Kamikeeda Temple Guild of Wyldstar

PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORIGINAL JE’DAII ORDER

In a time, millennia before the rise of the Jedi or the Sith, an ancient monastic order of force sensitive scientists, scholars, warriors, philosophers, and artisans was formed. They were the sole inhabitants of a planet known as Tython. They were brought to the Planet in massive pyramid shaped ships called Tho Yor. Upon their arrival these Force sensitive visionaries formed this great order and took up the name Je'daii, a Dai Bendu term meaning "mystic center." Je is mystic, daii is center. The order saw the Force as three aspects of a whole; the Ashla (light), the Bogan (Dark), and the Bendu (balance). However they did not believe these aspects were to be divided. Instead the Je’daii embraced them as a whole.

This philosophy was based on the fact that Tython itself was a place highly sensitive to the force and reacted violently to imbalances between the light and dark sides with Force Storms and quakes. Not only did these imbalances affect the planet but they also affected the power of the Je’daii themselves. Because of these things the Je’daii embraced the fact that there is always a light within darkness, and a darkness within light. They held the idea that it was impossible for one to ever be truly free of the other. Because of this natural need for balance the Je'daii were encouraged to give into the temptations of both the light and the dark. They believed it was necessary to embrace both in order to learn more about the Force and adopted that philosophy in the practice of their individual talents.

The Je’daii were not passive in their approach to life. They knew full well that Tython's beauty also came with dangers, and so their lives were not spent in silent meditation but in a constant act of “moving meditation” in which they concentrated on the balance in the Force. The philosophy of this balance was essential to survival on Tython, as equilibrium between Ashla and Bogan maintained the peaceful beauty of Tython and prevented the chaos and destruction that came with disproportion. They also saw this perceived duality in the Force represented in the night sky of Tython in the form of two natural satellites; one bathed in light, the Ashla, another shrouded in darkness, the Bogan. If an individual strayed too close to one side of the Force or the other, the Council had the authority to exile that Je'daii to one of these two moons to meditate until they returned to balance.

During the first thousand years of the order, the nine great Je'daii temples were constructed. These temples were cities and centers of learning and healing. Each temple was centered around one of the Tho Yor ships that had originally brought them to Tython. The bulk of the Order's presence on Tython was distributed between these nine temples and each one was presided over by a Je'daii Temple Master. These Je'daii masters also formed the Je’daii Council and governed over the order itself. They decided important matters and generally directed the Order. Each of the 9 great temples had their own specialty of training and were defined as follows:

Temple Academy (Academic Training)
• Known as Padawan Kesh – This was the temple that initiates trained at until they were selected by a Je’daii master to undergo the Padawan trials. If successful the master would then take them on for one on one training.

Temple of Balance
• Known as Akar Kesh - served as the Order's academy for instilling the ideals of balance of the light side and the dark side of the Force among its students through introspection and meditation.

Temple of Science
• Known as Anil Kesh - Je'daii who studied within the halls of Anil Kesh sought to learn the mysteries of the Force through the application of science and alchemy.

Temple of Healing
• Known as Mahara Kesh – which focused on the healing arts where journeyers learned about healing both with and without the capabilities of the Force.

Temple of the Arts
• Known as Bodhi - served as the Order's academy for the arts, instructing students in the ways of writing, calligraphy, dancing, drawing, sculpture, cooking, music, and theater.

Temple of Martial Arts
• Known as Stav Kesh – taught martial arts, weapon combat, and other forms of combat. Studies included Meditation and centering and finding balance which was considered a part of fighting.

Temple of Force Skills
• Known as Qigong Kesh - served as the Order's academy for enhancing and improving one's mental and sensory skills with the Force.

Temple of Knowledge
• Known as Kaleth - served as a repository of knowledge and wisdom for many generations of a multitude of philosophers and scholars from across the galaxy.

Temple of the Forge (weapons)
• Known as Vur Tepe - students learned the ways of the Force through metallurgy and the construction of tools and weapons.


Beyond the council, the Je’daii maintained a simple and straightforward rank structure that reflected their station in the order. In order to progress through the ranks each Je'daii initiate was expected to travel to each of the Temples to hone different skills.

• Initiate – The most basic rank within the Je’daii order. They lived at the great academy temple called Padawan Kesh. It is during these years they received their basics of education until they were of the age to undertake the Padawan Trials.

• Padawan - A Force-sensitive adolescent who was a member of the order that had graduated from the Je’daii academy by successfully undertaking the Padawan Trials and had been selected by a Je’daii Master to begin one-on-one instruction.

• Journeyer – A padawan that has been released by his master to travel to each of the nine Je'daii Temples of the Je'daii Order and master the skill sets of each institution as part of their “Great Journey”. In their teens, each Journeyer was expected to travel by foot across the several continents which separated the Temples in order to meditate and learn survival techniques on their quest to become a Je'daii Ranger. Great Journeys typically lasted several years. Most Journeyers chose a discipline to specialize in during their Great Journey, and many returned to the Temple that taught that discipline later in life as Rangers or Masters.

• Ranger – a Force-sensitive who had completed their studies at each of the Great Temples of Tython. They had passed their final trials as a Journeyer and were now eligible to undertake official missions on behalf of the Order. As representatives of the Je'daii Council, Rangers were the public face of the Order off world and were stationed across the Settled Worlds to prevent conflicts and war.

• (Temple) Master - Masters were members who had achieved such a comprehension of the Force as defined in the Ashla and the Bogan that the Je'daii Council saw fit to bestow upon them the rank of Master. Serving the Order by meditating on the Balance, some Masters would teach at the Great Temples while others would go into seclusion and only appear to guide the rest of the Order in times of struggle or danger. From among these masters a Temple Master was also occasionally selected to head up a particular temple as well as serve on the Council.


The Je’daii lived by a concise code that reflected their views on living as a Je’daii under the guidance of the entire breadth of The Force. The Code of the Je’daii was as follows:

"There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no fear; there is power.
I am the heart of the Force.
I am the revealing fire of light.
I am the mystery of darkness
In balance with chaos and harmony,
Immortal in the Force."
―The Je'daii Code

An ancient pyramidal structure stands nestled into an outcrop at the edge of the tree line atop a massive mountain peak. The pyramid, now encased in stone bricks and topped with several golden spires, is barely recognizable anymore. The fortress-like temple is Padawan Kesh, the Je'daii Orders Academy Temple.

A lone figure emerges from the tree line. Her breath visible in the cold air as she pants from the effort of the climb. She approaches the entrance to the temple. A massive door opens as a great fur covered Wookie appears in the doorway. It is Ruhr, The Master and overseer of the Temple. The girl approaches and the Wookie greets her with a great barking bay of affection. He motions her inside, her first point of focus begins here…





Personal Log – Entry I
This is the first temple that any Je’daii knows. It is the place where all Je’daii receive their initial education and basic training in The Force. Because of these reasons it will be the first temple that I explore as well. However I will not be starting from scratch at this place. Considering the fact that the Je’daii order did not exist before its resurrection by the Kamikeedi guild, other means had to be utilized to get basic training in the ways of The Force.

As a former Jedi, I consider my life experience and dedication to my spiritual pursuits, up to and including, my time training as a Jedi in the IP as an Initiate and AP as an Apprentice under Alan, as sufficient to qualify me for graduation from Padawan Kesh. This is further supported by the fact that my former mentor has deemed me sufficient in that training to have qualified me as a Knight.

So I will use this stop at Padawan Kesh as a time of introspection and critique on specific aspects of my former Jedi training. Below are several areas I wanted to reflect on. At one point I was also going to include a section on Doctrine but I have written a great deal about my aversion to doctrine in many other places as well as in the body of text that follows, so I have decided to scratch that entry.







The Hero’s Journey
As a species we are ravenous for myth. We need these stories to bring magic to our existence and to interpret meaning in our lives. Star Wars is one such, larger than life, space operatic myth that more than adequately fulfills that role in our modern day lives. Joseph Campbell’s concept of myth was instrumental in the creation of Star wars as any practicing Jedi well knows. His philosophies are at the heart of the Initiate teachings at many Jedi temples. Campbell believed that all myths the world over told one story. This concept has become known as the monomyth or “the Hero’s Journey”.

