An Answer for Unification- please read I know it's redundant, but follow me :D

Because I can't write it. I don't have the talent. But I can help everyone see it through their own works.

Furthermore, I believe that until the situation is facilitated, people won't believe it unless they see it with their own eyes through their words and the words of others next to them.

You can actually ask anyone that attended one of my classes- I prefer to have people get involved with my courses, because it is how people learn best. Not by just one voice giving a speech, but by many lending their experiences and knowledge to the subject matter. It reinforces what I am trying to get across by demonstrating that I'm not the only one that is saying this or that.

lol, ask Wes how long a class on a 9 line medivac should be. I turned that sucker into a 2 hour class at PLDC, and that was after I was told I had to cut it short. !

Alethea Thompson wrote: Because I can't write it. I don't have the talent. But I can help everyone see it through their own works.

So, people wont believe it until they see it, or until its written by someone in order to express what they have seen, but until there is consensus, no one can write about it, but until someone writes about it, people wont see that there is a unity...

Does that about cover it?


Ive seen you write a number of things rather eloquently.... but if you dont feel that writing a book is your strength, then why force yourself to do it that way. We all have our "best" form of expression, is there a way you could use what you feel drawn to most in order to do it?

...I can write a lot of things. I can express a lot of concepts. But...there are a few things I just can't explain. For example, I can't express well the sheer difference between a Sith and a Jedi- but I know it. It's the same problem I have when I look at people. I can recognize them, I can see them in my head, but I couldn't describe a single person to you so that you might be able to recognize them. For example, I couldn't tell you what my mother looks like, and I lived with her for YEARS. The most I can tell you is Caucasian, average height for a woman, brown eyes, brown hair. I can't remember if her hair is wavy, or straight, permed or otherwise. I can tell you she has a huge chest, but only by virtue of having to ask her where I might be able to find my own bras... (). If I saw her and tried to remember what her shirt looked like, the only way I could do it, would be to actually write it down.

Problem is, if I put out that information in a Be On the Look Out (BOLO), the police would sit there and say "well, that describes the majority of the population....great" (I know, because it happened constantly in Japan- BOLO: White Male, average height, brown hair- and sometimes we wouldn't even get THAT much....)

I could look dead at someone and try to describe them too you, but it would be difficult- because I don't see people in physical features. I see them for their personality, and those are things I innately understand, but cannot describe.

...it...it doesn't help that there are times I completely forget words altogether. Like "plane". I'll describe everything around the plane, and not get the word until someone else can say it (I use that one because it's the first word I had issue with when talking with my husband). It's like playing charades with me.

I am FAR better written than I am spoken. But when I do speak on something I am advent about, I let everything but the words do the talking. The words are just accents that help get the message across.

Picking up on something Brenna said:

Brenna wrote: Those who don't agree with the concept of your project may be nervous that their own interpretations or voices might be lost if left out of the compass.

Have you considered simply publishing it as your own work? Not as a community wide en devour?

Who are you going to say authored this book? Because there is a difference between saying "The Jedi community authored this book" and saying "Various members of the Jedi community helped me author this book".

I know there has been some concern that some of the views in the book might be mistaken for the views of other Jedi and Jedi Orders. You should put a disclaimer that this is your own project and that you are the primary one organising this and that you messaged several Jedi and asked for their input. "The views expressed by those who have written articles for this book do not necessarily represent the views of other Jedi or Jedi organisations."

Some people are concerned that (to paraphrase) "any idiot calling themselves a Jedi can write something and have it submitted". People are concerned about a lack of quality control, as the author I think you could ease some of their fears if you are more strict about which articles get included rather than "if there are 100 views on the Force they all get included".

I also said "if it's sincere". An order can choose whether or not they are repped by the article. Those that don't get repped have to go through me, and the piece needs to be relevant. I've already denied an article by someone I consider a knight because it doesn't fit any of the areas in the book, and happens to go against the spirit of the book's point. They got a different one in when it was explained, but it definitely is something that I am taking into consideration.

