[LIVE] IP Study Hall: Sat 5/26/2018 8pm EST

Question Deleted as per Zenith

Zenith Felwood wrote: Question Deleted as per Zenith

Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions! I look forward to seeing you on the unofficial Discord soon. discord.gg/bNRPh4H

Thanks everyone who was there today for our forbearance as I dropped in and out. I was at work and had to step out a few times to speak with some of my colleagues.

It was brilliant to see you Dano! Sorry about calling you a type of cookie!

I'm writing the notes now, so you'll be able to catch up on anything in gaps - thank you for coming even though you were busy!

It was my first Study hall and I like it and the study hall when from an Ip Study hall to a Roundtable Discussion about the Jedi
Still, I like it

It was an epic three and a half hours of Jedi chat at IP Study Hall this month - thank you all so much for coming! This week we covered “Keeping it real” - How IP Study can make, or is making, real impacts on daily life. Taking a similar format to last month, we ran through the whole IP; Lesson 1 -> Lesson 8, sharing our thoughts.

Lessons 1 and 2: Campbell and Watts
These are hard chapters to get the idea of a “practical change” from. Ros explained that the books are there not so much for “doing” as for exploring ideas, grappling with them, and using them to create our own jediism, our own jedi path. The idea is not to agree, or disagree, but rather to explain your thoughts if you have any particularly strong response; either of a positive or negative kind. We discussed the conflict between the secular and the sacred; and the ways in which simple things can be extraordinary.

Lesson 3: Meditation
Some folks had arrived at the temple having experience already of meditation; they had a firm meditation practise; but for many it was a new thing to learn. We found that meditation can:
- Give you some pretty personal experiences, which could build an idea of a force connection
- Bring people back to their roots
- Change people
There are difficulties to meditation
- Stigma, that is must be done in one way, sitting and silence
- Finding the time for it
- Emotional overload
The solutions we had for overcoming hurdles were
- Having a pen and paper about for writing down distracting thoughts
- Remembering the difference between meditation and contemplation - the time is needed for both; but meditation can be done any time in any place, in a whole host of different ways
- Putting a time on your phone or in your diary for meditation
- Using apps such as Insight Timer, Headspace, Aware, and Calm, but also youTube
- Talking to experienced meditators, asking them to guide us through our practice.
- Experimenting with different ideas and methods, such as building centring mindsets to everyday activities like cleaning counters or skincare regimens.

Lesson 4: Mindwalk
I suppose a bit like with lessons 1 and 2, this is more about perspective changing, and developing an individuals’ understanding of the force... not much to say...

Lesson 5: Doctrine

… I admit I brushed this as lightly as possible, as I think it’s got the largest number of clear life, applications - I was slightly concerned we could end up discussing each point eternally. Maybe we should have a doctrine discussion series - an idea for development perhaps - but for those who are interested in a shorter reflection I can highly recommend the Weekday Morning Meditations in the official AJAX Chat

Lesson 6: World Religions

We shared our experiences of our own religious backgrounds and our interactions with other religious groups. We came up with some really interesting discussions actually, leading to a proposal for the creation of an inter-jedi-community discord channel. I will bring this forward as a topic to be discussed in council.

Lesson 7 and 8: Communication tools and Jediism Essays

I think the only person in the chat who’d covered communication tools was FTPC, so we were a bit stuck for conversation… These topics are the clearest for “real life application” however.

General comments

The temple gives a lot of space for discussion, and value and recognition was given to those stepping away from “trolling” and towards critique. Seeing and understanding that there are different perspectives, and while not necessarily believing those differences yourself, being able to accept that other people do is an important thing, particularly when discussing religions.

Timing and progress through IP

It can’t be emphasised enough that IP takes its own time. Though I think 1 year to complete Lesson Zero might be some kind of a record… congratulations IP Study Hall! It takes all kinds of Jedi to build a world. It is very much my hope that IP Study Hall gives some encouragement, and highlight new perspectives to encourage you on your way.

IP Sponsors
If you want one, you can read about the people currently working as IP sponsors HERE , and send one of those folks a private message if you’d like them to read your IP.

Recognition of Prior Learning
We were unable to answer a question between us about the recognition of prior learning and the IP, but I will bring the question to the council, and I will get back to you

Ask me Anything
I have already set the wheels in motion for the next Ask me Anything chat - hopefully that will be on June 2nd or June 9th Details will be marked in the temple calendar, and announced in the forums and shout box. Keep your eyes peeled!

Lightsabers
… are really cool, and we can talk about them for 30 minutes before anyone realises the time….

For those who were present, and those whose toes I have trodden on
Once again thank you so much for you time, and the encouragement that you are each sharing with one-another. Two members posted journal entries as we chatted, and I hope this motivation keeps rolling. This post is effectively of memory and bits of PMs I’ve received; my note-taking was woeful on the spoken discussion (pen failure!) So do feel free to add your thoughts to this thread and correct my writings where they’re wrong - I can only edit this post for an hour; so *shrugs* we’ll have to live with my interpretation of events if you don’t speak up! Please PM me if you have issues, and keep this thread free for productive discussions. You have my thanks.

So when’s the next one? I want in!
The next IP Study Hall chat will be on Saturday 4th August 2018 8pm EST, force willing. I might be able to stick another session in while I’m on the road for June, but it seems sensible to book July in. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all there. Please remember to invite new members to join these chats when you welcome them to the temple! In the meantime, keep your creativity high; your curiosity sharp; and let your love of learning show. My mailbox is open, and I’ll be gathering ideas for discussion at the next session until then.

Thanks
Thank you so much to everyone who came - Nakis for the concept, Steam for the space, Council for their general thumbs up approval of the activity, and to the support structure and well of refreshment which is also known as the temple.