Over the last couple of weeks, Nakis (founder of Jedi Resource Foundation), Rosalyn (founder of Order of Kyber) and myself have been running an initiative called “Jedi Community Action Network” or “Jedi-CAN” for short.  It’s not really a new thing, Rosalyn came up with the idea about 7-8 years ago and she and I have off-and-on tried to get it off the ground.   This year is different because we have more support than we ever have, and ideas are flooding in.  And with Sarah’s help via Ashla Cafe, we’ve been able to start working on the first team: The Ashlanae Force.

All the teams are open-volunteer.  What makes this one unique is that it is the only one which specifically relies upon the Force to help others.  It’s the Distance Healing Team.  On the surface, it seems simple enough, but in reality there are things Rosalyn & I found that we take for granted in terms of Responsibility as Force Healers, and today I want to address these points.  Here are our 5 tips for being Responsible Force Healers.

1) You need to learn to self-discipline.

At the heart of all the tips I will be giving you, is discipline.  Without it, you can get lost in the chaos, rendering yourself ineffective as a Force Healer.

 2) You need to let go of your emotions.

We are not saying that you need to be an emotionless void.  That’s not what the first line of the Jedi Code means, in fact there’s a reason that the alternative to the traditional code is “Emotion, yet peace”.  That’s the aim: Peace.  The most basic Jedi Code teaching is that our emotions can cloud our ability to do anything.  

In our emotional states, we give what we think is needed, and that may or may not be appropriate to the person you are trying to help.  Furthermore, your emotional energy mixing into your Force work can impact the person in a negative way, if you’re not careful.

 3) You need to let go of your attachments.

One of the Missions we have done up to this point included the Surfside Condo Collapse.  It feels cruel, and trust me I feel that way too, but as Jedi, we have to remember that the last line of the Jedi Code acknowledges that there is “Death, yet the Force” (or “There is no death, there is the Force”, if you prefer).  This was particularly important to remember with regards to the collapse, because the people a Force Healer could have encountered may have been those whom were on the verge of death and needed comfort to transition.  Our attachment to keeping people alive may increase their suffering, especially if the Force has already communicated to us that they are going to pass on before anyone can reach them.  When we move to help, we have to trust what the Force tells us about the situation- not what our emotions or attachments want to see happen.

 4) Consider attending a live Healing.

Even if you have all 3 above nailed down, we never fully know our responses to the very specific situations we may find ourselves in.  Sometimes we don’t know how  attached or emotional we really are.   Being in the room with someone who is trained in mysticism that can lead you out in an abnormal situation can prove invaluable.

 5) Have a glass of water available.

Energy work can take a lot out of you, especially if you’re giving it all you’ve got.  It’s not unheard of for practitioners to feel dehydrated afterwards.

Oftentimes we talk about about the Code and the Compass in a practical way, but we forget that they are both also useful tools to inform our ethics in terms of using the Force.  

Exercise: Review this article against the Jedi Compass & Code and identify which tenets it discusses, and why you feel it’s important to be aware of each tenet in your own Force Practice.

My most embarrassing military story I have, I’m finally going to share it with my friends on this Veterans Day:

NSTIW ( <—— Wonder how many will figure that one out,) a SPC, in the DEFAC with a newly promoted Sergeant to pick up meals for my co-workers at the detainee facility when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

It was a falling red dot, against a black mass, against ACU pattern. My reflexes snapped into gear and I grabbed the 9mm before it could hit the ground. I was so fast, I managed to do this before the weapon got past the guy ass. The weapon’s owner whirls around, the new sergeant I’m with is mortified, and the sergeant accompanying the weapons owner is trying to figure out what just happened.

As I come up, I’m ready to give this guy a piece of my mind “Where is your holster!” I wanted to demand...until...

Rocker, Rocker, Rocker, Star- oh god...COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR!

All I can do is stammer “gun, fire, falling”.

“Well...at least it was a woman and not a guy” the CSM’s driver laughs.

I’m not really sure what the CSM had to say about it. I don’t remember because it was too embarrassing 😹.

