Last week the topic of Escalation of Force (EoF) came upon Jedi Conclave, a Facebook group run by my friend Dan Hatter. Dan, who has a US Naval background, challenged the group to craft an EoF based on our choice of one of the leading Jedi Doctrines in the community. So for today’s blog entry, I have assumed this challenge and will be using the Jedi Compass as my source material.
Whenever we speak on the topic of EoF, we also have to address Rules of Engagement (RoE). RoEs are fantastic tools for helping gauge whether or not defensive action is necessary for a situation. Typically these apply to the battlefield, but it isn’t difficult to define this for the common citizen- let alone our Jedi. Though, what may not be easily understood is that there technically are two sets of RoE and EoF for a Jedi: The Physical Realm and the Metaphysical Realm.
The Physical Realm seems explained easily enough. This is what you can sense with your sight and hearing. It might be on your computer screen, or it may be in your immediate vicinity. When we look at the Physical Realm rules, we are engaging an understanding of the Jedi Compass Virtue “Tolerance”, and the Ethic “Defense”. Tolerance begins with the passive, what we allow to happen around us without interfering beyond civil opinion. But tolerance has it’s limits, the point that something is reasonably deemed an emotionally, spiritually, physically or financially abusive it’s time to step over the line of tolerance and onto the intolerable field. As the problem exceeds this area of merely intolerable acts into deadly acts (the potential loss of life, limb or eyesight) we find ourselves crossing into more pro-active physical defenses which are dominated by our country or state/providence’s laws. Following this line of logic, our combined RoE and EoF would look like this:
*If the problem is financial, then being a human shield just kind of seems silly. Some instances do not require you to insert yourself physically into a situation, so you can pursue the legal angle in those instances in place of a physical presence.
The Physical is easy to judge what is going on. Metaphysical, however, is not. For some, metaphysical attacks are not even a consideration. But as Jedi, we have to remember that there are a lot of beliefs concerning the Force within our community, and as such the idea of Spiritual Warfare is not without it’s own discussion.
Unlike physical realm attacks, metaphysical realm attacks can come from a variety of different sources. Some from the divine, some from the demonic, and even some from another human being. Objectively, unless someone explicitly tells us that they are the reason for our misfortune, we cannot honestly pin-point a metaphysical attack’s origin. Even if someone admits they have killed another person using metaphysical means, as an objective person we cannot (in earnest) prove the individual has done it. In the EoF provided above, we start to shift our responses to a different set up following “Call it out”.
Before we look at that chart, let’s define some of the Rules of Engagement. The Line of Tolerance is where the individual starts teaching or asking questionable spiritual tasks of the victim. Intolerable would be tasking the victim with something that is absolutely dangerous to the individual’s spiritual health or even physical/mental health (as our spiritual lives can directly impact the mind and body). Metaphysical violence would be the point of actually receiving an attack. Finally we have metaphysical violence that kills. This isn’t referring to using a holy book to justify killing someone. In this case, we’re talking about enacting a ritual asking the universe to kill the person on your behalf, or sending a direct energy attack at a distance that inflicts a natural cause of death.
*Shielding the victim may come in the form of you shielding them directly, but they should be taught to either shield themselves or to gain the protection of a divine entity. Never put yourself at risk of overspending your abilities, or spreading them too thinly.
The final stage may sound harsh to some practitioners. Especially if it turns out that the person didn’t actually commit the crime. It is entirely possible to make a conditional binding, though most do not bother with it. If someone admits they have killed someone, they are either a danger to others with their usage of magick, or they believe they are a danger. Without tangible evidence that the assailant can do anything with Magick, the Jedi is left with a dilemma of acting on behalf of others by ridding the world of such a practitioner, or honoring the Jedi Code- of which at least three different codes have a line speaking to the value of life:
Armonia Jedi Code: "We respect our connected world.”
Heartland Jedi Creed: “I acknowledge all life is sacred.”
Skywalker Code: “Jedi respect all life, in any form.”
With these in mind, and the fact that it takes time to work up a metaphysical attack (which takes “imminent” out of the equation that we see in the first RoE), there is only one true option available to us: Binding. Incidentally, because you have no evidence of a metaphysical attack on an individual to turn over to law enforcement, this eliminates the final stage in the Physical RoE to seek police assistance.
“It is important to understand that Jedi are not vigilantes.” -Defense, Jedi Compass