For me, studying Campbell’s work was one of those defining moments in my life when I realized a basic truth to existence. (One of those personal revelations the council decided I never experienced). That truth being that there is no such thing as doctrine or pantheon or religious paradigm. These are all artificial structures of control. All of these limiting models pale in comparison to the idea that it is actually the culmination of all mythology that best describes the profound connection we feel to something greater than ourselves in the human condition. These are those aspects of our reality that otherwise cannot be defined, only experienced. Who we are, where we come from and where we are going. Even though I completed those lessons quite some time ago I continue to appreciate Campbell’s work and his enthusiasm for, and love of, myth. But I also think that, like many aspects of Jediism in general, too much emphasis is placed on his concepts alone.

This is because there is an inherent danger built into this course of study and its intrinsic path of revelation. That danger is, that even though studying Campbell’s philosophy is designed to evoke the revelation I describe above, it also replaces all those old paradigms with a new paradigm that is just as limiting, that of the monomyth itself. Jedi studying this concept have a tendency to accept it as a singular path to enlightenment and are so thrilled at its discovery that they fall into the trap of replacing one system of control with another! The TotJO council not only does not discourage this, they endorse it. This is because it serves as a power base with which they can wield dominion over these Jedi, who have become convinced that the council has obtained some innate understanding of life in which the council alone possess the power to judge the paths of others. Instead this power should be given to the Knights since it is the Knights alone that can best judge their apprentices worthiness of knighthood according to the apprentice’s individual path, not the council. But the council is terrified to relinquish this power to the Knights, as it should be, because of some distorted idea that it may corrupt or dilute the temple in some way.

It’s easy to fall into this trap of “hero’s journey” worship. Campbell himself set the stage for this monolithic dilution of the Hero; that any story is a story of a hero as he defines it. A young man going off to college is a Hero, a woman giving birth is a Hero, and the baby is a Hero for coming out intact. Do something tough that involves an inner change and you too can be a Hero. Today we idolize Movie Stars, Sports professionals and musical performers as heroes. In fact anyone can be a hero. But are all or even any of these people really heroes? For me they are not. What comes closer to heroes for me are men and women who sacrifice some portion of the core of their being to be in the service of something greater than themselves. Not many meet the challenge to be accepted into these orders of small elite groups that challenge themselves physically and mentally, face down danger, take chances, push envelopes and protect our world. These sorts of heroes make up organizations such as the Astronaut Corps or the Marine Corps.

But even these men and women often times do not really embody the traditional role of the “Heroes Journey”. First of all, the hero is not always a “good guy”. Secondly a hero is not always a male!! Where are the Heroines in all this? Campbell’s response to this questions is that women don’t have a Hero’s Journey because they are a goal of the Journey. They are the Prize. But obviously this is not how much of myth sees them and this is not how we live our lives either! These monomythic aspects of an individual’s character, that we personify as larger than life and place on a pedestal, are also not the entirety of their makeup. This is clear evidence that Campbell’s monomyth is to limiting and thus ultimately flawed. We need to realize the fact that the “Hero’s Journey” is not the only journey we can undertake.

The Jedi are force fed the idea that there is only one valid way to live their lives and the council uses the monomyth to enforce that. But I am not one that has been drawn to this singular path of one sided interpretation like the Jedi. It seems to me that not everyone can or should fit into this neat and tidy package called “hero”. Just as we are not “just female”, or “just male’, so too we are not ‘just hero” as Campbell defines it. In fact we follow many rich and diverse “archetypal hero paths” just as we embody a vast array of personal character archetypes, (something I have spoken about in previous posts). The traditional hero’s journey is but a single one of this multitude of potential paths and any one of these paths if not some combination of a few are just as likely to lead us to revelation.

It is in this idea that the Je’daii do not relegate ourselves to one of singular “hero’s path” but a variety of diverse paths we undertake simultaneously in our lives. These paths include the Heroines path, the Homeric hero’s path and the anti-heroes path to name just a few. Most of these paths are not steady nor can they be succinctly defined as Campbell has tried to do with the Heroes Path. And in fact many of them conflict with one another, but this is not a point of contention for this philosophy. On the contrary, it actually compliments the philosophy as the concept simply reflects the function of nature itself; that function being one in which strife and conflict and sorrow as well as harmony, and cooperation and joy exist as necessarily operative components of reality both contrastingly as well as in simultaneous complementary harmony. Below are a few examples of these hero journey archetypes.

The Anti-heroes Journey
The Ant-hero has a call to adventure just like the hero, however this calling will be one of more selfish means. He will experience doubts or a casting out or rejection as a component to his call. The adventure that is undertaken is one that consumes them with a thirst to achieve something that eludes them. This could also be motivated by such things as vengeance. The anti-hero arrives as his threshold as a conflicted individual making a clean linear transformation difficult. They appear to oscillate between heroism and their own selfish morals and motivations. Anti-hero’s do not have a mentor but rather an instigator who tempts them into various trials or challenges as a path to power. Often times, these instigators have a desire for the anti-hero to fail in these pursuits.

The anti-hero’s path is not marked by success. Rather it features increasing isolation, selfish motivations and a need to fight fate. In this there are failures but one in particular that it will set the anti-hero on the final path to reformation or total destruction or sometimes both. Because the anti-hero’s ending is not always happy, and always contains elements of suffering and strife we see the possibilities of our own humanity reflected back to us. Examples of this sort of anti-hero architype in mythology include Han Solo, Cassian Andor, Dexter Morgan, The spaghetti westerns “man with no name” or Jax Teller.

The Homeric Heroes Journey
The Homeric Hero’s journey is one classically described by Nietzsche as one of master morality. It offers models for living one’s life well through the demonstration of action and success. This sort of heroism was essential to the ancient Greeks whose heroes and heroines offered models for living one’s life. Yet these hero’s do not act in accordance with what many today consider moral values. This philosophy sees heroes and heroines as greater than other men, stronger and more physically attractive. The essence of this sort of hero’s journey is action: the ability to accomplish great things. Risking one’s life in the pursuit of glory and honor. Combat is a central theme and to die in this way is the epitome of this hero’s moral values.

This is facilitated by a code of conduct the hero lives by. Not only is glory defined by the attainment of material goods by those that risk their lives in this way. These heroes are also honored by their people. The heroic code is enforced by public pressure which facilitates service by the Hero to his people in some way. An essential part of this sort of heroic warrior society is public esteem or, alternatively, public disgrace. Those who risk their lives are honored in society; those who are cowards and run away from battle are disgraced in the eyes of society. Examples of these sorts of heroes include the Mandalorians, The Samurai, The Klingons, Jason and the Argonauts, Odysseus, The Vikings (Ragnar Lodbrook) or the Amazons (Diana Prince).

The Heroines Journey
The Heroines journey is one of integration and unification. It goes about breaking down the typical stereotypes of a patriarchal dominated society and allows for the reunification of otherwise masculine and feminine qualities into a singly aspected whole being. It is the reclaiming of qualities that have been lost to each sex through enculturation. This indoctrination divides aspects of our being into male or female components. Those components deemed male are then lost to the female character and visa-versa. This journey of the heroine seeks out those components that had been viewed as not rightfully theirs and reintegrates them through their own unique psycho-spiritual journeys.

This is a process we all go through and begins by separation from the divine feminine which is often aspected as mother. Then the journey involves taking control of that societies defined masculine qualities and choosing a path that is different than the role prescribed for him/her and deciding to ”fight” an organization, role, or group that is limiting the heroine. The hero goes though trials and meets people who try to dissuade her from pursuing her chosen path and/or attempt to destroy her. Boons are achieved by overcoming these obstacles. But success in this new way of life is either temporary, illusory, shallow, or requires a betrayal of self over time.

As the Heroine comes to terms with the idea that ultimately her “masculine” strategies were insufficient, she falls into despair. She cannot return to her original limited position and she sees no path forward. It is at this point that she reconnects with her feminine qualities and goes through a process of transformation that melds both halves into a whole. This is a place where masculine and feminine qualities become meaningless and integrated archetypes take over. Examples of these sorts of heroines include Padmé Amidala, Leia Organa, Tris Prior, Katniss Everdeen, Sarah Connor, Maleficent and Star Treks 7of9.