My squad was awesome in the end, though- and the CSM didn’t take my actions as being anything more than a fellow soldier looking out.

On the spot corrections shouldn’t be something we get angry about. We’re all here to help and protect each other. 🙂 And that is one of the greatest lessons I found in the Army.

What about you, Vets? Share with me below your stories and the life lessons the military taught you- even if you found them negative. We all have different experiences.

An outsider's view is valuable in showing you what a vision not steeped in the same environment for years can see. It is the newbie view, and if the newbie is already bold enough to ask frank questions, it can be a good assessment of things that may have gone unseen or at least unprioritized.

We had such a newbie, called Ku, come by recently and I wanted to respond to their questions and observations fully and for everyone to see. I will caveat that I can only respond based on my own view and position; others can consider the questions and respond as they wish. I'll state the newcomer's questions and try to roll in some context around their other observations. I do thank Ku for voicing their questions and observations!

First, on training, Ku wonders why our training wouldn't look more like:
- accessing & tangibly MANIFESTING the "supernatural", "quantum", "magick", "Divine", "Force", etc
whatever you want to call it.
- kendo training accompanied by lessons from the "Go Rin No Sho" by Musashi & Art of War Sun Tzu by
(while swords are not legal or practical self-defense, the life/business lessons & disciplines are)

I think these have been themes throughout the Force Academy's long history, but the first has waxed and waned, depending on the tolerance of the occult and energy work of active members. There was a time in the early 2000s when this was very commonly discussed, and indeed the current Dark Aspect (DA) program draws its structure and progression from occult principles and concepts, but within the DA that fell out of favor, and then up again, and so on. The leadership of the Dynasty (what we call the periods of time delineated by leaders of the Dark Aspect) tends to set the school of thought. My current Dynasty (the 8th) includes it as advanced material after getting one's own self in order, but not right up front.

There has also been something of a tension between the people who scoff at typical "Jedi tricks" such as telekinesis and those who think it's part of the Jedi package. The FA these days is fairly grounded, so it hasn't come up much, but I think most are wary of going into it because it feels very roleplayish, or at least risks mockery. Occult and supernatural discussion areas have been set up to encourage discussion, but have not seen much activity. I suspect this is not just a feeling at the FA.

So it's there, I think, but not overtly. Maybe we've become a lot more cerebral and that's something to think about.

As for the martial arts training, when active members have had the background to speak to it, it's been part of the FA. The Dark Aspect used to have an entire branch called the Jensaari that we made the martial part of the Aspect, but that faded after I left years ago and I have not found someone to take that on now (yet). I myself have a background in iaido, but not deep enough into the entire lore of things to do it. I also don't have the time to do everything at once. Iaido lessons could be done, but I do not think this is an easy or preferable thing to do online. However, both armed and unarmed martial arts are part of the Dark Aspect training.

A bit of a side note: when I talk about the Dark Aspect training, it is from the angle of knowing what the full program entails. It is also from the angle of being the sole person developing it, and that is a lot of work. So if you read this and wonder where these advanced things are, understand that it is a lot of work and I just can't do it quickly. I never did think /small/...

Second, Ku wonders why we have "Christian-Jedi" and hyphenated differentiaters like "Buddhist-Jedi" or "Atheist-Jedi" etc. They ask "isn't the 'identity' here 'Jedi' - period?" This is something I've wondered myself. I think we, as a community, have had trouble defining what the Force is, and the temptation is great to try to attach it to or at least draw parallels to existing belief structures we already hold.

I confess to not understanding the need to differentiate, or hyphenate, different communities to Jedi. If any of the constructs out there could include multiple faiths and beliefs and lifestyles and choices, it's Jedi, and yet there is still the "I'm a Jedi but a Purple-Jedi". I think the why around that happening is complex, and possibly has to do with people not feeling like their particular flavor of life is understood of accepted by a Jedi group, so they create their own group that is more accepting. To this, I wonder why we don't fix the lack of understanding and acceptance that drove people to hyphenate in the first place, if it's possible.

