My position on the "Sith"

While the idea of malevolent Darksiders is purely fiction, and the idea of the Sith comes from that same fiction, I simply cannot truly see any existing Darkside Order as being Sith. A true creation of a Sith Order, in my opinion at least, would consist of a doctrine that is purely in opposition to Jediism. That is if we are to assume that such an order intends to take inspiration from SW as Jediism has.

While there are orders that call themselves sith, I usually refer to them as Darksiders, simply because of the aesthetics, and ideas that come to mind when I think of the Sith themselves. For someone to truly succumb to the Darkside, and to know of the Force, Chi, whatever you personally call that which exists in all things, I would imagine that they would embody the opposite of what Jediism supports. They would be nearly "demonic" in their thinking. I can hardly imagine any such person bothering to create a Force order because in my experience such people do not put a lot of stock into mysticism of any kind. They are many times criminals or dictators who focus mostly on physical passion, rarely stretching out to the unseen horizons around them for a less physically tangible understanding of this reality. That said I cannot ever imagine a true Sith Order ever arising in that regard.

I will not however criticize any existing Darkside Order who claims the title of Sith. I wouldn't dream of it in fact. Obviously there are those who have found a way to study the Darkside without becoming "evil" for the lack of a better word. I encourage that study and I am glad that so far no one of any real measure of ability has ever deigned to directly oppose this philosophy, religion, and way of life. There are far more dangerous fanatics of other belief systems after all. If a group of Darksiders wishes to claim that name then who am I to say that they cannot? However I would not consider them to be truly Sith in the way that I understand that Sith. I hope that makes sense. Just as Jediism is clearly inspired by SW, I would imagine that the true Sith would be as well, and that they would model themselves as such. But I do not see someone like the North Korean dictator watching Star Wars and deciding to found the Sith Order in opposition to Jediism. I hope I am getting to you on this. Basically I do not believe that there will ever be a true struggle in terms of dualistic warring between Jediism and Sithism simply because true Sithism will never exist.

I look forward to your thoughts and again these are my personal beliefs. I am more than willing to admit that and to not claim these things as universal facts.

Sithism is a word that I disagree with. Sith should not be a doctrine or religion, but an approach or philosophy. It's also a horrible, horrible joke played on someone with lisp.

There is an Order of the Sith Lords, which I am an apprentice of. It doesn't concentrate on "Sithism" but instead of personal development, self-awareness and understanding. Darkness and other concepts are extolled and people study the things of their choosing. Some, martial arts. Others, magic. I study and specialise in personal interaction.

There is a Dark Aspect of the Force Academy, and most of its members are at the aforementioned Order of the Sith Lords. It is a school of training and personal development. We're more akin to a dark-natured human potential movement. Again, we study our individual specialties, from martials arts and physicality to psychology and more esoteric subjects.

There WAS a Temple of the Sith Order, run by members of this site. I was part of it, and it did embrace the idea of Sithism. It was more orderly than other Dark groups, in fact, would have made more sense as a Dark Jedi Order. A wide array of studies were part of the training course, which was an integral focus on the site.

There is also the Sith Academy. They practice Sithism, and are a self-proclaimed Sith Cult. They study various things, including, but not limited to, political manipulation, NLP, sorcery and other darker arts. They've got organisational goals and have made attacks on this site and others in the past. That is in the past and now both groups are looking to their futures.

There's a few Dark Groups, but they're mostly heavily based on the development of the individual. And as such, any 'warring' between Jedi and Sith will most likely be on an individual basis, and not the result of different Orders having a pissing contest.

Evil isn't Darkness. Darkness isn't evil. That's a common misconception but a key truth. Defining 'sith' and 'darkness' and then applying it on the whole will most likely drive you insane in the process. We just define it for ourselves and don't force that perception on anyone. But as far as modelling ourselves on the lore goes, remember of course that the Sith were designed as antagonists, villains, in a fantasy universe. To simply have a Sith Order being content to play around in its own sandbox in a world of fiction wouldn't make for fun writing.

If you have any questions about the Dark Aspect of the Force Realist community, feel free to ask. There's a few of us around. ^^

Oh yes absolutely! The idea of the Sith was indeed designed to be a powerful organization in opposition to the good guys. I suppose what I am trying to say in a nut shell is that a truly dangerous Sith Order that is truly against Jediism is not something that I would find practical in reality. The groups you mentioned are very public and could not effectively lobby against or take direct action against followers of Jediism. It wouldn't be difficult for police to connect the dots if something illegal took place and I am sure that they would go after the more "aggressive" sites first. Of course I do not believe that such would ever happen.

My point is that in my short experience with all of this I have found that the Darkside and Lightside are simply two sides of the same coin. At this time they do not fight each other but rather exist in harmony. A Sith Order might be an organization that tries to upset that balance in favor of the Darkside. Now that said I am curious as to why Darksiders do not simply call themselves Dark Jedi to distance themselves from the evil archetypes and aesthetics that COULD cause some impressionable people to judge? I suppose that it would be a more accurate term and less.. shall we say defining? You may not consider the Sith to be a belief but before I learned about actual Jediism and Sithism I certainly associated "sith" with "evil."

I suppose that ever since I learned about Darkside-ism I have always wondered about that.

We don't need to add an ism to everything.

I tend to do that for the sake of my own need to classify things as such.

Alaaric Jensen wrote: Now that said I am curious as to why Darksiders do not simply call themselves Dark Jedi to distance themselves from the evil archetypes and aesthetics that COULD cause some impressionable people to judge?

Do you honestly believe that there are no "impressionable people" who judge us if we call ourselves jedi? Light or dark are irrelevant concerns from the point of view of judgement. If you identify yourself with any organization from fiction you are judged.

I can't really discuss the rest of your posts because I don't believe in the dark side, and I don't share your interpretation of what it means to be Sith.

Here is my take on the Jedi/Sith...

I see two extremes of parents in the world...

Some parents, want to dominate every aspect of their childs life... The want to protect that child, make sure there is not pain for them, only good things and feelings...

They do this, by controlling who the child is friends with, where they go, the actions they take...

Is this Evil? No.. Is it right? well, for that parent, yes... For the child? Well, for some children, yes, for others no...

Other parents, dont pay attention to their children... Sorry they fathered, or gave birth to the child...

These parents do not concern themselves with simple things like hygiene for the kids, proper shelter, and guidance...

Between these two, lies most of us...

This is how I see the Jedi/Sith relation...

Sometimes, a "more pure" Jedi will Judge my action Sith...

More often, a Sith will say I'm "too light" to be one of them...

I evolved here...

Once upon a time, I was very much of the darker mindset, would I have called myself a Sith? Yes...

I am my brothers keeper...

Sometimes, I will protect him...

Sometimes, I will let him fall or fail...

Both, to help teach a lesson...

Eventually, a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was responsible for the destruction of all the Sith with the exception of himself and his apprentice, Darth Zannah, and managed to trick the Jedi Council into believing that the Sith were completely gone.[11] He also created the "Rule of Two", which states "Two there shall be ... a master and an apprentice: one to embody power and the other to crave it.

Two, only two. I think those two and only those two should speak for themselves.

I tend to do that for the sake of my own need to classify things as such.

I usually admit this is my greatest flaw.

Very good ideas everyone! Maybe the Darkside truly does not exist at all! If I may ask, if the Darkside does not exist, what exactly is "evil", is there not a force of sorts that embodies that? I do see things in terms of duality but perhaps there is no duality at all. I feel that if there is no Darkside at all then there is simply wisdom and ignorance. The one who is "good" has wisdom and the one who is "evil" is ignorant. Of course that is oversimplifying it.