Meditation
Meditation is another area of emphasis that I think is subject to a lot of misunderstanding. I see people all the time saying they can’t seem to concentrate, or clear their minds or focus for long periods of time. However I don’t think any of these are necessary to be an effective meditator. The measure of your effectiveness at meditation is not the length of time you can “do it well” according to some arbitrary standardized set of rules. Meditation is not supposed to “work” in this way. In fact it does not work at all - this is exactly the point. It has no goal. Meditation is not one more thing to accomplish or to do right. You cannot fail in meditation. It is time to simply be.

We humans have a marvelous capacity for wishful thinking, rationalization, selective use of data, and confirmation bias. When we are introduced to new ideas such as meditation we convince ourselves that mechanisms such as this are a path to cure all that ales us. But meditation is not something that is used to cure unhappiness, pain, inability to sleep, substance abuse, lack of concentration, or cure past hurts. The fact is that if you're at a low point in your life, either mentally or physically, chances are you're going to start feeling better no matter what you do. So does sitting for hours at a time in quiet solitude really do anything? I think not.

Meditation is not something to do. It is simply the process of observing ones thoughts. It is being aware of the moment and the actions we are taking at that point in time. This is something that takes practice to be sure. We can begin this practice in a quiet darkened room while sitting in a relaxed position and just be aware of what we are feeling and what we are thinking. But the goal here is not to “get better” at this sort of practice. The goal is to attain this state of mind at any time. Especially times when we are under stress or duress. The practice will give us the awareness of the feeling and as we become more aware of ourselves we can just snap into that state of mind at any time. This gives us a better cognizance of our surroundings and of our interactions. This is the “point” of meditation. The ability to bring our awareness to the present as a constant process, not something we do in a closed and darkened room. Through this awareness we encompass the ability to create life as a fully present and available being that is free in the moment.


Patience
I wrote about patience extensively as a part of the “Letters to Jedi” project that Edan authored last year. The TotJO temple seems to put a great deal of weight on the perceived virtue of patience. Every conversation held about working through the course material is tempered with the idea that it should be undertaken with the greatest of patience. Patience involves maintaining a state of tranquil fortitude under difficult circumstances. It gives us the time to carefully examine things and approach a solution from a measured and multifaceted aspect. We will have many road blocks in life that can leave us unbalanced of unsure of ourselves. Patience will enable us to collect our thoughts so that we may calmly and confidently assess our situation to find the best way forward without undue agitation. So in this regard patience can be a valuable thing. But we should never allow it to stagnate progress either. We also have to remember that patience is only valuable when it’s distributed in a measured and balanced way.

The TotJO raises the idea that the longer you wait the greater the virtue; i.e. the greater patience you have, the more reward will come. However this is simply not true. Good things NEVER come to those who wait. Good things come to those who take action, commit, put in the work, persist, and persevere. And there is a huge difference between patience and perseverance. Instead of waiting for reward to come to us, we need to create the opportunities for the reward ourselves. This is done through perseverance. People who have progressed through these training materials to become successful Knights didn’t stop lessons or ponder them needlessly. They took in the information and continued to build upon it by pushing forward into new areas. Experiencing these new areas gave previously unseen insights to past lessons and thus it was the work and the steady push forward that brought deeper meaning, not patience.

My advice to those working through lessons here or facing challenges in life or wanting to achieve some goal - be that losing weight, or starting a business, or crafting a masterpiece – is to not wait until the conditions are perfect to start. Instead start creating the perfect conditions for yourself! You simply need to commit to some desire you have in your life and once you are committed don’t then wait around for something to happen. Take action, be productive, persist, be consistent in moving forward and persevere through those difficult aspects! This philosophy will achieve you success versus depending on patience. I leave this section with a quote from my Martial Arts instructor…

Know what you want
Have a plan and find a success mentor (or coach)
Take consistent action
Review your progress
Renew your goals

And fake it till you make it!


Attachment
Just a few thoughts on this. If non-attachment is the way out of suffering we must also accept that it is a way out of dependency. It builds a life where we never have to depend on others. But what we need to realize is that not only is this an unhealthy point of view, it is also one that is unsustainable. We can’t handle everything ourselves all the time, nor should we want to. We should love those we are attached to without limit and allow them to love us. The very nature of this is attachment, not something to avoid but something to embrace.

Because of this it is in attachment that we actually find strength. And we need to realize that with attachment comes suffering. However suffering is also something we should not try to avoid but embrace and process in a productive manner. Trying to avoid suffering is no different than avoiding attachment or anger or hate. It is not only something we could never achieve, it is also something we should never strive for. Suffering is inherent in our reality and it’s there for a reason. It facilitates growth. This is why much of the tenets of Buddhism are wrong. Attachment creates suffering, yes, but suffering in turn creates introspection, introspection creates empathy, empathy creates love and love creates the desire to be of service to others.


The Nature of Reality
Why is there something rather than nothing at all? This is the greatest of sublime and awesome mysteries; not how the world works but why the world exists at all. This is a question we as a species have been obsessed with since the beginning of our history. Leibnitz was one of the first to ask “why do we exist?” For him this was a simple question to answer, the world exists because God created it from nothingness. But this begs the question, “Why does God exist and where did he come from”? This leads to an infinite regression – Who created God and who created the thing that created God and so on. To leave God out of it we might take a Buddhist approach. Instead we could see the world as nothingness and it is simply our desires that enslave us to believing there is something. And if we release our desires so they no longer have a hold on us we will then begin to see the world for what it truly is, nothing. But if there truly is nothing, then why am I here pondering this question?

To an atheist none of the answers found in religion are satisfactory. Instead he may turn to science. And in fact physicists have posited theories of the emergence of “existence” from nothing through quantum fluxuation out of the void. These are highly complicated mathematical hypotheses that I won’t go into here. The problem with these sorts of hypotheses is one again of emergent property. It equates the laws of nature to something similar to divine commands. It implies that they have some sort of ontological power to inform the abyss that it’s pregnant with being and thus call a universe to existence out of nothing. But these laws of physics are nothing more than representations of patterns in nature and as such they don’t exist outside the universe, time or space. Therefore how can they call a world into existence before they themselves exist? In essence equations can’t breathe life into reality. So we are again left with the question, “Why do these laws and their representative patterns in nature, that we experience in this reality, exist, instead of nothing at all?

So the question remains, can we ever discern the nature of our reality or why we exist at all? While I don’t think we can ever know with definitive certainty the answers to these questions I think we can make some inferences to arrive at a probable answer. Obviously there is something and not nothing simply because of the fact that we are here considering it. By that same token it seems fairly obvious that we do not live in a perfect multiverse reality. We have strife and suffering and pain and struggle. If we were to live in a perfect reality those things would be meaningless to us. We would have no conception of them and in turn our choices would become meaningless. Any struggle an individual would have with a moral question, for example, would entail an infinite number of different versions of that individual making the correct choice and an infinite number of that individual making the incorrect choice. So any choice made would become worthless and in turn our existence would be pointless. Thus the need for reality would become pointless and we would be right back at nothingness again. So what we can conclude from all this is that, for some reason beyond our comprehension, reality is necessary and that reality must be a generic, mediocre, randomly selected reality.

So what is the mechanism that drives this selection? We are really left with two choices. Either there is some force that is external to reality that is driving this or there is something that is inherent within reality itself that is driving this. The idea that we can contemplate questions about seemingly emergent abstract concepts like where consciousness, free choice, morality, mathematics or laws of logic come from give rise to the notion that there might be "something more" to our subjective experience than just matter moving around. We have this perception that our minds seem to be something distinct from our bodies; that our consciousness goes on after physical death in some form of energy spirit or soul; that morality or the laws of logic are absolute and were created by some force that exists somewhere outside physical reality. We humans have this capacity to prop ourselves up and contemplate the idea that we are an anomaly within nature, that we were placed here and exist within this universe by some ongoing external process to function as a “special case”; that we are made up of both physicality and some form of spirit. This is the concept of dualism.