I would advise that if you call yourself a Jedi but attach specific qualifying rules to being a Jedi that exclude other groups, you might want to really think about that. I don't mean assigning basic morality and principles; I mean, for example, if the trait you have attached to your version of Jedi is homophobia or atheism or Libertarianism, have a look at that projection and what it might do to exclude other Jedi-minded people who don't share it with you.

Third, Ku was surprised that each Aspect Adept was not intimately familiar with all three Aspects, and I think that's a valid observation. I'm guilty of that myself, as I go to extreme lengths not to appear to mess in the other Aspects business, but it's probably taken too far. I'll be taking steps to remedy that.

Fourth, Ku observed that the site has a lot of content that is no longer relevant, and that is also true. We do have a 20 year history, during which a lot of people with different ideas wrote essays for the site. Not all of that is relevant to what we do now, and it's not clear on the site which is which. For the Dark Aspect, as I finish up moving all our historic works to the new site, I will try to set up some context and history to put those works into places where they are 1) valued for the work put into them and the ideas the author had and 2) put into context with our history. Good observation.

And last, Ku asks if we are role-playing or are we Jedi? I think a bit of both, to be honest. I see healthy roleplay as a means of taking on the mantle of something you might like, to see how it fits and to provide a sort of "live view" of an ideal. I view it as the same thing as putting on confidence and remembering not to move so much during an interview, to cover nervousness. Eventually, the good parts of the roleplay become ingrained as habits, and we grow. The negative part of roleplay is to use it as escapism, living two lives with no intention or strength of will to grow from an undesired state to an ideal one holds. Someone who acts like a Jedi online, and yet acts very unJedilike offline, is this kind of unhealthy roleplayer.

There are, obviously, some members of our community who are in it for the Jedi robes and lightsabers, but not very many (3.3% said Star Wars fandom this year), according to our yearly survey on why and how people participate. I do think that those who wish to be "taken seriously" as not roleplaying as Jedi do not help their case by dressing in robes and describing what we do in fictional terms. If the distinction between loving the fiction and drawing inspiration from it, and wanting to fly in spaceships and fight with light swords is very nuanced, that nuance is often lost.

As such, on that, I think the answer is going to vary as much as "what is the Force?" does.

Thanks, Ku, for the insightful questions. I will be taking action on what I can here, and hope this has given you some context and thought process for what you have seen with us.

Disclaimer: This isn't a substitute for conventional health science, such as wash your hands, seek out medical aid when appropriate, during the Corona Virus avoid very public places, etc.  This is merely something to do in addition to everything else.

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Pueblo Native Americans, and many more religious groups all have something in common: Asking for Blessings over a meal.  This practice seems to have fallen out of style, but what better time to call attention to the concept during a massive worldwide health crisis?

Force Realists do not have one religious tradition that unites us, rather we have a philosophy which some perceive as their religion, and others use it in addition to their own.  That is, as many of you know, I'm Christian Jedi and therefore my blessing would be a Christian Prayer.  But I have colleagues who have pagan leanings, and therefore their blessings would follow their own pantheon.  Some are Agnostic and have no blessing at all; while others are Atheists and probably do not see a value in the blessing itself.

To the Religious, I encourage you to begin using a blessing before every meal- even when you're out at a restaurant (who cares what others think of you, your religion is between you and your god[s]).  But to all of us, I want to encourage you to not eat while you're upset.  The theory has it's basis in, admittedly, Masaru Emoto's Water studies- the idea that our thoughts can affect the properties of water.  I'm not saying don't eat for days on end because you're depressed or just can't get out of a personal funk.  Instead, I'm asking you to find something that will make you happy while you're having a meal.  Turn on something to watch which is fun, exciting or funny.  Listen to some music, pull out a book, have family at the table to have a conversation or play a board game.  Whatever it is that you can find to uplift your spirits while you eat can only bring about good things.

There is some biological function that goes along with this.  When you're happy, you have less stress impacting your body, which in turn allows your immune system to function with better ease.

I know this is a difficult task, especially if you have a ton of things to worry about.  But it can't hurt to try.