Jedi Studies 101.-Lesson Four: benevolence

I really like the idea of MBOs and BPs. I have thought a lot about them, and I've realised they have showed me another point of view of the Force I hadn't explored yet. I've realised that this agrees with my point of view of the Force and life, you know, that we are energy, and that our bodies are just a kind of "personification" of that energy which allows us to interact with the physical world. Our energy is too big to be stored in a body, so some of our our essence exists outside our body, forming our aura/halo/awareness. Which we can contract and expand indefinitely as I learned in Lesson One. Because we are energy, and energy has no limits. So, it makes sense that our thoughts are energy too, and in that way we can interact with the Force and modify, at least sightly, everything around us.

As I was saying, I've found this idea very, very interesting. During the last two weeks, I practised both MBOs and BPs. Mostly MBOs. I asked, for example, for my trip to Denmark to be greater than I could imagine, and it has certainly been awesome. Apart from the trip itself, which has been wonderful (Denmark is a really beautiful country, and my Danish family was just lovely), I have met a very interesting person (which, amazingly, lives just five minutes away from my home) which has changed my point of view about many things. We have talked a lot about many things, both during the Exchange program and after we arrived Spain and, in a way, I think we have helped each other with a lot of things, which is fantastic. You know, it's difficult to talk about anything more apart from Facebook, iPhones and handsome guys with high school friends when you are 16, so it is just great to find someone of your age with who you can speak about, let's say, more important and interesting things.

Also, I prayed about a really big argument I had with one of my oldest friends. We hadn't spoken to each other for almost five months, and I couldn't see any solution to the problem. I was fearing our friendship was lost forever when suddenly things changed and everything is starting to be fine again between us. We've tried to talk a lot of times before, but only after I did the MBO we were able to work the problem out.

I have prayed for many more things and people, and I am truly amazed of the power this technique. It is amazing how effective (and helpful) asking for help can be. And I think one of the most important parts of the prayer itself is to say "thank you". It reminds us that as Jedi, and people, we don't only have to help other people, but also let other people (and, by extension, the Force) help us too, that each person needs help of some kind at least one time in his life, and that sometimes, we need to let us be helped if we want to help other people sucessfully.

 Really, I'm more grateful of having found this Path each day that happens. I have already learned more things that I could have ever imagined and I've just started walking the Path.

Jedi Studies 101.-Lesson 3: Core Ethics Part 2

Respect the law & defense assignment

1.-What is my experience with defense (physical, mediation and/or conflict resolution)?

Well, as a member of my high school’s student council, I’ve learned a lot about mediation and conflict resolution and I’ve helped to resolve some ... let's say...disagreements between teachers and students. About physical defense, well, I know how to defend myself from a couple of punches or kicks, but nothing more. I’ve always wanted to learn some martial arts, but my mother wouldn’t let me, and know I don’t have the time nor the money to go to an academy.

2.-Could I intervene in a skilled manner?

Verbally, I think I can be helpful in many situations, but, apart from some young sister-little cousin conflicts, my daughter-father arguments, some (quite strong) arguments between friends and the student council, I’ve never tried to intervene in a serious situation. I've always thought that sometimes it is better to let people work out their differences without intervention. Physically, I think it would be better if I didn’t try to help, for me and for the rest of the people ;)

3.-What areas do I feel are most important to train in over the coming five years or so?

I’d like to learn about martial arts and self-defense, because my knowledge about that area is lacking. But, as always, I’m open to learn as much as the world can teach me, so learning more things about mediation and conflict resolution will be nice, too.

4.-Am I familiar with my legal rights and protection?

Well, I literally know nothing about this area. I really need to work on this :)

Action assignment: choosing when to act

I found this really interesting. The next time I have to decide to help or not to help another person, I will post the experience here. But I’ve realised that I’ve done this a lot of times, maybe not about helping or not helping another person, but when I have to make an important decision, I think I instinctively seek the answer in the Force. Sometimes there is an answer that kind of “shines” when I close my eyes, other everything seems confused in the beginning, but after some time everything seems to become clearer and I can see the “shining” decision in my mind. And it has proven really effective.

