Welcome to you all, and may the Force be with you. :)
I’ve been given the honor of opening this month with one of the themed sermons.
Today (morning, day, evening, night; take your pick), we’ll be looking into “Recklessness, yet Responsibility.” Two concepts, and their relationship.
What is “recklessness?” According to Merriam Webster, this is “the state of carelessness in regards to consequences, or a lack of proper caution.”
“Responsibility” is “the state of having a duty to be accountable for something, such as one’s actions, or another person”... Another definition I like is “the opportunity or ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization.”
You may or may not agree with these definitions, but I wanted to put them out there for the sake getting some establishment for what we’re talking about here.
What do these things mean to us, as Jedi? An obvious (though maybe misguided) answer, which jumped out at me pretty quickly, is that we should seek to snuff out the former and cultivate the later...
But is that it? Is it realistic to believe that we could really rid ourselves of our innate ability for recklessness? Or that we could become some embodiment of responsibility?
One may be able to avoid recklessness sometimes by slowing down, remaining calm when making decisions, being mindful of the present, or what have you... This caution alone could be the cultivation of responsibility. However...
We are human, in the end, and that means we have flaws. And that’s okay. Totally okay. Fighting that is fighting ourselves, which, to me, seems counter-intuitive.
There are going to be times, under different circumstances and in different scenarios, that each of us will act in a way that could be called reckless. Regardless of rank, age, or spiritual advancement, we’re all susceptible to losing sight of the consequences of something, to not using enough caution when it’s called for. We’re going to make mistakes.
What if, instead of beating ourselves up over them, we accepted them for what they are? Took responsibility, and moved on? A failure, no matter how embarrassing, is only really a failure if one doesn’t learn from it.
I think a Jedi should probably want to take responsibility for themselves and what they say and do, use proper caution where it’s due, and deal with any consequences we incur, but maybe that’s just my opinion.
All of us are human here (that I know of 8o), and Jedi or not, that will bring with it the mistakes and the recklessness; the responsibility is optional, and will be put to good use, I hope. Just so long as we remember that it’s okay to make those mistakes, because we do learn a lot from them.
If we find ourselves doing something reckless, or find that we’ve done something reckless, we can stop, take responsibility and attempt to make reparations, find the lesson, have a good laugh at ourselves and move on.
It will probably never seem so simple in life, but that’s part of the beauty of it. It helps in providing a diversity of lessons for us, from these mistakes.
I’d like to stop now, to allow everyone a few minutes of quiet to center themselves, feel calm and connected, in the present. Afterward, before we close with the recitation of the Creed, I’d like to invite you all to add your own thoughts if you wish. After all, these are only my own views, my own feelings, and I definitely don’t consider myself an expert on this subject; other viewpoints would surely be beneficial for us all. :) But first, let’s quiet down for a few moments...
...
(At this point, as I asked those in attendance if they would like to add anything, and conversation (copied directly from chat) followed.)
(16:25:03) Darren: Would anyone like to add anything? New thoughts, insights? Something you think I’ve overlooked?
(16:25:33) Darren: You can take your time and type... we won't move on until you get the chance to talk. :)
(16:25:36) Tarran: I think one of the warning signs of reckless is when someone says, "hold my beer - watch this"
(16:26:06) Rosalyn_J: I enjoyed your sermon because I have never thought about it that way
(16:26:13) Tarran: and I've been guilty of that more than once
(16:26:31) steamboat28: I don't believe recklessness, in itself, is a negative. I think it's when we allow it to control us, or find ourselves there too often, that it becomes a problem.
(16:26:56) Tarran: hmmm... hadn't thought of that
(16:27:02) Rosalyn_J: I think recklessness is relative
(16:27:08) Arkayik: I'd like a little more reckless abandon in my meditations...
(16:27:22) Rosalyn_J: what someone might consider reckless, I may not
(16:27:24) Darren: Good point, Steam. And thank you, Rosalyn. :)
(16:28:10) Edan: I think sometimes that having too much control, never having leeway, is almost as bad as being entirely reckless. At least in recklessness one can find their own boundaries.
