ATTN: COUNCIL; Updated Doctrine Proposal

Surprising results. I voted for "Ubiquitous" - Personally I think it's an ugly word, but it's the only word on that list that comes close to encompassing our diverse interpretations of the force (with the exception of "universal" or "infinite", but using these words would be redundant).

"Divine" and "Sacred" have a religious connotation (or should I say spiritual?). Many members come from a religious background, and interpret the force as their respective deity; however, many members come from an agnostic or atheistic background. Words like "Divine" and "Sacred" may be a turn-off, and I don't think we'll be knocking down the wall between theism, deism, and atheism anytime soon. That leaves "Living" and "Metaphysical", neither of which were very popular. A stone is neither alive nor metaphysical, yet many members here often allude to stones in their interpretation of the force. That being said, I do have an emotional attachment to "living". Non-living forces give form and substances to life, which then returns to the non-living fold. Where do we draw the line? I am content to let it remain blurry.

Because of who I am, I would vote on whatever word (or combination of words) generated the most cohesion in the temple. I don't necessarily like that about myself. However, I respect the desire (and the need) to create a definition that can help people say: "This is us. This is what we believe. This is why our belief is separate from other beliefs." I've spent so much of my time here trying to blur lines and build bridges between belief systems, but maybe it's not the time for that. I'll have to think about it.


Can we move forward with only 10 votes? I don't know how many active members we have now, but it is still a very small reflection.

Given how the consensus, I do wonder if 2 words is necessary. Simply using one may suffice, and give people an option of assigning a second as they feel it fits for themselves.

Maybe we need a bigger sample size before drawing conclusions? Ideally get more knights and long term members to weigh in

Chances are good it still wouldn’t resolve the problem of how close these words are to each other in competition. We don’t have a lot of active members here. Let’s say another 10 weigh in, the results will most likely still remain that one word is still ahead of the others while the rest are neck and neck. One word may still be the best option.

If I may chime in here , where at Is this poll I could not find it on the polls part of the forum . Maybe if you put the poll on the poll forum here instead of a doc them you will get more people to answer . If it's about privacy or something then limit it to register temple members and not the open public . Or is the vote solely for council members ? If it is then I am sorry for interrupting .

I’ve never used the polls area of the forum...I didn’t even realize it existed, lol. If you believe that will get us more engagement, I’d really love to have more people weigh in.

Alethea Thompson wrote: I’ve never used the polls area of the forum...I didn’t even realize it existed, lol. If you believe that will get us more engagement, I’d really love to have more people weigh in.

you have the ability to create a poll on the community main page.

Righto, well I said I would take the time to think through this at some point, and now that time has come.

(Ironically, my internet is now disconnected, which adds a logistical challenge to the activity....)

Can someone point me to the "latest" iteration of the proposed Doctrine?

It's still in the first post, we haven't done any alterations yet- though we're considering the definition of the Force.

or at least arguing the semantics, which is almost as good.

Righto, well I've got the document. Time to cross reference it with all my favourite pieces of western philosophy and see if I can't have a hand in rebranding TotJO in my preferred image