Creed 101.-Lesson Two: the Second Stanza

This assignment has been a little bit difficult. Nobody asked my any question I didn't know the answer to, and I didn't like those which appear in the Workbook. But yesterday I met with an old friend of mine and the only person outside the IJRS who know about my belief in the Force. After some time of chattering, and as I have to chose this school year's subjects before Monday, she asked me what did I wanted to be when I was older. I answered that I didn't know exactly, but that I will study something related to Medicine or Biochemistry. She asked why, and I answered that because I think it is our duty as people to help other people, and that I thought that dedicating my life to help people preserve their health is a good way to do so.
And then she asked why, if I believe nothing happens by accident, should we try to save dying people? Why should we try to heal people? Maybe they are meant to die or be sick. If they are sick and are they are meant to recover, they will. If they are sick later, and they are meant to die, there would be nothing we could do about it. I didn't known what to answer.

Later, at home, I thought a lot about that. When I was meditating, I centred myself on that. After repeating to myself several times "there is no ignorance, there is knowledge", my inner self spoke to me: "the knowledge you seek is already inside of you".
So I started searching the answer inside of me. I tried to discover my true motives, why did I believe that being a doctor was a meaningful job. And then, the answer came to me.
Why do I want to help sick people? Because if they are meant to live, I can help them by making them recover quicker. And if they are meant to die, I can help them with they journey by making they die in the most peaceful and painless way it's possible. And I can prevent people from being sick, too, with investigation, and make more effective drugs to heal the sick ones. Maybe the Force writes our destiny, but as we are the Force, in the end it is us who write our destiny,

This may seem silly to you, but it has been very important for me. We need a purpose if we want to life a good life. Without purpose, we are nothing.

I also learned a lot of First Aid techniques today in an activity organized by my town. I learned, too, a lot of things about traditional Buddhist medicine thanks to a Buddhist friend, some new meditation techniques, and that a new planet which could be the home of life forms had been discovered. So I can say today has been a day full of knowledge

Jedi Studies 101.-Lesson Two: Core Ethics part 1

1.-Loyalty to the Code
What codes are you familiar with, Jedi or otherwise? Do you find them beneficial in your life?
As I am working in my Creed 101 Workbook, I am familiar with the three Jedi Codes, the shorter and modified version of Odan Urr's Code and the Skywalker Code. I've never liked very much the Skywalker Code, although I recognise that I defines fine a Jedi's duty nor the original "There is no emotion, there is peace" Code, it is too absolute for me, even with interpretation. I prefer the shorter "Emotion, yet peace" five-lined version. Apart from these "defined" three codes, I don't know more. I have a lot of values which guide my behaviour, but they aren't exactly "defined" codes, just principles I have adopted as I have grown up: that every creature is as important and valuable as anyone else, and must be treated like that; that we must respect nature because represents a very important part of ourselves; that every piece of knowledge makes us grow as people, so we must seek it and never reject it, that we should never judge a person's behaviour without knowing his/her true motives; that we must be empathic and kind to everyone even if they aren't kind with us... and etc.
I do find these moral codes beneficial. They describe my path and make it easier to return to it when I get lost. They also describe my behaviour, which allows me to avoid being random.

2.-Duty to all
How can you serve your community in your current capacity in the offline world? How can you serve the Jedi community?
I serve my community in little ways. I'm good at maths and physics, between other subjects, and, as those subjects are very problematic to a lot of students, I try to help them during the schoolyear and also give classes during the summer. I also tidy my neighbours' garden because they are too old to do it by themselves, and help my father with household duties when I can. My "students" and my neighbourds give me some money, but I really don't care, I help them because I want to. At school, this year I was a member of the Student Council and representative of my grade and I "work" as librarian with some friends at my high school's library twice a week. I also try to listen to people's problems and try to help them find a solution. Every months I donate food, clothes and money to a local NGO which helps poor people and sick chlildren, too.
How can I serve the Jedi community? Well, each time I post something on the web, I like to think that maybe some of my experiences/exercises will be useful to anybody else. I participate in discussions every time I can and give my opinion if I think it can be useful. As I am Spanish, I can also translate important post to my lenguage. And I think that's all.

Jedi Studies 101.-Lesson One: The Ineffable

First of all, I agree with what you said about the ultimate definition of the Force, Jax. The short time I've been walking the Jedi Path has been enough to make me realise that not everybody thinks the Force is what I think it is, and that it is such a vast concept that it is almost imposible to describe it accurately.  :ponder So many things to consider.

