Actual Churches?

A dedicated Temple would be interesting to incorporate building design for geometry, acoustics and symbolism to empower the practices or beliefs of the followers. Blend of science, spirituality and Jedi of course, sorta thing.

Adder, I can actually draft a rough idea of what the Jedi Temple can look like. I'd need input, with majority ruling. As far as geometry, building the grounds, with our symbol as it's inspiration, would be a good thing. The Temple itself would be the starburst in the center, with the white star and circle being gardens, and living/social buildings between the points. As a former Catholic, I admire the high ceilings and fresco'd ceilings of St. Peter's Basilica, not to mention it has good acoustics for the sermons. I don't think we'd be doing much chanting or yelling, so noise levels wouldn't be a problem too much for us. I'm actually working on a touch screen user interface that we can build directly into windows, doors, etc. Adds security to the Temple. The entire monastery would have to be walled in, and in an isolated place, not easily accessible. Not from any security standpoint, but to show that anyone who comes to the monastery would really want to be there.

Larrus wrote: Adder, I can actually draft a rough idea of what the Jedi Temple ...

Kewl, I've done a few as well. For fun try a few different sizes/costs. The first one I sketched around with was huge and for a specific piece of land which I thought was suitably spiritual, but at the smallest building scale it could be constructed 'within' one large room perhaps. This topic is one of the things I keep in mind when I read about science and spirituality - how to represent or attune a space to the Force kind of thing...
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Ideally, the Temple itself would have to have our "cathedral", but also meditation chambers, training chambers (for inclement weather), and offices for clerical and administrative Jedi. So, fitting the Temple into one room would be rather impractical for a self-sustaining Temple.

Larrus wrote: Ideally, the Temple itself would have to have our "cathedral", but also meditation chambers, training chambers (for inclement weather), and offices for clerical and administrative Jedi. So, fitting the Temple into one room would be rather impractical for a self-sustaining Temple.

Well if you talking about a single Temple, it would have to be rather special to justify it remaining the only one. Since its a new path it might have to built at George Lucas ranch or something to justify it being the 'one'. Else people will just go to the Temple which is the best at any point in time and no structured culture will develop. I think what will happen is some people could benefit from local places of gathering/practise/ritual and if they shared some design elements it might make the whole thing a little more cohesive and perhaps functionally more effective too.

Well, Adder, realistically, it would be one to start out with. We can't build Rome in a day. But as more an more Temples are created, it would be nice to have something that could be a model for future Temples.

There are quite a few church's for sale in the US so finding a distressed seller might be another option to building from scratch.

I saw a show about Greece last night, and whole stone villages up north are just completely empty surrounded by lovely hills etc.

It would definitely be easier, we can convert it to our own uses, substituting art, furniture, etc etc where necessary.

Br. John wrote: We also use voice and video one on one and group discussions. The two main ways are on Google+ and Skype. There's even talking to people on the phone! :ohmy: It's not just forums. Forums have advantages and disadvantages.

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A church is community of kindred spirits. If your temple is not wherever you are you'll find it nowhere else.

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The first buildings for TOTJO will probably be self sustaining monasteries with guest quarters.

Of course. Disadvantages and advantages for everything!

And... YES! I'll help you build the self-sustaining monastery! I would love that.

MJ Hannigan wrote:

PloKoon wrote:

MJ Hannigan wrote: What is the obession with churches and temples?

It is about having community. Gathering in the spirit of Jedi practices and common philosophies can be empowering and validating. Having a physical community which can hold you accountable to the your Jedi life is another aspect.Serving with other Jedi can be a function.

I would not say we are obsessing on the church or temple (themselves), we are discussing an actual meeting group.

Would you like some names and adresses for people who do this now without calling their meeting places churches or temples?

MJ... I would love the names and addresses and photos of the groups. I'd love to see what they do right and what they do wrong... I'll learn from them... Send them via PM... I'll wait for you to send them... thanks