The fallacy in much of this lies in the fact that things such as morality or the laws of physics do not really exist outside of our own perceptions of them. In my mind, to ask where morality comes from begs the question, “Well, where is it now?” If “it” came from somewhere then “it” must be somewhere now. But to ask where morality is now is nonsensical and thus the original question as to where it came from also becomes nonsensical. It didn’t come from anywhere, it is nothing more than a construct of our own minds over time. These concepts are just abstract properties that our brains treat as existing "out there". In actuality they are representations we use to describe the reality we experience. In that sense, they exist but they exist only as patterns within physics. They are concepts that we use to organize our thinking about the single, physical substance in which we are embedded.

So what about us personally? Is our mind separate from our body or do we have a soul? When it comes to dualism of the self, there are two possibilities. The first possibility is that an ethereal realm exists that houses some spiritual component of our being but it doesn't influence physical events. In this case, what is it supposed to accomplish? Why do we need an entirely separate non-physical thing if it doesn't contribute anything? You might say that the extra substance explains why we have a sensation of "something more" but that's not right, because the statement that "there's something more" is happening within physics, and if the ethereal isn't affecting the physical, then physics itself accounts for why you feel there's something more. But if physics itself explains why you feel there's something more, then nothing is added by assuming there is something more and any concepts of the supernatural become meaningless.

The second possibility is that some spiritual component of our being exists in this ethereal realm and does have interaction with physical components. Examples of this could include our ethereal “mind” having interaction with and influence over our physical brain or our physical bodies functioning as vehicles for our ethereal soul/consciousness or even a transcendent God interacting with his creation. However if this is the case, the idea that these two separate components are functioning in two separate realms become superfluous. Anything considered ethereal that has influence over the physical becomes a part of the system it is influencing and so the need for the “extra-physical” is not needed. Instead the ethereal realm just becomes a different part of physics in the physical realm; albeit maybe a part we don’t fully understand as of yet. If the natural force of gravity, for example, can be overridden or otherwise manipulated in a manner beyond what we currently understand there must be some means, such as a physical law we are as of yet unaware of, that regulates this. The same thing goes for telepathy or any other ability labeled as supernatural or paranormal. In this case the supernatural just becomes the natural.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with the ultimate synthesis. A synthesis between nature and the supernatural and ultimately between nothingness and everything. It espouses the idea that “everything” is necessary. There are no unnecessary aspects to reality. The void would not be, without the universe. It would become meaningless. Both the void and the universe are but facets of what is actually one thing. There are no component parts as we might try to define them and it is actually perfect in what we perceive as its imperfections. Our experiences of opposing forces in reality of good and evil, suffering and joy, pain and ecstasy, living and dead are really just aspects of a single neutral balance that the very essence of reality endeavors to be. Because we exist within that dynamic we experience those things as “separate, opposite” parts or sides of a duality in our lives but at the core of reality they really don’t exist. We, as individual aspects of realty, perceive them as such only because it is necessary so that the universe may become aware of itself and experience itself.

For me, this is “why” the universe exists – simply because it is better to exist than to not exist. And to exist without experiencing that existence is futile. We are creations way of experiencing itself through this mysterious emergent property of consciousness. Anything beyond that, we can never know. For example, this idea does not answer the question of whether a God exists or not, nor should it. All it really says is that if God (or Goddess) does exist, that entity is an immanent part of creation. In the end we each need to answer the question of whether some form of sentient Deity exists or not for ourselves. And if we come to the conclusion that a Deity does exist, we should then strive to use our experience and critical thinking to discover what that Deities nature and character are.

An immense metal structure straddles the cliffs of a massive gorge. This gorge, known only as the Chasm, serves as the home of Anil Kesh the Je’daii temple of science and alchemy. The structure has three massive lower struts that curve over the summit of the chasm and hold it aloft like clutching talons. Above an armored cupola that sits at the center of these struts three more arms jut skyward and curve above the structure, encasing it within a hard metal grasp.

A Je’daii Journeyer reaches the edge of the chasm and stares breathlessly into the abyss below. Bolts of energetic vapors dance in her eyes as she slowly scans upward to take in the massive structure straddling the chasm. A masterpiece of Je'daii technical skills, the temple of Anil Kesh straddles the cliffs of the Chasm with such strength that the violent force storms constantly raging below do not affect the temples structural integrity. Above her she sees Master Quan-Jang, the Human overseer of the temple. The time has come for her orientation to prepare for her trip into the chaos below.




Personal Log – Entry III
The Temple of Science is my next stop as a Journeyer. Je'daii who study within the halls of Anil Kesh seek to learn the mysteries of the Force through the application of science, and now I shall do the same. Its halls contain many laboratories, libraries and study rooms but also the lower floors are dedicated to the hangar bays. From these bays drones and other equipment are dropped into the chasm so that experiments can be run. It is also the place from which journeyers are dropped into the chasm after an intense orientation to prepare them for the rigors of the force storms there. This is why I am here, to experience this.





Logic versus Faith and Fallacy
What is "The Force"? Well the answers to this vary as much as there are individuals in this universe. It has been described as everything from human connection to a supernatural energy field to the generated energy of life itself. But what if there is no such thing as this distinct energy field called "The Force" and people have just convinced themselves it is real without justification? In actuality The Force has never been independently, objectively verified or proven to exist by any conventional scientific means. The lack of evidence of the force leaves us with only one logical conclusion. That the experience of and belief in “The Force” as a distinct energy field that exists outside of our reality is a wholly subjective experience based on faith and justified by fallacy.

But why is this important? Why should we care if people erroneously believe in something there is no evidence for? Well I care because I care about truth. And believing something based on faith has an issue, it is unjustified belief. Any belief you hold on faith cannot be verified one way or the other as true or not and so faith becomes an irrational system to base belief on. Because of this one can use faith to come to any number of invalid or incorrect conclusions. Fallacy works in this same way. A fallacious argument is reasoning that is evaluated as logically incorrect which in turn negates the reasonable validity of that argument and exposes it as unsound. It is simply a mistaken belief that is based on an erroneous claim. Because of these ideas, beliefs based on faith and fallacy are flawed thinking and this is not only detrimental it is dangerous.

I will speak more on this later but for now let’s take just one example. In medicine placebos are a popular subject. It’s a known phenomenon that one can have a belief that Placebos are helpful and sometimes they can even make you think you feel better. But just because it made you feel better subjectively does not mean it does for others or that it actually did anything to help what was actually wrong with you. In fact many people do not get its therapeutic effects and as a medicine it is completely ineffective in actually curing anything. If you were actually sick wouldn't you rather put your belief in something that was justifiable and objectively proven effective rather than a faith base subjective claim that was ultimately not true and could potentially kill you?

Because of this, in our pursuit for truth, we must abandon faith and fallacy in favor of logic. At best, without independently verifiable evidence, this should universally leave the concept of “The Force” as nothing more than a perception of personal experience. Something that exists, only in the mind of the individual that they use to justify subjective meaning. And yet people still continue to believe in its existence as a discrete energy field that can be tapped into by the human mind and manipulated towards good or evil ends. But this only serves to keep us from true enlightenment because if one insists on holding onto even one such irrational position by claiming they are justified in maintaining beliefs that are not reasonable, there is really no common ground from which further productive discourse can be had by us as a species. It stagnates growth and only serves to abandon the pursuit of truth in favor of superstition.



Theory
I want to explore the term “theory” in particular at Anil Kesh. The debate between critical thinkers and people of faith rages over things like the “Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection” or in politics the left arguing with the right over the “Theory of Climate Change”. These are just two examples but these sorts of debates rage over an entire multitude of topics. Often times people will say, “well it’s just a theory”, so it can’t mean much right? Well this couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to scientific terms.

