin.
Intro to Jediism
What is Jediism you ask? Jediism is a path, a belief system, even a religion if you want to use that word (you are not required to) that was inspired by the Star Wars movies. Jediism is a bunch of people who see the wisdom of the movies and wish to apply it to their lives and bring a grounded version of Jedi to Earth. We are not fanboys/girls. We understand the difference between reality and fiction. We may been nerds (or whatever term you wish), but we are enlightened, cool, useful, happy nerds! And we are here to make a good impact on the world. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then let’s dive into the world of Jediism.
What we are not:
There are a lot of myths about Jediism that need to be stated and cleared up. If we wish to be taken seriously, we must hold each other to reality. We do not worship George Lucas (he has asked that we don’t nor does he support Jediism). Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Obi Wan, ect are not real and we do not act as if they are real. We see them as wonderful characters teaching real lessons that we can learn and practice ourselves. We do not support Disney, but we do respect their copy right because being sued is not fun. We have a delicate silent agreement that if we don’t seek to make money off of Jediism, Disney will leave us alone, and has done so, so far. I ask that you respect that. We do not dress in brown robes all the time, and we strongly do not suggest doing that in court (it went badly for one person). We do not carry plastic and metal lightsabers in public as a daily thing. While it’s fun to do it for a charity reason it’s not our normal dress wear, as it looks fanboyish. If we want to be taken seriously, we need to dress in a more socially appropriate way. This allows us to distance ourselves from being “crazy fans”. We are not going door to door, demanding people believe in our faith (we patiently wait for people to find us). We fully understand and respect that the movies are fictional and lightsabers do not exist, at least not yet. But there is a really cool blow torch youtube video out there that is getting closer!
Yet the movies are really awesome and they do make you want to get off the couch and do something meaningful with your life. We believe Jediism is a path of self improvement and empowerment. Maybe we can’t be Hollywood warriors and galactic heros, but we can be role models and life changers on a smaller scale. We are normal people who feel the Force (yes that is real, more on that later), meditate, practice compassion and charity, and help others in various ways. Of course there is a lot more to Jediism than that one sentence.
A real Jedi’s life looks like this:
They get up, have breakfast, and check the various facebook communities, pms, texts, and emails for any new activity. Maybe there is a new student with a thousand questions. Maybe there is a serious debate about the dark side, Maybe someone needs help with a training assignment. Maybe someone needs help with a personal matter. The next thing is to get ready for yep. Jediism doesn’t pay the bills. They may squeeze in a morning meditation, watching life wake up and start it’s day. Breakfast is something healthy. Jediism has not limits on food or drink, whatever is healthy for your body and helps you help others. Then off to work and practicing mindfulness while they drive through crazy, frustrating traffic. After all road rage is part of the dark side.
At work, they may use empathy and compassion to help customers. They are in service to their boss. They use leadership skills and teamwork to get through a rough project. Then the work day is done and it’s time to go to the store to get dinner for the kids. They use patience to tolerate the long line with a screaming child. They may let the mother of that screaming child go first, understanding her need is greater than theirs. They are polite at the cashier, hoping to cheer them up. Finally the Jedi is home, eats, and now can practice. Depending on what they focus in, maybe they are working on a fencing move from the plastic lightsaber class they participate in weekly. Maybe they feel the Force and how that plant on the bookcase is connected to them. Maybe they think about the code and how they used the lessons of the code that day. While there is no physical church, the Jedi may have an online meeting to attend about our yearly USA gathering or schedule to teach a class either through video or instant messenger. That is what the day of the life of Jedi looks.
Who can be a Jedi?
