I thought I might share some quotations now and then from my Buddhist lineage. I'm reading two books right now, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (one I've read a few times), and Turning the Mind into an Ally. As I read more, I find that a lot of it meshes very well with Jedi training. Here's one helpful passage for example:
"A society of hard and inflexible minds is a society that is incapable of nurturing the flowers of love and compassion. This is the source of the dark age. We tend to question our goodness and our wisdom. When we question these things, we begin to use seemingly more convenient ways to deal with our problems. We are less ready to use love and compassion, more ready to use aggression. So we have to continuously remind our selves of basic goodness. If we want to help alleviate suffering on our planet, those of us who can make our minds pliable must plant a flower on the rock. This is how we can create a society based on the energy we get from experiencing our own basic goodness. In Tibet we call this energy Lungta, "windhorse."" - Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into an Ally.
Rinpoche is saying that hard, closed minds are the seeds of hate and depression. We try to create a fixed universe, and this universe does not conform to our limited human understanding. We then become unhappy as a consequence. It does not have to be this way, though. Through hard work, discipline, and meditation, we can train our minds to be flexible. When we have this Basic Goodness (which in Access would be Awareness, the Jedi would call it Connected to the Force, I would call it the Universal Perspective, and Christians might call it having Jesus in their hearts), we have the compassion needed to be pliable. We can be spiritually flexible. Our spirits can change with the ever moving universe.