Ultimately when it comes to these pursuits, spiritual, scientific or what have you, we are in the search for truth. We must realize though, that this will never be an ultimate truth because as entities imbedded into this reality that is something we can never achieve. This is because to even exist as creatures that can’t know everything we must make some presuppositions about our reality. The first is that this reality does actually exist as we perceive it and the second is that we can learn things beyond that about it. And in this pursuit, complex and challenging ideas are often times not easy to grasp or comprehend. Given this, one might ask if there are different levels of truth. Are some truths truer than others? This may be a question for philosophers that in the end we can never answer as well. However one thing is for sure, in the pursuit of these truths, science is the best tool we have for understanding how the universe works and theory in this context is the epitome of this truth.

In common everyday language the term “Theory” is understood to mean something opposed to a fact. It is used as a possible explanation of a phenomenon but lacking evidence to back it up. This is not how the term theory is used in scientific terms however. In these terms a theory is the height of understanding of a phenomenon and is based on proven facts and explanations of those facts. Scientists use facts and hypotheses to arrive at Theories. Keep in mind that theories are also different than Laws. It might be best to better define all these terms at this point.

Facts are observations about the world around us. From these facts we consider different explanations for the observation. These become hypotheses, which is a proposed explanation for the phenomenon that is made as a starting point for further investigation. This is not something that is proven, it’s something that is tested. When these are tested the ones that are wrong are eliminated and the one that is confirmed as a possible explanation for something is kept. From this point other hypotheses can be tested in a never ending process of confirmation. When enough hypotheses have been collected and confirmed surrounding a specific phenomenon they are turned into a Theory.

A theory is a well substantiated explanation derived from repeated testing and confirmation through observation and experiment. It is the way we know something works based on collected evidence and all the hypotheses that have been successfully put to the test. From this we can make predictions not only about the way things are in the universe but for things we don’t know yet. For these things we don’t know we can predict how they will function. However this is still different than a law. A law is a detailed description of how something happens. Mathematics is most often used in this sort of description. If you were to take Gravity for example. It is both a law and a Theory. The law of gravitation describes exactly how two objects will attract each other using mathematical formulas, but it doesn’t describe what is happening or why. This takes a “Theory” of Gravity.

People often ask why so much weight is put on this process, especially since ideas like these theories could change tomorrow. They claim that the perceived fuzziness of science takes a certain faith to accept that is no different than a faith in a Deity or a life force energy field – both of which have never been observed and there is no evidence for. Well this is simply not true. Faith does not come into the scientific process. The goal of science is to devise frameworks that describe how things work; to truly understand why things are the way they are right now which allows us to discern how things will be in the future. If we can learn to trust that process over unfounded belief or superstition, that future will be a very bright one.



Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is one of the most important things we can ever learn to do in this life. Unfortunately it’s also one of the things most people never master effectively. One might wonder why this is. Is it just that people are stupid or lack the proper education or access to the proper information or are they just naturally gullible? Possibly, but I think as we look across the expanse of human experience we instead find that no single cause can be easily identified as the reason people do not think critically. Often times it is character traits outside of these that allow people to bypass logic in their thinking. Every year thousands of people are sucked in by pyramid schemes. Others succumb to fantastical ideas like the possibility of free energy in a universe governed by the laws of thermal dynamics which dictates that such a thing can’t exist. But the impossibility of such ideas still does not discourage people from being seduced by the idea that they might be able to “get something for nothing”.

It’s baffling how people allow themselves to be deceived by such things. Take the prolific world of the medium for example. These people make some of the most amazing claims imaginable. Things like the ability to speak to the dead, or to predict natural disaster, even foretell the date of the end of the world. And even though all these things can be easily shown to be nothing more than cold reading, or chance guesses or even outright failure in prediction people still flock to these people and give them their money and believe their claims. Others accept pseudo-scientific claims that physics can be used to tell the future or they believe in conspiracy theories such as the UFO phenomenon. Many of the people that fall into these sorts of belief systems are victims of something called groupthink.

Groupthink is used by people to set themselves apart from the larger crowd. It makes them feel special as they find value in belonging to a select “in-group” that possess some secret knowledge or special insight into the way the world works and the rest of humanity is just blind to the truth. This is a proven occurrence in humanity. Experiments have been make where groups of people were asked questions about a subject. Nine of ten people world knowingly give an obvious wrong answer to the question. The tenth person, not knowing the other nine had answered incorrectly on purpose, would invariably also give that same wrong answer, even though the answer was obviously incorrect. This is a clear demonstration of our innate desire for social conformity. This is an example of making an illogical leap in faith to a conclusion not in evidence. This sort of thinking would be akin to observing the beauty and wonder of nature but then making the leap in faith that it could only have been created by an intelligent mind.

But where did that intelligent mind come from? It becomes an infinite regression that can only be stopped by the fallacy of special pleading. These are illogical conclusions not in evidence. When it comes to the need for explanations like this it’s better to instead use what is known as Occam’s razor. It states that all things being equal in any given situation the simplest solution is usually the correct one. This means we don’t have to concoct supernatural solutions for natural evolutions. It’s better to conclude that natural means most likely produce natural ends. What’s even more astounding is that such things can be easily debunked. Take auras for example. People make the claim that they can see and feel auras, which are supposed to be our “energetic bodies” that exist outside our natural bodies. And using these abilities they can effect healing in people through mechanisms such as touch therapy, also known as Reike.

The problem is that these claims have been proven to be categorically false. What’s more, it was proven by a 9 year old critical thinker named Emily Rosa. Emily is the youngest person to ever have a research paper published in a peer reviewed medical journal. Emily did this by setting up an experiment where she invited as many practitioners as she could find to place their hand through small hole in a cardboard wall and see if they could actually feel or sense another’s aura on the other side. The results of this experiment was even less than the law of averages for chance guessing. Basically this is a multimillion dollar industry that was debunked by a girl and a piece of cardboard. Proving that age is also not a factor in the ability to critically think or not. Nor is a lot of formal education or sophisticated equipment required.

Often times a counter point make to these arguments is why does it matter what people think? Why not just let them think what they want? Once again it’s because failures in critical thinking can lead not only to erroneous conclusions about the nature of our reality but it can also be dangerous. There have actually been efforts in our public school systems to ban critical thinking and allow pseudo sciences to be taught like intelligent design. When people do not ask enough questions about something that looks too good to be true they often times end up losing their money. Men like Jim Jones come along and convince people that all sorts of nefarious conspiracies are abounding in their lives. Of course the final result of that was he convinced his followers that he could take them directly to heaven and over 900 people drank cyanide and died.

Parents have decided that vaccines are poison and as a result stop immunizing their children. The result of this is the return of once eradicated childhood diseases such as measles. People spend millions of dollars on homeopathic medicines, whose philosophy states that the smaller the dose of the medication the more effective it is. In other words people believe that something that contains 0° medicine is 100° effective in curing the ailment. Or course when you present people with the raw evidence that discredits these things they will claim it’s been fabricated by government conspiracy and those outside the circle of knowledge are simply dupes of the system. It’s for these reasons that it is vitally important to always teach these critical thinking skills to the generations that come after us.



The Chasm
I have walked the Chasm. It has changed me. In my time there it has revealed to me the dangers a Je’daii can face in this life as she moves through it. The danger of falling off the path of balance to either just the light or dark aspects of The Force. Yes, it is just as easy to be tempted by the light as it is the dark and both are rife with corruption and decay.

The easy target in this idea is the dark side – the side of the Sith. People are quick to embrace what they would call positive emotions and shun negative emotions. They connect acts and emotions such as violence, and anger and decay with the dark side and they consider these things to be bad or evil. But when used correctly they are not bad things. These things are just energy, no different than any other energetic attribute. It is in how that energy is utilized that makes the difference. And yes unbounded rage and fury and hate can be destructive when it is not tempered by emotions such as calm and amiability and love. In order to successfully embrace our “dark” emotions we also have to be willing to embrace our “light” emotions. When done in this way embracing the dark is not a bad thing.

The less intuitive aspect is in falling to the singular temptations of the light side – the side of the Jedi. It lulls one who professes to the title into this false sense of serenity. They feel that by taking this title under the false guise of “championing for good” they are somehow automatically better prepared for the rigors of life, superiorly equipped to react to stressful situations and more adept at helping others in need. None of this is true and these ideas only lead to a self-inflated ego with little or nothing to actually back it up. These individuals call themselves apprentice, knight, master and pastor and they find comfort in them. But these titles are not real. They are just hollow shells and they only serve to bind them together in a useless doctrine that is as ultimately meaningless as the concepts that define them.

