In Defense of This Temple

Defense: To defend the way of Jediism

A Jedi is sworn by oath to defend their faith and all it encompasses.

It is the fourth of our twenty-one maxims.  Please give it its due in your thinking.

So have I seen:

I love this Temple. I love it unabashedly, unapologetically.  I know I am not alone.  Let us be clear:  The Temple is not a website.  The website provides the vacant lot on which a Temple could be built. The Temple is the sum of the hearts and minds here.  It’s you.  It’s us. I learn things here that matter to me.  I have friends here that I care about.  When I looked for a place to hang my hat, this Temple greeted me with open arms.  When I have needed support or guidance, someone here stepped up.  When I have gotten away from myself, someone came along to check me.  It wasn’t always pleasant, but I needed it.  And when I have forgotten what was important, people sent me reminders.  I am grateful for all of that.  The Temple has been very good to me.  I try to be good for the Temple.  I know I am not alone.

So, when someone comes along bringing a ruckus into my home, I cannot help but take exception to it. Yesterday, it was a guest with an ax to grind and a night with no other plans.  Today, it is one of the True Jedi (I started on my Jedi Path in 1382…) who wants us to know that we have lost our way.  Tomorrow it will be someone who treats a tragic history and a string of fresh wounds as a loaded gun, pointed at whoever shows up. 

Long, angry threads abound, like a fireworks display with all the joy magically removed. Very little is more satisfying than getting in the last word, when one manages to.  But, you never do, and it wouldn’t help anyway.  You knew that too, but that fact always seems to slip away. Whether it is about our Temple, The Jedi Path, or you personally, the attacks and counters seem to go on endlessly.

The great temptation is to meet poison with stronger poison.  Would you pull the stones from our own walls to cast them at those who would see our walls fall?

We are told not to let it get under our skin, but it happens. We want to be durable, even bullet-proof, but people get to us.  We’re only human.  We might think that, if we are proper Jedi, nothing should touch us.  Still, something comes along to bite you. It happens.  So then what?

We burn with anger and resentment sometimes, don’t we? Certainly, but we must work to make good choices regardless.  Anger might be the reason we react poorly, but it is not an excuse to stop refining ourselves.  We must not let ourselves off the hook there.  Truth be told, when we think we are rising to the defense of our Temple, we are often only speaking to the defense of our personal wounds. It is understandable, but not helpful.  It is entirely forgivable, but we can do better.

I wish there were secret methods, but there seem to be none.  There is only the work: Training and refinement of the character.  It is a long, slow walk, but a one of tremendous dignity.  Are you angry?  Offended?  I understand.  It happens.  Feel your emotions, but do not be blinded by them.  The hand that covers your eyes is not so big.  It fills your sight, feels vast only because it is so close. Practice bringing your feelings into better view, see them in context and proportions.  It is a long, slow walk, this practice.

Are you angry?  I understand.  Now, make the responsible choice anyway. Here is the challenge I offer you:  Do not defend this Temple.

“But doesn’t our Temple deserve the strongest defense?”

Yes, it does.  But, Jedi, it deserves so much more.

The 12th teaching tells us that, “Jedi believe that love and compassion are central to their lives. We must love and care for each other as we must love and care for ourselves; by doing this we envelop all life in the positivity of our actions and thoughts.”  We are taught to answer fire with water. The great temptation is to meet poison with stronger poison, but we are asked to do better.  

The 16th teaching tells us that, “We are both the witnesses and protectors of the Jedi way by the practice of our convictions.” The practice of our convictions… This Jedi Path we share is not defended by our prowess as debaters or our willingness to split hairs for hours.  Or weeks.  Our anger and resentment, our venom, do not defend a Path that tells us, “There is no Emotion, there is Peace.”  They do not defend a Path that asks us to answer hatred with love and injury with pardon. Would you pull the stones from our own walls?

Do more than merely defend this Temple.  Exemplify it.  Talk is cheap.  Volume proves nothing.  Any fool can say anything and say it loud.  An example, however, is powerful. We do not defend a doctrine by violating it. This Temple deserves so much more than our tiny Crusades.  What this Temple deserves, what it needs, Jedi, is many, many good examples.

Please give this its due in your thinking.

Thank you.