If you haven't read it, the post is here. I'm going to be commenting on it, so best read for this to fully make sense: http://californiajedi.org/an-open-letter-to-the-jedi-community/

I am not steeped in the Jedi Community outside the Force Academy. I joined the Force Academy in 1999 and have largely kept to it, as it met all my needs. To be honest, I am also a "low drama" person and have little patience for those sorts of games that others seem to thrive on in the other Force communities. It's not that I don't like the other sites and groups, nor do I believe somehow the FA does Something Different within the Force than them. I just prefer to focus on my own responsibilities, which are more than enough for me. Given that, I think I have managed to dodge the sort of bullshit Katie describes having suffered at the hands of the larger community. To be honest, I feel lucky for it.

Katie has excellent insights from her unfortunate experience, so her words stand well. I am struck at a few points that I want to comment on from her article.

Kate states: "I wish they had spoken out sooner, but I also understand why they were afraid. The experience of being harassed out of the community was traumatic and a deep betrayal from people I have known for years. I understand deeply why someone wouldn’t want to step up to be the next community punching bag. But the leaders in the community (and not just in the Federation, but in all Jedi communities) had a responsibility to do something, not just for me, but for all of us, and refused. I have never felt more alone than when I was trying to help the community learn to be a better version of itself."

And then further on: "That there is a default of what a Jedi should look like, and deviations from that norm are only to be tolerated so far. This community has defined 'peace' as lack of conflict, and rejected those that have pointed out it’s deep flaws and real problems, instead of grappling with those issues."

If you truly believe that Jedi in the real world can happen, that a simple human can become something extraordinary through a serious and realistic study of the Force in life, then this should cause some sitting up and paying attention. Just the idea of "toxic Jedi culture" is enough to indicate a problem, and I fully believe what she says about it.

And most of us know of those communities and behaviors. Even me, self-absorbed in my chosen site, knows of them and has seen how the mob of self-proclaimed Jedi rally around questioning the ethics of their own. I have been told by numerous people how such and such group is toxic but they don't want to speak up or leave because they'll lose their status there. Or, as Katie says, they're afraid of being run out and harassed as questioning the Order. I have listened to honest concerns about it, and my Jedi Community Survey freeform comments section (which I don't publish because I don't want comments to be traced to their owners by people like Katie talks about) talks a lot about leaders living up to actual Jedi ideals and earning their titles.

They're silent because of fear.

They are Jedi, exceptional human beings who wish to walk a path to be better, silent and complicit against toxic treatment and behavior because of fear.

That's fucked up.

Look. Even since the days when I joined, we've really wanted to be recognized as having a valuable role in the world. I remember the days of wishing we had a place in real life to live and study and work together. There has been a great surge in the world of some very deep problems that our philosophies and efforts could be brought to bear against. But if we are getting wrapped around the worst parts of human nature around groupthink, exclusion, and conformism, then we are far from that dream.

If you're looking for a cause to be Jedi against, it's not Dark Jedi or Sith or the Empire. It's you. It's the silence, it's the justifications, it's the drama. It's right within the community. And yes, that is hard to deal with. Maybe it's easier to just say nothing, but then you're not a warrior at all, are you? It is perfectly fine to say "I was wrong" and then immediately begin correcting the error and making amends. The most worthwhile actions take bravery, because they are not easy.

As Katie says, if you don’t step up and speak out against toxicity, you are tacitly supporting it. If that toxicity granted you a fancy title, that should not mean it reduced your greatness. If you keep the title and stay silent at the abuse, then you prove that it actually did.

At the Force Academy, we are home to Force Realists of different ideologies and colors, Light and Dark, Shadows and Unified. Different views of the Force and different ways of manifesting it in the world. However, we are still members of one human family. Unlike the Star Wars universe, from which we take our inspiration, there are no aliens or "other" among us; we are all equally human.

As the specter of racial inequality and injustice once again explodes to the surface of our society, it is especially important to remember and recognize this fact: we are all one human family.