What they fail to realize is that we are born alone. We live and die alone. This journey is ours alone. Of course we make connection with others following a similar path from time to time and we can secure a certain solace in that compassion but ultimately the responsibility and experience is ours alone. There is no actual thing such as the light side or the dark side and they are not in contention with one another in some ultimate war of good and evil. To give in to unsubstantiated claims such as this, that one can suppress evil or good within themselves, or that an esoteric energy field controls our actions or sustains our life force, is to give in to psychosis. None of these things should be entertained as existing until they have been unequivocally shown to exist. Until then there is only the process of experience and that experience is corporeal.

For some this journey into the chasm reveals to them a supernatural connection. It is the idea that “The Force” is an esoteric or otherwise subtle energy field that is outside the 4 quantum forces of nature and is an emergent property of physical life itself. This would be analogous to our consciousness being an emergent property of the function of our physical brains. Something not quite fully explained by science. However both of these ideas fall completely into the realm of faith. There is no way to investigate this and no evidence of their existence outside the natural. That does not mean that one day we might find a way to prove such things exist. But until that time I must relegate my belief in the force to one thing. Simply a poetic label we assign to the emotion we feel and the beauty we derive from our perceived connection to each other and this universe. I think this is the true balance that the Chasm teaches. One should deny nothing but also not accept anything without valid logical reason.

On the southern coast near a temperate forest on the continent of Masara sits a low lying temple. Consisting of four identical buildings made of tan stone and red roofs, the structures surrounds an open courtyard with a large circular pool of water at its center. This is Bodhi, the temple of the Arts of the Je’daii order of Tython. Bodhi focuses on teaching its students to understand the manifestations of the Force through the arts such as writing, public speaking, calligraphy, dancing, drawing, sculpture, cooking, music, and theater.

A Je’dii journeyer walks the beach line that runs parallel to the temple. The waves lick at her boots and the salt spray of the surf lightly dampens her body armor. She looks out into the water as she walks steadily forward. The sun, even though low on the horizon, is still able to warm her face. As she comes in line with the temple she turns from the beach and heads toward a grassy knoll that rises above her at the edge of the dunes. Beyond that is the temple. In the distance a lone door swings open on the side of the structure. At its threshold appears the temple facilities master, a human male called Jake Fenn. He patiently awaits her arrival.



Personal Log – Entry V
As a species we will never know anything with absolute certainty. However we can know things objectively about our reality. We use science to do this. However there is another side to our lives. That side is our subjective experience of reality. I think this experience manifests most profoundly in art. There is no right or wrong in art. It is here that we connect on a visceral and emotional level with one another.

During my time at this temple I set about trying to define my idea of what it means to be an artist. As I began to contemplate this I realized that each and every one of us is an artist. We do this not only through painting, writing, singing, athletics or any other such discipline you could think of but we actually do art through the very interpretation of our subjective experience of reality. The beauty of this elucidation becomes magic itself.









Art is Magick
Every spiritual awakening I thought I had experienced in my life ultimately proved to be a false one. I have spent much of my life in their pursuit. Moving from paradigm to paradigm, through dogma and doctrine, mentor after mentor that promised greatness. Every single one a failure in the end. That is until I started studying the art of Magick. I began this journey twelve years ago. I left any form of traditional religion and began studying magic, the art and science of causing change in conformity with will. It was the latest path I undertook in search of spiritual enlightenment.

But over those 12 years or so enlightenment still eluded me. That is until I began studying here and I finally realized that Art is Magick. Now it is not the dogma or the doctrine or the title or even the philosophy of this place that showed me this reality of my nature. It was actually through the study of myself using the lens of some of the world’s greatest art in the form of mythology that I began to realize the answers were not out there somewhere but inside me. For me, this was the first honest and lasting awakening I have ever experienced.

It taught me that spirituality, just like artistic expression, is not something to do but something to be. To borrow from the Tao, any enlightening that can be explained is not true enlightening - and the same goes for “endarkening”. To claim to know anything is a false claim. In fact I could only begin to know anything when I finally admitted I knew nothing. And just as much as I am connected to everything I am also in competition with it.

Nature loves me unconditionally but it has no problem also destroying me. It is indifferent to my plight in this way and as much as I should be in harmony with nature I am also in a never ending struggle against its inevitabilities – that ultimate and final one being death. And when that happens she will reabsorb my essence without even noticing my demise. Until then my quest is to be the most productive person I can be, take on every challenge without fear, live as richly as I can, embrace those connections I experience, feel as much as I can, embrace the pain and the joy, and never stop searching for the answers I know I will never find because that is the journey. To me that is what "being awake" is about.

It is through science that we find out who and what we are but it is through the magick of art that we find out why we are. Anything that is not empirical, that involves emotion and subjective interpretation, is magick. Language being this most basic form. And in that regard you have to always be very careful as to what you speak to others. People make judgements about you based on these dialogues and no matter what you intended, if that communication is unclear, you become to them what they perceive you to be.

People don’t understand this power because most don’t understand what magick actually is. In its earliest descriptions magick was referred to as “The Art”. I think this can be literally interpreted. Magick is art and whether that be music, writing, sculpture, speaking or any other form of expression it is all magick. Art like magick is the science of manipulating symbols, words or images to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language of magick talks as much about writing or art as it does about perceived supernatural events. The very grimoire of a witch, where spells are recorded, is simply an elaborate term for grammar. To cast a spell is simply to manipulate words in an attempt to change people’s consciousness. This is why a writer or an artist or a public speaker is the closest thing to a modern day shaman we have.

All modern culture has risen from ancient tradition. In these ancient traditions the realms of science and art were both in the realm of the shaman, the healer or the medicine man. They were once perceived as having great power and influence. Now those that understand the true nuances of magic have been relegated to the fringes and replaced by cheap entertainment. That power is now being used by advertisers to manipulate and tranquilize our culture rather than shape a truly spiritual experience in people. Mediums like television where inane jingles and exploitation of the senses are broadcast everywhere and can cause everyone to be thinking the same words and having the same trivial thoughts all at the same time. This is magic put to sordid use so that its facilitators may evoke a profit.

There is an incredibly large linguistic component to magick. Writers and people who have command of words are respected and feared. Some of the greatest linguists in history have commanded great power and had influence over staggering amounts of people. The Malleus Maleficarum, or the Hammer of Witches, is one of the best known and the most important treatise on witchcraft ever written. It was a bestseller, second only to the Bible in terms of sales for almost 200 years and laid the foundations for the belief in the evil nature of women as witches, who were subsequently tortured and put to death. The oral power that Adolf Hitler had in his speeches to polarize an entire nation and bring the planet to a state of world war was unprecedented. These are but a few examples of the misuse of this powerful magic. If these things are not evidence of the power of art to change consciousness in others I don’t know what is.

People today consider most forms of art as simple entertainment. They are not seen as transformative forces that have the potential to change a human being, to change an entire society. It is not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants though. If that audience knew what they needed then they would not be the audience, they would be the artists. Instead the role of the artist is to give the audience what they need. Because of this I believe art and magick to truly be interchangeable and art is the medium in which magical ideas are expressed. These ideas can bring about great change for good or for worse depending on the goals of the magical artist.

We all partake in this magical manipulation, whether we openly pursue a form of art or we are going for an interview for a job. In that job interview you are using magic in the form of the art of selling yourself to a potential employer. The idea is to overwhelm the senses of your target and influence them in such a way as to effect a change in consciousness in them so that you are remembered in a positive light and thus improve your changes to be hired for the job.

I believe it’s the most important thing in my life to always be my authentic or true self. And when we are doing the will of our true self we are inevitably doing the will of the universe. This is the idea that every individual is actually a part of the whole of creation and created to be just as they are and as long as they are fulfilling that potential then it is impossible to do anything wrong. Part of this concept includes the idea that the supernatural, Gods and Demons and the like exists only as a creation of the human mind. There they exist as archetypes in all their grandeur and monstrosity as aspects of the Self.