We believe anyone can be Jedi, although it’s not for everyone and that’s fine. You do not be Force “sensitive” as everyone can feel the Force (more on that later). Anyone of any age can start training. I’ve trained 12-70 years olds. So long as you are willing and mature enough you can train and be a Jedi. You can fall in love, get married, have a family, have a job, get rich, be poor, and practice anything you want. You can be any color of the skins, have purple hair, and be any gender or sexual preference you want so long as you aren’t use that to harm others. Jedi practice forgiveness of the past, so criminals who are truly willing to embrace the teachings will find a place in the path. Autistics and other special needs people can practice Jediism, although it may be harder for them. There are several Autistic Jedi I can refer you to. We only ask that you listen and learn with an open mind to new ideas and ways of doing things. All these limits in the movies were there to either make a good movie or because it was based on a monk’s life. We are not monks. We are too spread out around the world, too busy, too poor, not united enough to have a monk’s life. Plus I don’t think that is the best way to be a Jedi anyway. But that is for another time.
What types of Jedi are there?
You may see different types of Jedi being mentioned in the community such as Grey Jedi, Christian Jedi, Buddhist Jedi, and Sith. Grey Jedi are those who focus on balance of light and dark, emotions and peace. Christian Jedi mix Christianity with Jediism. The same is true with Buddhist Jedi. And yes there are a few people who identity being Sith. This course will not focus on that, but you are welcome to do your own research (possibly an assignment for your knighting). This course will focus on just Jedi. However we do have a Grey Jedi teacher who would be glad to talk more about it after class. You are welcome to have two religions if you want. We do not demand that you give up your Christian prayers for feeling the Force. Jediism doesn’t have a lot of demands on belief.
What do Jedi do?
The movie Jedi taught, trained, went on missions, practiced healing, research, wrote, and discovered new things about the Force. The Jedi of Earth do things a little different. Remember we aren’t monk Jedi and we have to divide our time with school, work, family, hobbies, meetings, chores, and so on. So we find ways to fit Jediism in our busy lives. Fully trained Jedi practice with the Force, meditate, exercise, help at work, help their families, go to charity events (see Christine as a great example), help strangers, give advice, practice martial arts, lightsaber fight (there are clubs popping up all over), attend Jedi Gatherings (I’ve been to two), debate ideas online, attend training classes like this, privately train people either off or online, garden, help with arguments, do private academic study, offer advice and support, help the sick, disabled, or otherwise struggling, practice reiki, walk through nature (my favorite thing to do), have pets, teach their kids, and dress up on Halloween and May 4th (because it’s fun!). There are many other things that you can do as a Jedi, but this is a short list.
Why be a Jedi?
Being a Jedi may be tough to learn, but has some incredible rewards. If you are serious and willing to put in daily work you can really improve your life. You can learn how to be calm in stressful situations, you can learn how to handle social situations better, you can the helpful hand everyone wishes to have around, you can save a person’s life (I did just by teaching them how to feel the Force). You can do cool abilities (more on that). You can a deep understanding of the universe and life and how everything is connected. You become more peaceful and happy with your life. You can confidence. You benefit others and friends. You learn how to plan and think about things logically. You learn patience and endurance. You meet new people. You gain a community and friends for life. You gain connections and resources you would never have otherwise.
Should I train?
You are about to enter a 10 course, 12 week training course. This is serious training that has the ability to change your life for the better. I have so many stories of how Jediism saved people’s lives. They were is a dark place, they did the training, they straighten themselves out, and now they are doing better in every aspect of their life. This could be you too!
However I won’t lie. It’s not easy. I can all, but promise your life will actively fight you on this training. Something unexpected will come up: problems with family, work, money, landlords, roommates, car, health, ect. The world we come from, it resist change, and this Path is a major change. Class after class there is always at least one that comes to me and tells me they are sorry, but they can’t come for some reason. And the ones that have issue after issue never complete the training. It’s so sad. This training would help calm the chaos they are in.
So I want to give you this tip: Stick out the training. Find a way, Put yourself first. Tell people no. It’s just two hours once a week. That’s it. If you want to be a Jedi, make it a priority. Value your training. Understand you are working on yourself. You can’t help the world if you are a mess. Help yourself so you can help the world. It’s that’s simple. Hard, but simple.