Exercise One: Feeling the edges

As you know, I've always thought that we are more than "these crude matter", as a certain great Jedi Master once said  :yoda. And I've always looked at myself that way, too. I learned long ago that sometimes eyes are not to be trusted. When I look at myself at the mirror, I try to remember that I'm more than a mutant teenager.

I liked this exercise. I found it really interesting. I saw myself as floating in a kind of sphere of an undefined color. It changed its colour each time that I was able to identify what colour was it. Its edge/limit wasn't defined. It was like a blurred line, something inconsistent and variable. To I tried to "reach" that edge, only to discover that each time I tried to reach it, it moved further away. I tried to reach it another time and obtained the same result. I was so centered in reaching my edge that I hadn't realised that that bubble which surrounded me had expanded. So I experimented. I kind of expanded and contracted myself. I tried to reach farther and farther and also tried to make myself as little as I could. I realised that, as energy, I don't have an edge, and that I can expand myself as much as I want. There aren't walls or obstacles in that realm. And I think I could almost kind of feel other beings' bubbles (especially my sister and father, who were sleeping nearby  ;) ), but maybe I just was imaginating that. But the exercise was really interesting. How did I feel? It is difficult to put it in words. Serene. Infinite. True. I think I kind of connected with myself  :ponder .

I've always had "problems" with what people call "private bubble" or "personal space". My mother used to said that I had too much energy to keep in only one body. When I am in crowded places, with a lot of people around me, I feel like I am being comprimed in a very little space and I get very nervous. But I don't get so nervous when I am in a small place. I've thought that maybe this happens because, when I am in crowded places, other people's bubbles comprime mine forcefully, so I feel like if I'm being chocked. But when I am in a small place, my energy is free to comprime and expand. It just slips through walls and floor if it is too big, or readjust itself to an smaller size. I've also realised during these last days that my sphere changes with my mood, and that I unconsciously make it smaller when I try to avoid being noticed. And that each people's bubble/presence in the Force is different and that you can kind of read how they are feeling in it. Yesterday, my neighbour visited us. She was looking for my father, but he wasn't at home. She said that I was okey, that she would return the next day. I felt something was wrong with her and I asked her if she was fine, and if she wanted my father to phone her when she arrived. She smiled and said she was perfectly and that she would phone my father herself. She left "cheefully" but I kept having the feeling of that something was wrong. That night, my father told me that my neighbour's wife was at the hospital, with a recently discovered breast cancer killing her.  And even if she was calm and apparently happy, I could feel her sorrow. Interesting. A lot of things to think about  :ponder  :meditate .

  

Exercise Two: Becoming space

This exercise was nice. I don't if this is a kind of meditation technique, but I've been using this during my meditation sessions during the last days. This experience reminded me of something I did when I was little, and still do sometimes now. I've always had a lot of nightmares, especially when I was very young, 4 to 9 years old or so. I remeber I sometimes woke up in the middle of night and was so afraid I didn't want to call my mother or turn the lights on or anything. I remeber I looked at the darkness in my room and saw like a kind of little spots of different colour floating in the air, creating spirals and flying towards me. And then, I felt myself expand and I became those little spots, and I wasn't afraid anymore. I don't know how to describe it, but the feeling was astonishing.

Returning to my exercise. It is really difficult to put in words, but I'll do my best. After I relaxed myself and started my habitual meditation "ritual", I started to try to find those spaces between my atoms. At first, when I tried to expand them, I didn't feel anything. But as I kept pushing, I started to feel something, like a tickling sensations. It was strange, but not unpleasant. It was if like all my energy concentrated itself in the same point. So I kept pushing. And then, I exploded in every direction. I kind of left being Zariah to become part of something much greater, but, at the same time, I kept being Zariah. The feeling was wonderful. The physical suddenly became less important and I felt free and infinite, like if I was only energy. It is really difficult to put in words, but it felt like if I was dying and borning at the same time. I felt more in peace than I had in a lot of time. There weren't emotions, only a astonishing feeling of peace and communion with the Universe and the Force and an undescribable feeling of happiness. I was everywhere and was everywhere. I felt powerful and wise and infinite. I think I left some atoms floating out there.

