What is a Jedi?
Some are called Grey, Shadow, Red, Dark, and even Water, Forest, and Zen
But what does that mean?
These have all been viewed as various aspects of being a Jedi and some still are.
What is a Jedi?
When we all first started along this path, we have asked ourselves that very question. Even worse, someone else laughed and asked us that question.
The quite simple answer is: A Jedi is one who is a practitioner of Jediism. When we say that to someone, the question that follows is almost always the same: What is Jediism?
In our own FAQ it states that, “Jediism is the religion of those who regard their Jedi practice as a religious vocation. Jedi observe a metaphysical entity called the Force and often practice meditation.”
Now granted, not everyone believes that Jediism has to just be religion. There are those out there, and a lot of them, that call themselves Jedi but without considering it a religion at all, but a philosophy or a way of life and a way of living instead.
Does this make them less of a Jedi? Does this make them more of a Jedi?
My answer to both of those questions is no, it neither makes them more nor less of a Jedi. A Jedi is one who has studied the various aspects of what it means to be a Jedi and living by those standards.
I always get the same question after that, what are those standards and do I have to convert from my current religion to become a Jedi?
Yes, I really get asked that a lot.
I respond in the best way I can, by having them come to TotJO and simply read our home page because it says it all. “We believe in Peace, Justice, Love, Learning and Benevolence: It is unlikely that the Jedi way conflicts with other beliefs and traditions.”
Invariably there are those out there in the Jedi community that think there are various different aspects to being a Jedi.
In the history of Jediism there have been various forms come into play, one of the biggest variations we all see today are the “Grey Jedi”.
This is nothing new and in fact there have been several more that have been around for many years.
Some of these are: Shadow Jedi, Red Jedi, Dark Jedi, and even Water, Forest, and Zen Jedi…and more.
I won’t go into detail on each of these, that is another sermon altogether.
What I will say on these various aspects is this.
No one is born a Jedi and it takes quite a bit of study and practice. And during those studies and practice, our thought process begins to change.
Right action. Right thought. Kindness. Benevolence. Love.
These begin to take hold at our core being.
While Jedi may solve problems in various different ways, it does not mean that we have to split ourselves into different aspects.
There is always more than one way to solve a problem, but this should not split our community.
It should bring us closer together by learning from one another.
If you walk the path, study, live by right action, and live by right thought, then you are a Jedi.
Any questions or thoughts?
Finish with the Creed:
I am a Jedi, an instrument of peace;
Where there is hatred I shall bring love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
I am a Jedi.
I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
The Force is with me always, for I am a Jedi.