The Force
The Force is a core belief of Jediism. It is behind everything we do, so it is important that we understand what it is and isn’t. The Force is a universal energy that constantly flowing through all things, including you. It’s not a god. It didn’t create the universe. It doesn’t think or feel or plan things like the Christian god does. It’s everywhere and flows just like dust, water, or air. It helps brings life and life gives back to the Force in a constant cycle. You can feel the Force and use it, however not like in the movies. And yes I am talking about esp/super natural skills and yes they are mostly real. As said before no one is “Force sensitive”. That’s an old trick for stories to make it more interesting.
It’s very tempting to think you were born special or have special powers or are the chosen one. That is an emotional trap people use to make themselves feel better. Everyone is able to feel the Force, however not many do so consciously. Likely most people have felt the Force at one point in their lives, but no one told them they were and they ignored the feeling. We are so busy, so wrapped up in drama, constantly moving that we never really allow ourselves to feel a mystical power. If you think about it we have trained society to purposely ignore anything magical in fear of being killed or socially casted off. It’s only been very recent we have be allowing “freaks, weirdos, nut cases” to explore this topic and that’s still done with some fear, We fear the Force and the raw power that it is. As Jedi we learn to overcome that fear, encourage healthy curiosity and respect for the Force. That comes with knowledge and training, which this course will dive into.
There are three “types” or “perspectives” of the Force. Mind you it’s all the same energy, but it’s how we look how relationship of energy and different things. There is the Personal Force: the Force and you. There is the Living Force: living and the Force. And there is the Unifying Force: how the universe and the Force work together. You will learn how to feel all three of them as each one has their own practice and feel.
Due to Hollywood and hundreds of years of various tells there are some myths about the Force. First off Hollywood is not real. Sad to say we can’t levitate cars with our minds. You can’t use the Jedi Mind Trick (JMT) to get out of a parking ticket. And the new movies are throwing even more wilder abilities that simply don’t exist, but are really cool to think about. You can’t bring anyone back from the death and Force ghosts don’t exist (wouldn’t be awesome to meet Yoda?) Now you can’t die from the Force, but you can sure give yourself a nasty headache. There is no such thing as the “chosen” one, but there are people who are naturally really good at using the Force, just like some are good at art, math, and cooking. My own skill level comes from hard work, research and study, and talent.
The Dark Side
There are many questions about the dark side I hope to answer. Dark side both exists and doesn’t. The dark side is the emotions, thoughts, actions, and intent that is negative and harmful. The dark side is that little part of you that pushes and shoves to get it’s way without care of what damage it might do. The dark side is not a disease you catch if you aren’t careful. It’s not a separate side of the Force. There is no light Force or dark Force. It’s just the Force, neutral. Almost like a tool, like a hammer. A hammer is not evil unless you use it harm others rather than build something. It’s unbridled fear, anger, lust, greed, doubt, and pain. If you ignore it and feed the actions that encourage those emotions you can drive yourself into the dark side. We see this all the time: abuser, gang leaders, bad bosses, power hungry leaders just to name a few. But there is hope. You can learn to control your emotions, be more peaceful and teach yourself a different way of living and many do. This training will teach you these skills to recognize and fight your inner darkness.
Now what the dark side isn’t. It’s not a well dress sith cackling evilly. Again Hollywood isn’t real. You can’t Force lightening strike your boss, or Force choke your ex, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the Force for evil. I haven’t ever done it myself, nor do I care to research that, so we won’t go into examples, but know it can be done. I also have a strict policy if I catch you using any Force ability to gain unfair advantage harm, or scare anyone I will kick you out of the class. I have never had to do that and I hope never to. I also expect the student to come to class sober aka free of all drugs including pot (pm me about pain meds). Several had told me how pot enhances the Force, but I dislike relying on anything when it come Force. Learn to use it sober because you are so much stronger while sober. When you dig deep into the Force you will find it more strange and more awesome than any drug you would want. I know someone who want using drugs trying to get a feeling they found when they felt the Force and got themselves completely clean.
You may be wondering why learn about the Force?
Are we just after cool abilities or is there more? I hope you starting to realize there is always more when it comes to Jediism. The Force teaches so many lessons, some I can’t even name because I don’t know what you will learn. You will learn about connection to life and how important the balance of life is. You will learn about yourself. You will overcome fears and find your strengths. You learn empathy and compassion. You learn about self-empowerment and confidence. You learn about trust and overcoming your ego.