Creed 101.-Lesson One: the first stanza (there is no emotion, there is peace)

Sorry about the delay. That old machine I have as computer was believed dead for almost three days. Luckily, it has resurrected, so I can continue posting my exercises.

 

Lesson One: the first stanza (there is no emotion, there is peace)

I've always had problems with my emotions. Sometimes they are so strong and sudden that I just can't control them. Sometimes I was able to localize its origin, but there were other times were they seemed to come from nowhere. When I started the Jedi path, I discovered that my strong emotions are due to my Emotional Intuitive nature. I knew of the Jedi Code long before I arrived at the IJRS, and it has helped a lot during the last years. One of the most important stanzas for me is the first one.

During the last days, which have been filled with a lot of emotions, mostly negative, this first line has been quit helpful, especially with my sister and father. After the death of my mother, a lot of things have happened and I've found emotions a little oppressive. Maybe due to my Emotional Intuitive nature, I can kind of feel other people's emotions in the air, at most of times I make them my emotions, too. I can kind of project my emotions around me, too, so people around me are sometimes affected by what I feel. Emotions can be really exhausting, especially when they are strong feelings. For example, sadness, anxiety and fear have been the strongest ones during the last day. My sister, for example, has started realising that she had changed a lot since my mother's death. She's confused because she kind of has lost herself and doesn't know who she is. She's tired because she has a lot of nightmares and can't sleep well, and is afraid because of those nightmares, because she doesn't know who she is and because she is starting to lose the memories of my mother (she told me that the other day and it made me really, really sad). And all that makes her feel irritated, aggressive and angry, which makes her be mean and rude sometimes. She has a lot of feelings inside of her, and I think she isn't able to name them or express them, so she pays it with the rest of the world. So, when she starts to act annoyingly or mean and I start feeling myself anger, I take a lair of deep breaths and repeat the first stanza in my head a few times. I recognise the emotion (normally anger or exasperation), feel it, understand it and let it go. It works most of times.

I've also discovered that it is easier with "hot", brief emotions like anger, frustration, irritation, exasperation, hate... you know, those who seem to make tour blood boil and makes you want to punch or kick or kill something  :fight :) (you know what I mean) than with "cold", oppressive, long-lasting emotions like sadness, psychological pain, guilt or fear. I've found guilt and sadness difficult to deal with. In my mind, I visualize anger or hate as intense flash of light, for example. They start quickly and usually disappear quickly, too. But cold feelings are difficult to identify and difficult to let go. In my mind, they are like something big and oppressive that squeezes me and doesn't let me breathe. They are in every thought and they seem to tear you apart. I don't know if you know what I mean. Usually, meditation and music are enough to recover my balance, at least temporally.  I must work on this.

I also sometimes have problems with sad TV series/movies. I think I get too much involved with the characters and I make their emotions my own. Sometimes I've started crying watching a TV show and those have feelings have "opened" something in my heart and suddenly emotions have started to pour from it. Now, it doesn't happen often but I don't like the idea of having repressed emotions somewhere in my heart. That implies ignoring and trying to supress them and that definitely isn't the Jedi Path. Must work on that, too.

I also wanted to share with you some experience, and by the way record it so I can remember it in the future. On September 9 I'm going to go to Denmark on an exchange program with my high school. It is not going to by my first flight in plane, although I've never liked them. Seems I prefer to have my feet on the ground :) But one month ago more or less I dreamed that a plane crashed. It was a really vivid dream. I could almost fear the passengers' emotions just before the plane crashed. But I don't know if I was on it or I just was a spectator. But, anyway, I am scared. I know you will probably think that I'm making too much of it, but I've had other dreams like that and in the end they have come true. Don't laugh, it is really scaring. Okay, now you will probably be thinking that I am a liar and that I am crazy, but I swear it is true. Ever had déjà-vus? It is a similar sensation. Anyway. My problem is that the fear of living my father and sister alone if my dream is true is all the time in my mind. I've tried meditation, I've tried to repeat the first stanza, I've tried to let it go... but when it leaves, it returns later, stronger and more intense. So, what can I do? I don't want to live fearing something that may not happen to me, or not happen at all!

My Personal Learning Plan

After posting it in my Introductory Course topic at the IJRS and due to my computer's impressive capability to suddenly turn off, I've decided to post my PLP here too, in case my computer dies definitively.

