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Post by Alena on Dec 31, 2006 11:18:26 GMT -5
There are two kinds of suffering: the suffering that leads to more suffering and the suffering that leads to the end of suffering. If you are not willing to face the second kind of suffering, you will surely continue to experience the first.
-Ajahn Chah, "Still Forest Pool"
From "365 Buddha: Daily Meditations," edited by Jeff Schmidt. Reprinted by arrangement with Tarcher/Putnam, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc. There are a lot of people who are attracted to the Jedi path due to the romance and glamour. They think of ranks, councils, lightsabers, and exciting battles. They even invent "wars with the Sith" to produce this level of excitement for themselves. Yoda hit the nail on the head when he told Luke: "Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things." The Jedi way is hard. Any spiritual path, when genuinely undertaken, is HARD. You will run up against obstacles which are created none other than yourself and your own flaws which transform into conflicts. Any time you take a good look in the mirror and force yourself to see something about yourself which you do not want to see, that's HARD. And yes, along spiritual paths there is great suffering to achieve the end goal. But this is GOOD suffering. This is the sort of thing that makes oysters create pearls. This is the process of alchemy where the Black Work, the process of death and decay, must take place for the self to be reborn and perfected. You must destroy the parts of yourself which need to die so that you may become your truest self--that of pure spiritual gold. That is the secret of the alchemists and the stone of the wise--not pretty shiny objects, tiaras, ranks, or power, but that of inner transformation. ~Alena |
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Post by neo on Jan 19, 2007 15:32:00 GMT -5
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Post by Draco on Feb 1, 2007 17:11:02 GMT -5
Hmmmm......the Jedi way as Alchemy, not at this time as the Jedi way is far too obsessed with pointless feel good philosophizing about love this and love that. It is still Dr.Philjedism way in general.
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Post by Alena on Feb 1, 2007 18:14:42 GMT -5
Hmmmm......the Jedi way as Alchemy, not at this time as the Jedi way is far too obsessed with pointless feel good philosophizing about love this and love that. It is still Dr.Philjedism way in general. Politics isn't the Jedi way. I'm talking about actually LIVING the life, not just talking about it or engaging in pointless online squabbling. ~Alena |
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Post by Draco on Feb 1, 2007 22:47:38 GMT -5
Then why are Jedi couples going to the UN to powerlessly demand to be politically recognized as a religion. Given the large amount of different Jedi sects, I would say they are having a hard time even figuring out what a Jedi is. So it seems the "way" is whatever the individual wants it to be. Politics isn't the Jedi way. I'm talking about actually LIVING the life, not just talking about it or engaging in pointless online squabbling. ~Alena |
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Post by Alena on Feb 2, 2007 5:52:57 GMT -5
Then why are Jedi couples going to the UN to powerlessly demand to be politically recognized as a religion. Given the large amount of different Jedi sects, I would say they are having a hard time even figuring out what a Jedi is. So it seems the "way" is whatever the individual wants it to be. Here's my tip, which I typically dispense towards various members of my religious community: Don't be so concerned about what other people do. Do what YOU know you have to do. The rest will all take care of itself. ~Alena |
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Post by Xhaiden on Mar 1, 2007 15:01:36 GMT -5
No serious Jedi that I know of is going to the UN. You can't let the actions of a few determine your decision of an entire group. Many of the true Jedi know what a Jedi is and what they believe in and can define it. There is not as much disagreement as you would think. Aside from that I'm with Alena!! It's not about what is said, it's about what we do and no one on here can really know what we do as online is just words. If you could see someone who is truly a Jedi functioning in life you would truly know what a Jedi is. I don't teach others offline what a Jedi is, I live by example. Someone knows what I stand for and who I am by observing me.
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