Jedi Are in Touch With the Force
by Rosalyn J
“Jedi are in touch with the Force. We are open to spiritual awareness and keep our minds in tune with the beauty of the world. We are forever learning and open our minds to experiences and knowledge of ourselves and others.”
The frankest reply to how have I been in touch with the force is that I haven't been. I have mistaken the tasks related to the work and the Temple as being those selfsame tasks that are required of a Jedi, and if I am to be honest with myself that is why I'm here, empty. Is what I am doing for the Temple really service? Service is about service heartedness, sincere heartedness. It is about a change in mindset. It is about coming to a service act with the person we are assisting in mind. It is about making relationships genuine. I cannot do this if I do not first tend to myself and my own care and connection to the Force.
Practically, I need to set time aside to cultivate a connection with the Force. I won't qualify it right now, but at least some time each day. I think about when I have been most connected to the Force, and all I can think about was when I first joined the Temple and how often I would recite the Creed several times a day, first without a pendant and then with the pendant when I finally got up the funds to buy one. That is a practice I will adopt again starting today.
One thing I have realized in reading this teaching is how one cannot be in tune with the beauty of the world if one is not in touch with the Force. The opposite may in fact happen as it has happened with me. My “world” became ugly in my eyes, from my perspective. The world itself had not changed, but I found myself unable to handle it and becoming more pessimistic, less accepting, less understanding of the world. Less able to provide service because I lacked the faith that my service was needed or could have any impact. For those wondering, it is possible to be apathetic and still be engaged. It simply means I don't serve effectively.
It is also true that if I am not in tune with the with the beauty of the world I cannot learn effectively from others. It's a wonder how we can shield our heart from a cold and ugly world as we perceive it and so shut out our minds to other perspectives and cut ourselves off from other genuine necessary connections and opportunities for learning. Our connection to other beings of the Force strengthens our own level of “in touch” so long as we remember that they are more than the skin they come in, or the personality quirks that irritate us. They are the universe coming to us as whoever or whatever they are. “Luminous beings are we," says Yoda, “not this crude matter.”
May the Force be with you all.
