In math, the order of operations can change the value of the equation. For example:
2 x 2 + 2 x 3 = 10
However, when you introduce parentheses at the beginning, the value becomes very different:
(2 x 2 + 2) x 3 = 18
As you may recall, the order of operations is Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication/Division, then Addition/Subtraction, or PEDMAS.
When I and Keith Williams (Sotunus) were developing the Jedi Navigation System, we looked at the method of education in a similar way to math’s Order of Operations. We started with the questions of what was important to get you from point A to point B. Although many will look at education as education, there’s value in not creating a system where the student simply picks and chooses what they want to learn first.
With many in the community, the first thing I’ve seen then want to learn is about connecting with the Force. They want to know how to use it, and start their mystical practices. As someone who has come from a Pagan background, I’ve also seen what happens (far too many times) when your foundation is diving into spell work with your own intentions before ever really understanding the consequences. And for some, the problem is that they get discouraged from doing anything because they didn’t have the foundation of knowledge to make the spell function. Both situations can create their own damage- one may damage people around you because you’re inexperienced, and the other cause a person mental health issues because they see it as one more promise that isn’t fulfilled. Through the collective experience that Keith and I have with the esoteric, we found wisdom in systems that predate us by thousands of years- there needs to be foundational knowledge before you start working with the Force itself.
Spiritual Art of Meditation
It begins with Meditation. Every class we teach requires reflection, and this is achieved through meditation. But also, Force Work requires meditation and understanding of what the Force is trying to communicate to you. Personal Transformation comes more easily when you have the right meditative tools. The goal of our Meditation program is to help you find different meditative tools that will help you throughout the course and your life. Not everyone will connect with Mantra Chanting, but may find that meditation through Journaling helps them achieve self-awareness and metamorphosis.
Jedi Code: A Jedi's True Ally?
In the fiction, it’s the Jedi Code that separates the Jedi from the Sith, the Baran Do, the Korunai, and so many other force users, not Force Work. Even in the fiction, the Jedi Code evolved and was expanded upon by a series of tenets which Real Life Jedi have been known to call the “Jedi Behaviors” (you can find the list under the Legend’s Tab “Following the Code” here https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jedi_Code/Legends)- so it wasn’t set in stone as the traditional “there is no ______, there is _______” version.
This makes the Code that much more important to discuss before giving you an opportunity to learn what the Force is. Understanding the Jedi Code and putting effort into making it a part of your non-force-use work reinforces the expectation of how a Jedi is intended to work with the Force. It helps you better fend off the Bogan (Dark side) and tap into the Ashla (Light side).
The Force: Beyond the Fiction
The third step is to understand the Force. Our program doesn’t have you use it by this point, that comes with an apprenticeship and depends greatly upon what you want to do with the Force. But we do want you to get to know it and understand it.
The Jediism is defined by Temple of the Jedi Order as a Synchronistic Religion. This is because it honors the roots of the Jedi Path’s origin in Lucas’ study of Joseph Campbell’s work as a Comparative Theologist. In the early Jedi Community, it wasn’t uncommon to see discussions of how the Force paralleled to various energy traditions. There were even conversations about which traditions would be more appropriate to the Jedi Path- are they strictly healing traditions? If so, which ones are more appropriate because they carry the values of the Jedi? Can you use it in Combative Martial Arts, or only in Tai Chi? Where does the Astral Plane fit into all of this? Can we use it for combat, or should we only use it to gain knowledge and understanding?
The point is that the Jedi Community wasn’t just exploring what the fiction had to say about the Force, but that they recognized it was a universal constant throughout our history. Our ancestors knew about it, and worked with it, by various different names. And each one had their own understanding of how it could or couldn’t be used, how it should or shouldn’t be used. By synthesizing this information together we could see a clearer idea of the Force and draw our own conclusions. That’s the drive behind the class on the Force in the Jedi Navigation System - getting you to think more deeply about what the Force is and what it isn’t, while working on what you want to know about your own relationship to it. Because until you become aware of this, you’re not going to be able to embrace all that can be offered by the Force.
But more than this, remember my mentioning that how people get discouraged from spell work because they didn’t have a foundation of how it’s suppose to work before they jumped in? I have found that faith in what is and isn’t possible can be built by viewing the similarities across multiple cultures in different regions of the world. Especially when our faith is broken so heavily by the explanation of science throughout our entire lives.
Self-Awareness
You begin exposure to the Force in the third class. The Jedi Community has historically divided the Force into three segments- Personal, Living and Cosmic/Unifying (these last two are interchangeable by some, and others it may mean very different meanings). The Self-Awareness class deals more heavily with the Interior knowledge. How you view yourself and what you know of yourself, which is squarely in the camp of “Personal Force”. In the class on the Force you get a question that is aimed to get you thinking more about what voices you are hearing when you connect with the Force. But it’s in self-awareness that you really begin to learn to separate your own voice from the voices you hear in the Force. Furthermore, it’s about building a responsible practice with the Force.
The class also touches on Self-Awareness Exterior, or the importance of understanding of what you’re presenting of yourself to the world. This is working with the Living Force in a more practical way. It’s not until you can understand these two levels of interaction that you can really see how metaphysical interactions of energies in these tiers can produce beneficial or damaging effects.
From knowledge of the self, you can look better at how you align with the Jedi Path and how to bring yourself to a point where you’re manifesting the Jedi Code. To Keith and I, the understanding of the self and one’s alignment to the Jedi Path is the foundation of Responsible Jedi Force Use.
Entering the Cave
This class is also about Self-Awareness, but it focuses on understanding the way we are susceptible to the Bogan (Dark side). It’s not really talked about in that capacity, but rather taking a look at the flaws that the Jedi Compass warns us against - Aggression, Recklessness and Attachments, and how the Compass can help remind us that overcoming these areas in our life makes us better Jedi.
In the Interest of Peace
This is the sixth class. It’s basis is upon this quote:
“Jedi do not fight for peace. That's only a slogan, and is as misleading as slogans always are. Jedi fight for civilization, because only civilization creates peace. We fight for justice because justice is the fundamental bedrock of civilization: an unjust civilization is built upon sand. It does not long survive a storm.” ― Mace Windu, Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover
Keith & I believe that the Jedi Path is a path that requires action. It’s not one built upon merely Campbell’s idea of the Hero’s Journey (which is simply that you are the hero of your own story), but more specifically the Epic Hero’s Journey- you are a hero in the story of others, not just your own.
The Jedi Compass provides insight into what this means and how it can be manifested through the Jedi Ethics of Respect the Law, Fortitude, Defense and Action- all of which are covered in this class.
A Jedi’s Duty
This course is aimed to get you thinking more about what you want to contribute to the world as a Jedi. Everyone is unique. We aren’t all called to be Police Officers, Teachers or Psychologists. Some of us are called to volunteer our time with co-workers so that they can advance in their own lives, others may be called to serve as a home for animal rescue. The Jedi Ethic of “Duty to All” is written with the intent that “All” is more than just people, but a manifestation of the belief that (according to the Skywalker Code) “we respect all life in any form”.
It’s in the last class that you are challenged to consider what it is you want to do to become an Epic Hero.
We place this as last, because it’s the foundation of your knighthood. When you become a knight, your goal will be to move into a role that manifests a Duty to All. Knighthood signifies that you understand what it means to be a Responsible Jedi, but it’s in knighthood that you are honing your skills with the Force and using it in a meaningful way to help others.
When you reach master, it means that you have accepted a specialized role and used your understanding of the Jedi Path to continually answer the call to be a hero in another person’s story- and hopefully even bring them up alongside you.