It is this search for Self that we undertake as the great work in exploring our spirituality. This is the thing that is inside of us, behind the body, the intellect, our dreams, thoughts and opinions. This is the single most important thing that we can ever attain, the knowledge of our Self. And yet there are a staggering amount of people that not only never seek this knowledge of self but actually actively pursue its destruction. The desire to wipe out that awareness becomes the goal because it’s too much of a responsibility. It is an avoidance of having to accept and live with the pain of life. Instead they self-medicate with alcohol and drugs and meaningless entertainment to disconnect themselves from their higher self so they don’t have to be accountable for its continual prosperity or demise.

Ancient pagan traditions understood these concepts and they embraced them. However somewhere along the line this sort magical thinking started to go wrong. I believe that began with the monotheistic traditions. Before these traditions it was common to believe that everything in nature was sacred. That every tree, rock, animal etc all had their own unique essence and could perhaps even be communicated with. People were in harmony with the natural order in this way. Every person had knowledge of and access to this universal connectedness.

In this sort of society shamans acted only as disseminators of information and enactors of special skills such as healing etc. However over time these rolls became formalized into a priest cast that become intermediaries between the people and the divine. These casts took on the power of the Gods and instructed people in the worship of the Gods. They became the only means to interact with those Gods. These priests inserted themselves between the worshiper and the object of worship. In effect they became the intercessors between humans and their higher Self. A sort of middle manager between the humanity and the divine itself that humanity is seeking. In effect humanity has lost its direct connection to the godhead within.

To try and express the entirety of creation in terms of a single indivisible entity, a single symbol, from which everything came seems the height of strangeness to me. Instead I see the universe not in terms of a single note but more of an entire language, a single body but consisting of many sounds and symbols. And every sound or symbol of that language is a personification of a Deity or an Archetype. Using this language we each construct and express nuances, shades and subtleties of meaning and ideas. Each one is unique in that expression and we share that with others through our art and our interaction. This becomes the very act of creating magick itself.





My forms of Magick
What is spirituality? Where does it come from and why does it remain such an important part of our lives? There seem to be three dimensions to spirituality that make it especially relevant to exploring its intersection with artistic expression. First, spirituality is a search for meaning in life. By cultivating a sense of meaning, spirituality can provide an orientation to our lives, a set of values to live by, a sense of direction, and a basis for hope. Second, spirituality can help us to develop a relationship to mystery. In our search for meaning we discover the idea that there are aspects of our reality beyond the limits of our capacity to even begin to describe in language. Third, spirituality is about transformation. In our search for meaning and relationship to mystery, spiritual traditions provide a means to more deeply enter into this search through a set of practices or disciplines. This facilitates a way for us to cultivate a more intentional pursuit of our spirituality and help us shape our lives around the meaning and mystery we are discovering through this commitment.

On this journey of discovery we are constantly taking in knowledge and experience from external sources. This sort of knowledge allows us to interact with our world and with others we encounter. This gaining of intelligence and experience is one that flows from outside our selves inward. But this is not the only flow we experience. The second flow is one that travels from deep within and flows outward to the external world. As we move through life the inward flow is constantly growing but the outward flow is already complete within us. This is the Divine within us that we strive to interpret and translate. We are not static creatures but ones of constant change so this is a continual process of utilizing the inward flow to help us interpret the outward flow. Some of the mechanisms we use to help us interpret our universe are inspiration and creativity. Inspiration seems to be a component of the flow inward and creativity a component of the flow outward.

Inspiration comes from Latin and it means "to breathe into" and refers to an unconscious formation of a creative conception that can then be manifest as an artistic endeavor. The Greek’s believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and Dionysus. Similarly, in the Ancient Norse religions, inspiration derived from Gods such as Odin. Many poets attributed inspiration to the idea that the poet’s soul was attuned to the “divine or mystical winds” as thus able to receive inspiring visions. Jung's theory of inspiration suggests that an artist is one who was attuned to racial memory which were posited memories, feelings, and ideas inherited from our ancestors as part of a "collective unconscious". Within these memories were encoded the archetypes of the human mind. These all refer to flows from our outward environment, including our ancestry, inward. It is the beauty and mystery we find in the external universe through our experience that drives this.

Creativity, on the other hand, is derived from the Divine that is intrinsic within our personal nature. It is a powerful shaping force in our lives; that intangible human capacity of a transcendent nature that moves us beyond ourselves. It is the process of bringing something new into being. Something that did not exist before; an idea, a new arrangement, a painting, a story. Jung believed the natural language for the psyche is one primarily of image and only secondarily do we move to conceptual thought. These internal images are links to unlived lives and flashes of concepts indescribable in terms of language. In our attempts to interpret and define these images we are moved toward outwardly conveying them. We do this in a myriad of symbolic ways as expressions of our most authentic selves so that we may reveal deeper meanings in our lives. This creativity is most readily recognized in traditional forms of art but in actuality it really encompasses the whole of our lives. Every act in which we “make special” can be a creative one.

In primitive society’s spirituality was not something that was driven by events but instead something to be lived on a daily basis. Life was revered and every act was an act of the divine so it was important to always acknowledge the sacredness in even the most mundane undertakings. They lived the concept that artistic expression was an integral part of the very essence of life. This was expressed as cave paintings, rituals designed to help with fertility, or hunting, or crop growth, as well as forms like herbology for healing. Sacred pictures, sacred symbols, sacred dances, chants, hymns and tunes have been used in rituals, in places of worship, and as aids to prayer and meditation in attempts to gain connection to the Divine. In the personality of the tribe-magician, the priest and the artist were joined and they had direct relations with natural forces and daily or seasonal events. In these societies art, spirituality and life itself were all deeply intertwined and no act was taken without this in mind.

In our more modern society much of this ancient connection between life and art has been masked or ignored. But none the less, artistic expression continues to cover almost every aspect of our lives. The simple act of consciously taking up a recognized art form such as painting or music or woodworking is only one aspect of our artistic selves. It seems to me that, just as in ancient societies, forms of art in our modern day societies can also include communication, social interaction, ritual, worship and personal connection. If one were to define art at this level it could be described as the communication of the individual with his sense of existence and the ensuing exploration of the myriad of deep secrets that emanate from the very source of everything. The artist becomes a mediator between that source and the receiver. The theme of this art work, technique, style, or expression become the means for communication with the artist’s audience

For me, just as our ancient ancestors, living a deeply spiritual life is not about enacting a prescribed set of rituals on a Sunday and yet having no awareness of the sacredness of the rest of my life. It is about living every aspect of my life in a sacred manner and being aware that my every action is a form of art. This is the difference between looking for reward from action verses the reward of acting as the best version of yourself. Like art, truly living your spirituality is largely about process rather than product. A prominent metaphor for our spirituality is “the journey”. This suggests a sense of constant movement and progression. In effect it is the upwards spiral of constant transformation within ourselves. We never fully arrive at a destination but we are always unfolding and discovering new aspects of who we are and what it means to be alive. Our spiritual selves are an aspect of our reality that are in a constant process of integration with the other aspects of our lives. This allows us to find meaning in not only our chosen mediums but allows us to bring a form of artistic expression to all aspect of our lives.

Solve et coagula, In order to construct, first one must destroy. These principles can be applied to almost anything in culture. Ancient cultures had direct and continuous relationships with their Gods. They viewed magick as a natural part of the universe itself. With the age of reason this began to wane. Our original way of seeing ourselves and the world around us as sacred things that each had its indwelling essence was replaced with empirical logic and materialism. Anything beyond that became the realm of the fantastical. While the age of reason bought a many great benefits it was at the sacrifice of the sacred.

The physical material world began to be seen as the be-all end-all of existence where we were creatures that had no spiritual dimension. The mysticism was stripped away and everything was explained through physical and chemical and natural force processes. And while I believe in those mechanisms of nature I also believe there is something more to our existence. Our consciousness and our emotions are proof enough of that for me. I don’t believe in a supernatural dimension where external entities run wild but I do believe in an internal dimension where our archetypes play, live out their lives and express their desires through artistic expression in what can be defined as nothing less that true magick!

