That's right, you heard me. They exist.
Jediism is the new non-theistic religiousmovement based on the philosophical and spiritual ideas of the Jedi as depicted in the Star Wars fanchise. (Thank you Wikipedia).
Apparently these real-world Jedi assert the actual existence of the Force, advocating adeherence to the Jedi code.
I know what you're thinking: there's no way this movement could be a very large one, right? But according to recent census in some English-speaking countries, over 500,000 people identidied their religion as Jedi.
There are also a few Jedi churches out there.
Now, the definition of religion states that a relligion is a group of people gathering togethr sharing a common belief. These real Jedis are united in their belief of the Force and how it guides them throughout their lives.
The Jedi church recognizes that there is one all-powerful Force binding all things in the universe together, not necessarily confirming or denying the existence of a God, just not believing in one, knowing full well the Force is their only guide.
In the United Kingddom, 2% of people in Brighton reported their religion as "Jedi".
On January 12th of this year, the Government of Canada granted Order of the Jedi, Inc. certification which recognized them as the world's first Federally Incorporated Non-Profit Religious Entity. On that day in January the church was founded.
From what I could gather in my research, there are Jedi Orders in New Zealand, in the United Kingdom, and in Maryland right here in the states among others.
They even conduct Jedi Marriages: "Do you Jedi ___ take Jedi ___ to be your husband...."
For more information and to do your own research into the world of Jediism, check out this Web site among others: http://www.jedichurch.org/jedi-marriage-licence.html
Jediism is based on many ancient and modern religious philosophies and not on the Star Wars movies. The movies are merely a parable used to teach fundamental truths much in the way Jesus taught in parables. See: http://TempleOfTheJediOrder.org
ReplyDeleteI'm a member of http://TempleOfTheJediOrder.org . In the forum there's a lot of talk of spiritual matters, and very few Star Wars references when dealing with these matters.
ReplyDeleteWhat we call 'The Force' is only called that because we have to call it something and Star Wars is very accesible.
I (As a Jedi), would like to also confirm that Jediism is not at all based on the movie Star Wars. Br. John explained this well above.
ReplyDeleteA second point, lightsabers...We do not have lightsabers, and if we do, they're for fun purposes only. The martial art that some of us study - Aikido, trains us in the use of a Bokken, which is, I guess, similar as you duel with them like Lightsaber.
The robes are helpful, but they are not compulsary. The robes help us during mediation, as the clothing that we casually wear is often tied in with the everyday fast-paced and hectic lifestyle, the robes allow us to exit this frame of mind and enter a new, more tranquil one.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt might interest you to know, how much most of the greater Jedi Community detests the church you are speaking of in your article. Having a contact who has dealt with their Canadian counterparts directly, and given the recent Tesco incident, people are starting to believe they are money hungry. The Maryland Jedi (based out of Baltimore), however, seems to have a good standing.
ReplyDeleteI can see that Br. John Phelan, Red Pill and Cypher have provided their insight here. Temple of the Jedi Order is probably the most active order (as a whole) working towards diminishing this idea that the Jedi Community is everything you see in the news. I, however, am not of their order. That being said, I offer my own accounts of the Jedi Community as an individual you can find on over half of the boards either lurking and learning or actually participating in discussions.
*more to follow*
Most people have this idea that the Jedi Realist Movement began with the 2000 Concensus. Looking over your information, I feel I need to dispute something. I have met a few Aussies that were on that first uprising to get Jediism as a religion. I can tell you with full confidence, that many saw it as no more than a joke. And if you read up on the Church of Jediism-you will find that the same is true of their own concensus. The idea started with someone sending out a chain letter to people telling them to write "Jedi" as their religion on their concensus. Whether this was started by an individual that really wanted his religion (Jediism) recognized or if it was started out to prove a point to the government, I cannot tell you.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't I tell you if it was started by an actual member of the Jedi Realist Movement? Because the movement didn't start with the concensus. In fact, it is attributed to Role-Players of the mid-1990s. Of course, before I go into this, I need to explain the idea of Star Wars to you. Which comes long ago, back before the books were even written.
Joseph Campbell and George Lucas were good friends. It was Campbell's work that inspired the idea of Star Wars. Campbell is the first recognized individual to make the idea that most-if not all-religions (Abrahamic, Paganistic, and the more philisophical types-such as Taoism and Buddhism) have common elements to them. He shared this idea with George Lucas, and taught him about the depth of these commonalities. Wanting to get people to think about their spirituality more, Lucas took these elements and fused them together with monk attributes and the warrior aspect of the Samurai.
*more to follow*
So where does "the Force" come from? This ties in with those commonalities I spoke of. Most religions have a supernatural aspect to them. But this isn't the only idea we get. Look to the idea of "Chi". If you trace it back far enough, "chi" is a term which only describes how breath and understanding of one's own physical being can help you accomplish a great deal of things. The idea behind "Chi Push" (where an individual can push you without physically touching you) is something that came about later. Using the term "the Force" is a sort of catch-all. Depending upon your religion, "the Force" might be energy which we can manipulate only by the laws of physics, a deity or a supernatural energy field connecting everything in the universe.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the RPGers. These individuals started to recognize the philosophy of the Jedi as something that could be applied in a more practical and spiritual sense. The groups started talking to one another exchanging ideas through e-mail. These e-mails then evolved into forums in 1997. By 1998, Jedi Realists Forums were really picking up. In reality, the only elements of Star Wars that anyone of the Jedi Realist Movement use from the Star Wars universe when seriously referring to their beliefs, are "Jedi" (short for "Jedi Realist"), "the Force", the Jedi Creed and the Jedi Code. Beyond this, the movies are used as tools. This is no different than a car is used to train police officers in vehicle searches.
*just one more, and I'm done ;)*
The Jedi Community has grown a great deal from her early beginnings. And I encourage you to check out all the sites to get a better idea of who we have become. I could tell you of all the various different orders you can look into, but I don't want to bore you with the long list. So I will keep it short and list the ones that are the most active:
ReplyDeletetempleofthejediforce
tempeofthejediorder
instituteforjedirealiststudies.org
jedisanctuary.org
thejediismway.org
jediresourcecenter.org
forceacademy.co.uk
Sincerely,
Alethea Jolene Benton
www.forcerealists.org
Founder and Editor
P.S. I know I write a lot, but I don't know how to simplify research ;)
P.S.S. The deleted comments above are the comments which are written after. I noticed a mistype (listed TOTJF when I meant TOTJO) in the first comment. Have to keep this stuff in order. lol.