Zariah's PLP

Creed 101.-Beginning exercise: new points of view

First, I'd like to thank Kol Drake about the email he sent me. I wish I could have sent you an answer, but my email isn't working very fine for some reason :S . He showed my other points of view of the Jedi Code and he related it to other cultures/religions' beliefs, which I found really interesting. He really helped my to find some answers to my questions, so, thanks Kol Drake.

Returning to my homework. After I posted my Beginning exercise, I was asked to ask myself about any misconceptions about the Code I might have. At first, I thought I hadn't any questions and that everything was clear for me. I understood the basics of the Code, but after a lot of thinking, I realised that I had doubts about more subtle parts of it.

There is no emotion, there is peace

As I said before, emotions are an important part of the human nature. We wouldn't be humans without our emotions, and they are necessary to understand and know ourselves. If we try to ignore and suppress them, one they we will explode and that will make us fall to the Dark Side. So emotions are a fundamental part of our life and ourselves, but they can destroy us, too, if we let them rule us or we ignore them. I think, too, that a Jedi must feel compassion and unconditional love for all the living beings, because that's where the desire to help springs of. And, obviously, compassion and love are very powerful emotions. The problem starts when we let emotions cloud our judgment. As I said, peace is achieved by balance. So my first questions was, what does exactly "balance" mean and how do we achieve it without destroying ourselves?

I liked very much Kol Drake's point of view of this first line, and after reading it several times, I found a first answer to my question. I quote him:

This sounds a lot like the Buddhist view of the mind. That the mind is naturally peaceful and our thoughts and emotions are the disturbance, like momentary ripples on the surface of a pond. [...] But another part of it is it is like saying the orange peel is not the important thing, it is the entire orange. So saying that there is no emotion would be more like saying emotion is the illusion. Emotion is the surface of peace. Understand your emotions; do not give importance to your emotions. And the natural path to that is peace.

So, peace isn't something "foreign" we have to achieve, it is already inside of us. Our natural state is peace, and emotions are just temporary disturbances in that peace. We are more than emotion, emotion is only the first layer of our mind, and there is much more after it. So we mustn’t let ourselves centre is something as temporary as our emotions, nor let us be controlled by them. We must understand them, find the cause of them, and let them go, because they are just temporal, just disturbances provoked by our interactions with the physical world, and they don't represent ourselves. And that is balance. Acknowledging our emotions, discovering the cause of that emotion, and then letting them vanish in our inner peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

I like too Kol Drake's observation of that ignorance is needed to achieve knowledge. That reminded my of something my mother used to said, "Sometimes it is necessary to unlearn what you have learned". Knowledge and pride and our tendency to believe that we know better that everybody else can make us to avoid or reject other points of views because they aren't similar to what we believe in. So, to be wise, we need knowledge, but we need too to be able to be ignorant as a child, so we can absorb new forms of knowledge without the barriers society has created on us and critical to be able to decide what new moral codes/creeds/actions/way to see life/religions are good to us and which ones are not.

I have a question, too. I don't remember exactly how did it come to my mind, but it just did, so I', going to post it here. Can be the thirst of knowledge (something I value a lot and that I personally have) be a thirst of power and, in the end, be a path to the Dark Side? I'm having problems with that "Jedi do not seek power" line that so often appears in Star Wars. Because Jedi do seek power. They train so they can be more powerful in the Force, they study so they can be wiser and etc. I suppose the difference between a Jedi and a Sith in this topic is that the Sith's desire of power is oriented towards themselves, and that Jedi's desire of power is oriented towards the rest of the world. But what about knowledge? Knowledge can be oriented towards a lot of things. Do the Jedi orient they thirst of knowledge towards themselves or/and towards the rest of the world? I'm confused.

There is no passion, there is serenity

I don't have any questions about this line, but I agree with Kol Drake's point of view of this line and it helped me to clarify some aspects of this line.

Kol Drake said:

This is similar to the first line as you noted but, “emotion” seems to be the “what”. “Passion” is more like the “how” or the “why”. [...] Instead of having the passion and drive and motive to do something, just let that go and do it. Passion will dissolve into the automatic groove or the action itself.

