It’s easy to see the world in disarray. It’s easy to see the world today as something worse than yesterday. In the studies I did of mythology around the world I found some real darkness in our world’s ancestors. If you think some of the myths I used to for the Sextant cards are bad, I saw worse- and that should say something about the darkness of humanity: It has been consistent.
But so has the good. Today, we Jedi can be another force of good in the world. It would arrogant of us to say we are only force of good :). Some of us are suited to become warriors, some of us healers, some caretakers of the world around us, some counselors, etc.
We Jedi know that in order to achieve the peace within the sea of emotion in our world, we have to be the example of peace. That means we cannot remain awash in emotion. We cannot urge people to take unequal action, that’s not justice- nor is it helpful.
What we can do, is recognize that humanity as a whole is slow to learn from its mistakes; that we are on a repeat cycle and will continue to be for a very long time. That doesn’t mean we do not add our own efforts towards the ultimate end goal- even if we will never see it come to fruition. On the contrary, it’s here and now that we can impact.
The Jedi Compass tells us that an ethic we should aspire to is a “Duty to All”. All. That’s a powerful word, isn’t it? If we believe that an action can be magnified, we have to also believe that an action can be echoed in time. On a massive scale, we can see a few of these examples: The Buddha, Jesus Christ, people who sparked well-intentioned religions within their tribes that never were named, to name some good; but also horrible- Adolph Hitler, Slavers, Those that maintained tribal wars despite a want for peace amongst their people.
Some names don’t make it into history, but their impact (good and bad) remain. The Jedi may end up being a short-lived philosophy/religion- lost to history- but that doesn’t mean we cannot make an impact here and now following the chain of goodness in the world. Rather, we each have to make a decision to acknowledge the good and the bad, and that our own actions now must only be appropriate to the problem before us.
Knowing what that problem is, is the key to it all. It’s not our governments. They are as clueless as the rest of us on how to respond to the multiple crises at hand (an upcoming election- the US isn’t the only one having one, nor is it the only election in the world that should matter to US citizens- COVID19, the economy, people’s response to the economy, etc). Nor is the problem humanity. It is the overwhelming emotional state clouding our rationale that humans can find a way towards normal without going off the deep end.
Your fear is valid. Your reactions are understandable. But you can climb above them, then help others climb above them and know:
Accept emotion to bring peace.
Seek knowledge to challenge ignorance.
Temper passions to find harmony.
Death is not the end of life.