(16:28:18) Exarchias: i believe, something about the spare of energy could be useful. sometime carefulness can be overkill :)
(16:28:55) Cyan_Sarden: being overly careful can also be reckless
(16:28:56) Tarran: there's something called "reckless bravery" that many tribal cultures cheer for... which isn't to say "uncalculated" per se, but can be just as dangerous
(16:29:02) Exarchias: instict sometime can do the trick without mindfullness :)
(16:29:14) Revan_Falton: I believe recklessness is an example of us giving into strong emotions. To me, recklessness implies the use of an action without a thoughtout plan. Example: "Someone is yelling at you, in reply you yell back at them". I do agree with the fact that we all need to take a step back, admit our short comings and move on. :)
(16:29:55) Tarran: Is there any way that recklessness can be used to an advantage?
(16:29:55) Rosalyn_J: a lot of people we admire are "reckless"
(16:30:09) Exarchias: personaly is just say that6 we should trust our instinct bit more. :)
(16:30:11) Rosalyn_J: firefighters, policemen, military members
(16:30:19) Tarran: mmm
(16:30:34) Rosalyn_J: there is a such thing as "trained recklessness"
(16:30:44) Edan: Is that really recklessness though? Is recklessness just putting oneself in danger?
(16:30:48) Rosalyn_J: although I just made up the term
(16:30:53) Tarran: sort of has a similar feel to the "reckless bravery" I mentioned... yeah
(16:30:53) Darren: More good points. I suppose having an over-abundance of either could be bad. You're at that party and you want to talk to that person; too reckless and you make a fool of yourself, too cautious and you may never try.
(16:30:57) Cyan_Sarden: not sure if I'd call that reckless - but as you said: recklessness is relative. But also dependent on the situation
(16:30:59) steamboat28: Rosalyn - Yes.
(16:31:03) Jumanji: First: hello to all oft you. I think that some recklessness allows us to make mistakes. And that allows us to learn...:warning:
(16:31:38) Exarchias: Rosaly think of that. When we train we use our mindfulness and logic. In action we use to follow our instinct :)
(16:32:01) Revan_Falton: Agreed. Mistakes are a necessary evil, because we all learn from our mistakes.
(16:32:13) Cyan_Sarden: jumanji: yes, but I'd say it only really becomes recklessness if you make he same mistake twice
(16:32:31) Jumanji: Agreed.
(16:32:39) Rosalyn_J: yes
(16:32:41) Darren: Has anyone who hasn't spoken yet got anything to add? Are you typing, or would you like us to move on?
(16:32:54) Exarchias: many arts demands double or multiple times to make the same mistake :)
(16:33:14) Rosalyn_J: example would be?
(16:33:24) Tarran: I've noticed unavoidable recklessness before... like when things happen way too fast to allow for rational thought to even get a foothold on the situation, but you *must* act... I hate that
(16:33:50) Cyan_Sarden: yeah, we all see that while driving sometimes
(16:33:58) Tarran: mm
(16:34:11) Tarran: 'swhy I hate driving lol
(16:34:12) Revan_Falton: Then that would be in my oppinion, ignorance. With art, you may make the same mistakes, however each time you are learning from them. The difference being, person A doesn't recognize the mistakes, and will not learn from it. While person B see's the mistakes, and is attempting to better himself
(16:34:39) Rosalyn_J: right I would agree there
(16:34:54) Exarchias: Language learning can be one example, (we use to make many times the same mistake) math can be one example too... i will be silence now :)
(16:35:10) Rosalyn_J: AH
(16:35:13) Darren: Well, if anyone else has anything to add, or the rest of you want, we can continue the conversation after the Creed. Thank you all for your thoughts and additions. :) Let's close out with a recitation of the Creed. Repeat after me, if you wish:
A recitation of Creed followed, and then "Thank you all for attending. :) This service is now finished. May the Force be with you all."