I find this absolutely true. It happens to me when I write of play my guitar. Instead of centering myself in playing a soft song with emotion and feeling, just play it as you feel it and let happen what must happen. The result may surprise you.

There is no chaos, there is harmony

And, to finish. I didn't write anything about this line because I wasn't supposed to, although I find it really important. It has always been the most "literally true" and important line to me and was especially helpful after the death of my mother. And I try to remember it every time I watch the news on the TV, so I'd like to post here my opinion.

I've always thought that harmony doesn't mean "light over darkness". It doesn't mean life, or happiness or joy. In the same way, harmony doesn't mean "darkness over light", or sadness, or death, or disaster. There is harmony when darkness and light are balanced, are equals. So between all the death, the wars, the epidemic diseases, all the daily problems that affect us, all the chaos that is around us, there is harmony. Because there are deaths, yes, but there are also births. And there is sadness and hate, but there is joy and love, too. Chaos and peace are the two sides of a same coin. There can't be the one without the other. So, for me, everything is as it should be. We can't expect a world of happiness because in that world there wouldn't be harmony. So, as Qui-Gon said "nothing happens by accident". I don't know if there is a bigger plan for the Earth, but, for now, I know that everything is as it should be.

Creed 101.-Beginning Exercise

It is difficult to put in words what the Jedi Code means to me. I think that for me, the Jedi Code represents the very essence of the Jedi Path. It describes my way to see the world, and life, and also explains how should live each moment of my life, how should I behave if I want to be a Jedi Realist, and what should I aspire to become. So, in the end, I think it describes what a Jedi is.

I've always thought that the Jedi Code mustn’t be taken literally, especially this version. That's why I prefer the shorter version (Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force), because I think this one can be misunderstood.

There is no emotion, there is peace

It is impossible to take this literally. Obviously, there is emotion, and we wouldn't be humans without our emotions. Emotions are a fundamental part of us. If we try to suppress them, the only thing we will do is to harm ourselves. But, if we want to act fairly and to make good decisions, we mustn’t let our feelings get in the way. The peace we need to do this is achieved by balance. This is what the first sentence in the Jedi Code means for me.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge

For me, most of evil actions are based in and supported by ignorance, and knowledge is the solution to them. Ignorance is the path to the dark side, so a Jedi must be wise, as a result of a live of study. Sometimes, because of ignorance, we misunderstood actions, or people, or opinions or are afraid about everything we don't know (xenophobia, for example). So, for me, this line sets a goal every Jedi should aspire to: knowledge, in every way we can find it.

There is no passion, there is serenity

I think this line is similar to the first one, but I think there are some differences between them. Passionate feelings like love, hatred, desire or anger are really powerful, and can cloud our judgment if we aren't careful and make us do things, make decisions or say things we will regret later. I think this line wants to tell us that we must let acknowledge passionate feeling, but we mustn’t let them destroy the best part of ourselves. We must feel like if we were in the eye of an hurricane, feeling the storm around us, but without letting it affect us, being in serenity.

There is no death, there is the Force

The universe is energy. Everything, from the planets and stars to life forms. In the end, we are just a bunch of atoms and other particles stuck together, a personification of a soul. As Master Yoda said, "Luminous beings we are, not just these crude matter." And energy can't be destroyed; it can just be transformed in another type of energy. And the Force is formed by all living beings.

So, in the end, we really never die. When our body stops working, it slowly becomes part of other living beings, that will die one day, and that will become part of different living beings as well. 

Introduction

Aproximately one month ago, I started my studies at the Institute for Jedi Realist Studies. I quickly realised that the Jedi Path was an even more live-changing path than I have expected. I know it will be hard to become a Jedi Knight, but I am up for the challenge. I have already finished my Introduction Course, so I'm not a Novice anymore: now I'm and Adept. IRJS's administrator has given me permission to start the next courses, so here I am.

I've started this blog with the intention of having a record of all the steps of the Jedi Path. Here, I will post all the asignments from the IJRS I have to do, my feelings about the offline activities I'm doing and am going to do and, any thought or idea I found interesting, the difficulties I'm finding and the solutions to them. I think that in the future I would like to know how was I feeling when I started walking this path. Althought I've created this blog for private purpouses, everybody is free to read, comment and say whatever they have to say about what is written here. I hope this will be as helpful to other people as it is being for myself.

Zariah Anu'lëh