The Dark Side
Jedi training can take many forms. Unlike the movies, we generally don’t live close enough o have one on one classes or have in person group classes. There are a few lucky people who get to have the master/apprentice training. Years ago this use to be way more common and I would love to bring that back, but first we need more people properly trained, aka the goal of this class, (I moved from Virginia to Utah for my own training and I try to visit my own apprentice Kent in Florida when I go there). Generally training takes place online through facebook groups, private messages, emails, skype, or phone calls. You may get lucky and find someone willing to train you personally or you take classes like this when they spring up. But most people do self training which requires self discipline, yet it’s very possible to do. Even this course requires a certain amount of self training.
Lets go over how to self train. You have a lot of resources at your disposal. First review the various Jedi groups and websites. Read the Files page where you will find articles written by different Jedi. Jedi Church has the most, being the oldest of the groups. Next read the posts. Make sure to scroll back a lot, I would say at year. There are some really good topics and lessons buried. Focus on topics such as : the Force, emotional struggle, meditation, the Jedi Code, and social situations. Note arguments and differing opinions. Note who posts what and if you agree with them. There are many experience Jedi that would love to have a conversation with you about Jediism. Pm those people and learn from them. Now make some posts. Introduce yourself, talk about why you are a Jedi, what you are studying, what you want to learn, and what issues you struggle with. You would be surprised on how much help you can get. Make some posts asking questions about the Jedi path. The Jedi love teaching.
Also remember to use google for studies and get general definitions. I google stuff for my lessons when I can’t think what else to write about. I also suggest studying other topics that are not directly related to pure Jediism, but can be helpful such as health, politics, human rights, different cultures, and religion. Yes Jedi should study other religions as many of our concepts are barrowed from different religions: Buddhist, Taoist, Mystics, Pagan, and even Christianity with their beloved Knights and monk practices, Remember to practice physical exercise. There are far too many fat, out of shape Jedi. We need to be able to move and walk and be healthy. There is no set standard for exercise. I suggest go slow and work on one or two things you would like to get better at like walking, lifting something. or climbing up stairs. Physical exercise to help with the mental exercises that in this training such as focus, endurance, and patience with one self.
What restrictions are there to be Jedi? Often I get asked about diet There is not Jedi diet, As Li put it so well “. With that in mind, many Jedi try to live their life in a way that peace and harmony. For some, that means abstaining from animal products, for others, they feel it is the way of nature that humans be omnivorous. But there is no standard creed that explicitly says one way or another. Seeing as we are part of nature itself, means that Jedi take great care not to abuse their bodies and strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle, as it is a part of being in harmony with oneself. Ultimately, the Jedi path is a lifestyle… not a dogma.”
Just be aware like any group we have a few trolls and people having bad days. Trolls are one thing and need to be dealt quickly with, but other people can just have an attacking day as I like to think of it. Usually that’s because they are dealing with outside stresses and happen to lash out at you or have a long standing issue you are bringing up. People forget the Jedi are not saints. We aren’t walking enlightened beings. We are annoying human and we make mistakes. We get scared, angry, and make judgements we shouldn’t. Even the movie Jedi messed up and loss their tempers and said hurtful things. Just talk to an admin if that happens to you.
Now on to practice. It’s time to take the research and put it into practice. You need to practice daily to build up a habit. I would suggest pick one time of day to do your practice and stick with that. Make sure your environment is good for practice: meaning calm, clean, and free of distractions. Also experience helps with understanding. You may not understand the code from a pure analytical perspective, but you may find yourself in an experience where it suddenly makes sense. By developing the habit you train your mind how to think like a Jedi, how to emotional react as a Jedi, and how to recognize how the Force influences our lives. You will learn how to be more calm, patient, and open minded. As the training gets more natural you will find yourself improving and willing to push yourself and try out new ideas. Be patient with yourself and don’t let yourself slack off at the beginning or you will never complete the training. Even missing a day early on can ruin your fragile routine.
