Relevant Community Citations-
- “There is no Ignorance, there is Knowledge; Ignorance, yet Knowledge” (The Jedi Code)
- “There is no Emotion, there is Peace; Emotion, yet Peace” (The Jedi Code)
- “Objectivity - A Jedi trains themselves to gain as much relevant information as possible before drawing their conclusions. Once intelligence has been collected, they approach the problem with as little cultural and emotional bias as possible so that they are able to develop a decision on their next action.” (The Jedi Compass)
- “Morality: To Know the Danger of Belief - A Jedi knows how contradicting beliefs of what is right and wrong can lead to devastating crimes and conflicts. A Jedi takes a step away from the subjectivity of opinion in favour of the peace of objectivity. A Jedi does not force their values upon others.” (Temple of the Jedi Order Doctrine)
- “A Jedi approaches all situations with objectivity, recognizing that the truth can only be revealed when they have all the information available.” (Principles of Jediism, 2019 TotJO Project)
Discussion
All of these speak to the same basic value of being objective. Not in the sense of whether or not curse work is real, but rather answering the first question: Why perform the curse in the first place? As I outlined in the previous article, curse work does not have to come from a place of vengeance, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore the motivations of performing the curse. Even if a Jedi were to restrict themselves to doing curse work only on behalf of others, they would need to be aware of the emotional place that the person asking them to perform curse work is coming from. As guardians of peace, we cannot act on ours or someone else’s need for vengeance.
But these lines speak to other forms of objectivity as well. Particularly in the case of whether or not we are Judge, Jury and/or Executioner. Information can get very muddled. Our court systems are known for getting the wrong guys too. So we have to ask ourselves, what evidence do we have to say so-and-so is guilty of the wrong they are accused?
Evidence isn’t something we simply obtain from eye-witness accounts, but there should be some kind of physical record we can look at and be certain of a person’s guilt. By looking at historic Salem alone, we can see how witnesses can create mass hysteria. Unfortunately, this isn’t confined to the 1600s, even today we have stories such as the Central Park 5 where the eye witness later apologized for her part in their convictions. We also have stories where the full evidence would later exonerate the defendants- The West Memphis 3, Randy Steidl, and James Hill come to mind.
But what qualifies as evidence? You could meditate and seek the answer using a sixth sense, but relying on this method is dangerous. Relying on this method goes against a Jedi Behavior known as “Conquer Overconfidence” (you can find this in the Wookiepedia Jedi Code article under the Legends Tab). The Overconfidence you are exerting isn’t in the Force, but rather your ability to accurately navigate the Force. No matter how skilled you believe you are, you run the risk of that one time letting your bias cloud your judgement.
In knowing this, the rule set has to shift to hard evidence. While video is great, it’s of note that different angles can produce different information. So it’s important to go over it with a fine-toothed comb to ensure there isn’t something that could be missing.
I could keep going on. At the end of the day, the only iron-clad evidence is that which you personally witness live. So the way around this, is to rely on an outside Judge and Executioner, which makes the Jedi the Investigator. So starting out, I’ve reached my first conclusion:
Jedi cannot be the executioner of curse work. But is it right for them to move forward and ask a supernatural force to judge and execute punishment if the being finds them guilty of the charge? I’ll table this for now, and return to it later.