If that is a concern, it can be put that the book is authored by Various Real Life Jedi (just to keep it shorter than Various Members of the Jedi Community )

I have many hats, and in another area I used to do a lot of Belly Dancing. The style I did was called "Tribal". It was developed in the 60's and 70's but really didn't get going until the 90's. By then there were many types of Tribal but all had a universal feel. To gather the knowledge of all of the women that contributed to this style a person gathered many articles on Belly Dancing, Tribal creation, costuming etc and had it published calling it 'The Tribal Bible'. Each article was about the style, but each person had their own take on it and that's why that book is so valuable. You got to read about how it was developed and how each person interpreted it in their own way. Still tribal style, still belly dancing, but unique. This book sells easily for $100 or more even on amazon as it was a very low print number and took me awhile to even find one.

The reason I bring this up is because we could certainly do this for a book idea. I'm excited about the possibilities.

Alethea Thompson wrote: I also said "if it's sincere". An order can choose whether or not they are repped by the article. Those that don't get repped have to go through me, and the piece needs to be relevant. I've already denied an article by someone I consider a knight because it doesn't fit any of the areas in the book, and happens to go against the spirit of the book's point. They got a different one in when it was explained, but it definitely is something that I am taking into consideration.

If that is a concern, it can be put that the book is authored by Various Real Life Jedi (just to keep it shorter than Various Members of the Jedi Community )

Personally I think you would do a great job but youseem to have some inhibitions? "If in doubt be bold."

If you do your best then there is no doubt you will do well. Your sincerity and honesty is important to the reader. If you write/publish they will read.

Good luck with this endeavor/adventure!

Another idea is to get each person you consider a real Jedi/Knight/etc to write their views on those subsection/chapters as concepts, and then the book could serve as a compendium of particular people.... though no-one would want to be left out if they submitted something, the work focused and structured on the individual's identities, rather then the topics, could serve an interesting platform to demonstrate diversity without having confusion as to how things were attributed.

RE-POSTed with additional notes toward the bottom.

History has many example of similar yet different organizations coming together for mutually beneficial reasons. There are many good things that come from this type of communications. When the Christian religions get together to discuss doctrine and theology, we do find that we are not so far apart in our beliefs.

BUT...

The EGO of man will never permit a single unified religion of any type. So it is best that we get that out of our heads right away. People will always want to change doctrine to their comfort level. Doctrine changes as surely as the sun rises because man has an unwavering quest for knowledge, and with knowledge comes different understanding. People will migrate to the religion that they feel most comfortable with, or fit into their our formulated personal doctrine.

That being said, it does not mean that we cannot strive to understand each others belief system and to learn mutual respect for those differences. We are at the beginning of a long journey down the Path of Jediism. Who knows were we will be in 2000 years, did the Christians? But because we have the other religions to use as a guide for poor behavior, we can start now to accept our differences and communicate within those boundaries to move forward as a collective group of differing Jedi.

I must say now, that I was very short in my posts regarding this Unity crap (see, there it is again), it is because of tone of those threads and the disrespect that is being paid to our Council and Knights by not communicating within the hierarchy of this organization before posting here. I believe that some of the postings have merit and the intent may not have been intended to disrupt, but they have been and are in more than my opinion.

If you want to create a Council of Jedi Orders whose sole intent is to exchange Doctrine and ideas, separate entities yet unified in promoting the Jedi Religion worldwide(as I read somewhere in this madhouse) I can agree to that (or should I say, I would vote positively if the Council asked for my opinion). As I stated, There will never be one Jedi Temple because we can't even agree on the definition of Jediism, Jedi Realist, Jediist, and whatnot.

As far as the Jedi Compass or Holocron issue, although I believe that TOTJO should be focused on its own book of Jediism, having other resources and differing ideas, helps spur imagination and growth. This is another instance though, in which I feel the TOTJO Council was disrespected by not asking permission to ask for this type of en-mass help. The TOTJO Council needs to assert its authority as the governing body here if it going to be taken seriously by other organizations in the future. This kind of situation can undermine the ability and stability of the Temple to control its members and guests.

If I have offended anyone previous to this post in regards to Unification, I do apologize wholly. But take this in the manner it is intended. Read what I wrote not with your emotion and interpretation, but with mine!