Breathe this in:
“Be not merely good; be good for something.”
-Henry David Thoreau.
We are going to play a round of that Game of Black and White today. It’s not something to be avoided. It is to be understood. We must do it, skillfully and always knowing that it is a game, just a way of talking. Ready to play? Here we go!
So have I seen:
In a sense, all spiritual paths can be broken into two camps. In the first, we find a relationship with the Sacred that draws one deeply into the material human experience, untidy as it is; into relationships characterized by love, curiosity, and courage. In the other, we find a relationship with the Sacred that draws one away from the material world and away from the daily acts of living in that world. It is a Path of Transcendence.
Myself, I favor the former. I am interested in a relationship with the Force, with all I hold sacred, that immerses me the world rather than removing me from it. I am interested in a spirituality that creates a practical good in the world. Secrets of spirit might be useful, but only if they bring joy and connection. I know people with all manner of secret knowledge. Relatively few are content. Fewer still are good for anything.
Stay, ground yourself, enter the world. Recognize your Knighthood in the disarray of living. We are not called to retreat. Solitude on the mountaintop is a rest, not a rule. Immerse in the world, in matter. We are messy and complicated, and our lives reflect that. Living, serving, however, occurs in the context of that fantastic mess. Remember that you are an organism. Whether you are only an organism or not, know that the body arises from and is bound together by the Force. I love my body and I love matter. I am a disciple of matter because it is just like spirit: The Force is with it, in it, around it, of it. So, I serve in this world, unconcerned with the next.
Have you noticed that there is no mention of any afterlife here in our Temple? It is not simply because people will disagree over this or that. There is much more to it. Concentrating on an afterlife misses the point. My work lays here. My attention is required here. And the meaning of my conduct as a Knight is derived from the action itself, not from some far off reward.
Recall, again, Thoreau’s admonition: “Be not merely good; be good for something.” There is little use for the goodness that you keep hidden in your heart. Do not pray away the hours of your life. Prayer is only as valuable as the actions it inspires. A Jedi is in the world, for the world. A spiritual practice that is isolated from one’s conduct is devoid of value. Do you think good thoughts? Good. They will make your actions that much easier. Do you merely think good thoughts and leave it at that? Enough of that. Go be useful instead.
I ask you to let your relationship with the Force make you more human, not less. Be of more service in the present tense. You will get dirty. Live with it. Do you need an eternal paradise before you will be a Knight? Will transcending the world, where the Jedi’s labor waits, make you a Knight? I can tell you that the answer is no.
Do not seek to leave the world while you are still in it. Do not deny the Knight’s calling. Worse, do not deceive yourself. The Force is not remote, elsewhere. It is here, in the jumble, now, with us.
The Force is with us.
Thank you.