Part of training is to make it fun. I have to teach the very basic skills and concepts, but from there you can get quite creative and I implore you to do so. You are free to make the various exercises a game with yourself. Feel free to message me for fun or challenging ideas. For an example I like to mix the Force with dancing. I like to create “strands” of the Force, acting like ribbons and have them swirl and twirl around me as I dance. This tests my split concertation, plus I feel cool and beautiful.
Community
The Jedi community has been through many changes through the years. It was created in the 1990s and went from forums to websites to now facebook groups. We have grown, shrank, grown, and shrank with each movie in both numbers and group amounts. Jedi Praxeum is hoping to not just help grow our numbers, but help quality too. We want to see more people training others. More educational classes, articles, and debates. We want to see Jedi helping their local offline community. We want to make a different both in the community and outside. To do that you need to understand how the community works and have to behave in a productive manner.
Our community is a place of learning, civil debate, problem solving, social connecting, and self growth. So we aren’t fond out endless pointless memes that are either just picture of Jedi or tasteless jokes, or vague wisdom. There are thousands of memes and pictures that do that and it clogs up the groups. We to learn something personal. We want stories. We want you to brag about how you overcame a hardship. We want to hear how you paused and thought like a Jedi to get out of a bad situation. We want to learn who you are, see you grow, and see you help others. These are posts that will get tons of likes and comments and support. This makes the group grow and inspires others.
Please remember to leave out the drama when posting to the community. It’s very easy to get swept away in a fight or trying to take down a troll. It’s easy to get stubborn and insist that you are right and they are wrong. There are some radical Jedi out there and people who shouldn’t be in the community, but we can’t kick them, we can only ignore them and push them aside. I myself have made many a mistake with drama and likely will do so in the future. It’s something I am working on, trying to remind myself of the Jedi mindset and actions: help not refuse. Listen, not judge. Think about the other perspective and ask questions to better understand. Be patient and try to explain myself more clearly.
The community is made up of Off and Online Jedi. We have the obvious Jedi groups such as Jedi Church, International Jedi Federation, Institute for Jedi Realists Studies, Force Academy, Knights of Awakening, and Temple of the Jedi Force/Order. We also have Jedi Chapters. These are offline groups that meet up in person that are in local areas, Mostly this is in the USA. We have the Chicago Jedi, California Jedi, Kentucky Jedi, Indiana Jedi, New York Jedi and the Heartland Jedi. Please note chapters grow and shrink and may not be active at this time. If you live in the area of a Jedi Chapter we encourage you to go to a meeting or at least meet a Jedi (please use common sense and caution when meeting a stranger from the internet. I can give you a lot of tips having done this several times.
There is also the Jedi Gathering, a yearly weekend meet up in different locations where Jedi train and talk with each other. It’s a great way to see what Jedi are like in real life in a safe environment. I have been to three and Li has been to four (in fact we met each other during one of them). In fact a few weeks ago Me, Otori, Sarah, Justin, and Karina all meet at the July Gathering and we got to knight several people. Talk to me after class for more details about gatherings. You are welcome to create your own Jedi Chapter. You need to make sure there are enough Jedi in your area to have a chapter with. It would be best to start with two people you have met online and talk to fairly regularly. Then you can decide if you all want to meet in person. When you have enough people you can do a group in person meeting or at least meet on skype.
This course does not support any group. This is merely information and we encourage you check out every group for your education. You never know who you will meet and can help you with your studies.
Homework:
Create a Homework Thread on the group page. Include a photo the personally reminds you of being a Jedi and brings you inspiration. This is where you will post all your homework. So please keep track of it. We’ve had one person create an blog (Michael Bark’s blog) so you can do that too if you want. Then write a letter to yourself. During the next 10 weeks like will get hard and busy and you will at some point want to quit. Write a letter to that freaked, stressed, raging, crying, hopeless you and remind them why they should keep on going. Include tips and tricks. Exercises to do. Mantras. A memory to look at. Give yourself hope and strength.
To Be Knights: if you want to sign up for the knight program fill out the form and then pm me. I will get to you all in the next few days. Feel free to pm me any questions you have about the program.