General Announcement...

Hello Temple Members, new and old...

This is just a general announcement and not caused by, nor due to, anything, or anyone particular....

TOTJO, for years, has run on a skeleton crew.... Meaning few members stick around to help further along the site...

Just as we get stronger with every new member, we get weaker at the loss of our members as well....

Currently, there are four Initiates waiting for Master's... At the moment, they are working on a project for the Council... But, there are not always projects from the Council... Some folks will have to find things to amuse, and study on their own... Sometimes there are Master's readily available, and sometimes there are not...

There are many opportunities here at TOTJO to stop by once a day, as I've told a few of you...

Looking for new members to greet, saying hi and seeing if the have any questions... Reading things over, looking at the old threads, learning about each other through our Journals... The reading of Journals is fine, just the replying is frowned on... PM a member if you have something to say about a journal entry they made, maybe decide to start a thread...

There are books in the library that you can read/listen to and think about... Relisten to the Campbell lectures... See what jumps at you now that you have been here a bit (if you have)...

You have journals, which act as a sounding board... You can post pretty much what you like and no one responds, although we do read... (Occasionally Senior Ranked members do write in them, but we try not to...)

There's craziness in the news, religion, Jedi, evolution, new discoveries, atrocities, miracles... Plenty of "News of the Universe" to discuss...

My point is, don't rush through and think, "Well, I've learned what TOTJO has to teach, time to move on..."

I commented the other day, I spent years collecting information, and knowledge, and never thought about what I knew...

I thought by having it, I understood it...

Like having these books I'm looking at, about the universe, makes me understand them... When I've only cracked them open twice, I think... It does no good sitting there... The knowledge is not going to soak in through the covers... I gotta read them... lol..

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I told my son the other day, "Right now, it is easy to practice controlling your anger, you are not angry right?" He said, "right..."

I said, "That was easy... The hard stuff is when it comes at you and your mad before you know it... THAT is when the practice can really be applied..."

He looked at me quizzically...

I said, "You can't practice the violin, or piano, with out the violin or piano... You can not practice riding a horse without getting on a horse... AND you really can't practice controlling your anger unless you get angry, have that chance to practice controlling it..."

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People come here saying, "I need to learn patience/slow down/not get mad/control my emotions.... Not be so flighty... So hair-trigger...

You can not practice your patience without the temptation to be impatient, like the dummy in the car ahead of you not stepping on the gas pedal, "GREEN MEANS GO, GRANDPA!!"

And the seemingly slow pace of TOTJO can seem to take too long as well... That is just another chance to practice your patience... Cause it is moving, and evolving... Its just not always perceivable...

Having been in the community since 2002, allow me to further this by making the statement:

There is nothing wrong with exploring other sites, but if you put in time at an order (especially the one you started with) you really should try to give back to it, by returning balancing your time at whatever other orders you go to and your home site. If I cannot make time to get to any other orders, I will always find time to go to my home site and try to find a way to contribute.

THAT is what makes an prder strong, and why wouldn't you want to give back to those that have made an impact on your life?