Throughout our differing beliefs as Jedi, a commonality is a belief that the Force exists. It is, in the words of Obi-wan Kenobi, an energy that "surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together." It binds us together. In these modern times, we feel it is vital for us as Jedi to consider that basic definition and apply the insight from it to what we see happening now. Reject violence, but seek to understand what drives people to it. Resist hate and fear in others, but recognize and work against the seeds of it within ourselves. Work toward equality for all, but understand it may be uncomfortable for us personally.

As we go about each our struggles with what is happening, do remember we are Jedi in this big human family. We have decided to step onto a path of introspection and study that transcends the typical. We should use that resolve now on a challenge that counts like few do: using the Force to bind us all together, not drive us apart.

May the Force be with us all.

Click here to listen to the interview

It's an incredible experience to have a journalist that treats our community with respect.  The Canadian Broadcasting Team reached out and asked for an interview for May the 4th.  Both the team and I agreed that having something uplifting during this pandemic would be a welcome reprieve from all the doom and gloom stories flying around.

During the interview, we talked about what drew me into Force Academy 18 years ago, how it impacted my time in Iraq, and what the Jedi Path teaches us about responding to COVID19.  Listen in and choose one of the questions Brent asked, and tell us about your own Force Realist Journey in the comments below.

I wanted to talk a bit about what it means to be a Dark Jedi in a time of quarantine and limitation and doubt. The Dark is an aspect of the Force driven by seeking and securing agency for yourself; that power that comes with the freedom to do what you want in life, with the full knowledge of what that Want is. It is a goal that involves, more or less, hard work on getting your inner house in order and building your own solid foundation on which to launch yourself at your goals.

So what opportunities does the time of Coronavirus bring to us?

I can better frame this in terms of what it does not bring and why.

Throughout the Dark Aspect training at the Force Academy there is a drumbeat that echos my belief that you must have your foundation solid to begin serious work. This is very much a Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs issue; you must have food and shelter stability before you can expect to devote yourself to writing sonnets. You must have emotional needs met for yourself before you can expect to teach others. You must place the airline oxygen mask over your own face before assisting others. It is not a hard and fast rule, as many will say, but it is a steady model of progress on increasing levels of foundation.

Right now, not everyone reading this has food or shelter stability. A lot of us are out of work and uncertain about our bills. A lot of us have medical needs that are suddenly unable to be met. A lot of us have family and friends who are sick, have died, or could die in this. We don't know what the next six months will look like as a society. Our foundations are shaken.

Now, I know many of you have seen the memes and cheerful challenges about "if you don't come out of this with a new skill, you didn't lack time, you lacked discipline." This assumes a level of privileged stability that not everyone has right now. I imagine, as the quote goes, that if you have more time now, it might be because your income is suddenly cut off. This challenge and others along the same line assume that everyone is in a stable state from which to learn a new skill with the golden opportunity of enforced quarantine.

Well, that's not true, is it? It might be for one person, but not for another. One person might be able to take on new hobbies and skills during this, and another might be suffering from anxiety over it and unable to focus on showering regularly. Just because other people lack that stability to focus on self-improvement doesn't make them lazy or weak. It means they are coping from a different world than you, and possibly struggling at it.

So I say... take care of your foundations first, especially the mundane ones like finance and health, and don't worry about mastering chess or baking your own bread for Instagram.

That is not to say that those on the Dark Aspect path have nothing to do right now. Our early training focuses on watching our minds and emotions and understanding how they work. This is still a learning experience, though one that may be difficult.

First, attend to what needs attending to, for yourself. Focus on that.

Second, if you feel you can take on a bit more, observe yourself during this. How are you doing? Without dwelling on regret, what would you have done six months ago, with what you know now? How about a year ago? What could have helped make this easier? Do ideas come to you during the day now that you lack the energy to do? Write these things down in your journal and then let them live in words for now. They'll be waiting to be acted on when you're ready, not when other people think you should be ready.