There is a wildness deep in the heart of humanity. It is a place where hero’s may be remembered but legends will never die. The Jedi speak of the hero but I see something deeper. I want to connect with that wildness deep inside. I want to express it, embrace it, and become it. I want to be that legend. That is my path. That is the only journey I’m willing to undertake. Anything less is meaningless.

Located among the dunes of the Silent Desert there exists a series of caverns. The entrance to these caverns seem to be encased in an invisible protective barrier that protect it from the shifting sands that are moved ceaselessly by a hot dry wind. Four spires erupt from the surface of the ground and surround this entrance. A massive technological diamond shaped structure seems to float weightlessly above this entrance and is encompassed within these spires. In the stillness of this desert oasis Je’daii students focus on improving their mental endurance and strength as well as sensory skills with The Force. This is the temple known as Qigong Kesh.

A cloaked figure rises over a massive sand dune. The cloak whips back and forth in the violent wind as she moves steadily forward. The darkened googles she is wearing catches a glint of the sun and the sound of her breath through her protective mask is carried away by the wind. With each step her boots sink into the sand, making even the simple act of walking a challenge. But this does not deter her pace toward her goal, the temple that rests serenely before her in quiet solitude, somehow free of the torrential wind and shifting sand. As she looks on what she sees excites her and quickens her pace even further. The figure of Master Miarta Sek, the Sith overseer of this temple.



Personal Log – Entry VII
“The Force” is simply a poetic label we assign to the emotion we feel and the beauty we derive from our perceived connections to reality. It can be interpreted in natural terms that encompass aspects of the very laws of the universe. Those aspects being the very idea that we are all evolved from a single ancient form of life that emerged from a set of elements created out of the same stardust that emerged into existence in a single event called the big bang.

We are literally the stuff of stars and the ratios of elements we find in the universe are the same ratios we find in ourselves. There is something we find beautiful in that. All existence is energy and energy is just energy. It has no opinions and it is not aware of itself nor does it feel. It is us as humans that feel… that experience. And in this no act we undertake can be called good or evil but simply human. We are capable of the greatest of constructive acts and the most shattering of destructive acts. What many miss in this however, is that both are still acts of creation.








The Force
What is a spiritual experience? If we have a spiritual experience we would think that in order for that experience to be real the thing we are experiencing would also have to be real, right? For a Christian that would be the Abrahamic God and for a Pagan that would be "Goddess" and for a Je’daii it would be “The Force”. But are those things really separate things? It would seem the height of impracticality that reality would be infested with an infinite set of “spiritual elements” to experience, all with different messages and interactions. And so I think we can conclude by the principle of Occam’s razor that given both possibilities, this complication of many things would not be true and that, in fact we are just experiencing different incarnations of a single entity or phenomenon.

This embodiment, if it exists, must have definite properties and characteristics. So why is there so much disparity when it comes to our personal interpretation of spiritual experience? It would seem that if this manifestation exists we would be able to come to a concrete consensus about it. Since we cannot the only conclusion we can draw is that it does not exist as a thing. Deity/Goddess/Force/the spiritual experience does not exist as an entity or an energy field or any other myriad of manifest things we can imagine. Instead the spiritual encounter, The Force, exists only as a personal experience that we feel as real but does not really exist outside our perceptions as a component of reality.

The Force is not an external entity with a will nor is it an energy field. It is an experience… and we are its energy field. The Force is something transcendent of physical reality and yet also immanent throughout that reality. We do not draw power from it. It is actually created by the power we generate internally. My concept of The Force is one in which I cooperate with it, shape it, bend it to my will, imbue it with my essence and then bask in that return. In order to do that I must act with intent to shape my path, even in the face of adversity. For me “The Force” is not a passive force that I allow to flow through me but an active force I generate and then draw from and shape as a means to an end. In doing this it does not give me essence but takes of mine, which is returned to me magnified in kind for the sacrifice I gave.

This process must be an organic interaction of symbiosis with our natural universe. To try and artificially shape it or mold or manipulate it through artificial systems of control like the suppression of emotion is futile because we are bound by its grasp in the ultimate paradox of free will and fate. There in the underlying fabric of space time it intertwines these two aspects of our reality that can never be broken apart. We are free to choose our path but only within the determination of that fate it has in store for us because in the end The Force always determines our destiny. Any attempt to circumnavigate that only brings us closer to our doom. We walk the path of our choice but only within the boundaries set by the universe for we can never escape our own mortality. So for that short time we have in this universe why not revel in the entire range of emotion we are gifted instead of trying to deny those pleasures and those pains? This is only the way The Force wants it to be!!

We spend our lives pretending the shadows on the wall are our reality. We have mapped the entire electromagnetic spectrum from the universe itself down to the plank distance. We have quantified and qualified the forces of nature. We have harnessed these forces and have told ourselves that we are the masters of the universe. Somehow each day we convince ourselves that we are in control because we can manipulate these shadows of reality, change them or blend them and we delight in the power we tell ourselves we have. But all the while we are fooling ourselves. The true power does not lie in harnessing the shadow and our manipulation of them is futile because in the end we are at the will and whim of a force of nature far greater than we can ever begin to imagine. It is our arrogance that blinds us to this fact. We fail to understand that we are not nature’s masters nor our own masters and we never will be. Only when we stop focusing on the shadows and truly seek both extremes of our nature will we know the true power of creation. Only then will we appreciate that we are truly powerless.

The Force is Creatrix, womb longing with desire to conceive. The Force is Spark, pursuer engorged with the desire to set the flame. The Force is a wanton lover, warm and yearning, caressing the deepest desire from my soul. The Force is a cruel paramour, tracing icy tendrils down my spine before encasing my throat in an icy grip of death. It delights in both ecstasy and misery without regard for either. To truly feel its power is to reluctantly give myself in gentle submission to the beauty of the rose while simultaneously experiencing the intoxicating pain of the thorn as it deeply pierces. It is not an experience that I can gain with knowledge or training or by exercising control. It is something I can only gain by letting go of consequences and allowing myself unbridled passion for the moment alone.

That journey will reveal many things. Some I will delight in and others I will not. However I need not fear those things of the dark for they are as much a part of me as the light. In fact without both I would have no concept of self. This journey lays bare the knowledge that I must become an enigma unto myself. I spend my live trying to define that thing inside me that is indefinable. I ask, “Who am I?” The answer I am returned, “I am two sides of an unbalanced coin, one light and one dark. I only get to exist on one side or the other.” It’s an answer most don’t question as they scurry toward the light. They even harbor relief; feigning no need to ponder beyond that boundary. But I ask what might lie beyond those self-erected walls? On the surface, it seems that to ponder this, is to commit myself to certain doom. For it is forbidden to unravel that mystery without giving myself to the unknown dark… but of what am I truly afraid?

The war wages both within and without. Those cursed with the blight of unbounded, overwhelming logic envy those that display their dark and messy passions so easily. For isn’t it true that all things of passion and emotion and desire are born in the deep black fires of darkness? Like a fever it burns and consumes in an orgiastic fervor, leaving its victim stripped and bare before the masses. Cold logic and emotional control know nothing of this. It listens only to the rational voice when dealing with emotion. Yet curiously, as it watches, it sees the experience of being stripped of logic and lain shamelessly open, to revel in one’s own ardor, a seemingly enjoyable one. So logic sits on the edge of the dark and wonders what it would be like to delight in that whimsy. How enticing it is to think of surrendering one’s self to that temptation. Maybe just one toe dipped into that silky, seductive essence would be enough to quell a voracious curiosity?

But no… even that simple indiscretion would leave one on a singular path. Like a drug addict craving more. Deeper and deeper would one delve into that unholy pit, allowing that passion to take just a bit more each time. That slick, black spirit would caress and seduce until one brazenly gives themselves entirely over to the warm, enticing touch; no longer caring, even begging it to consume thine soul for the return to permit just one more taste. For the logical this can never be allowed to come to pass. It leads only to ruin… and when the Dark Lord calls His herd, the fear one would find them self among that number is great. So the struggle to remain ever vigilant against the dark path ensues. It takes a steadfast will - albeit one born of fear.

But I see the fear is a lie meant to keep me from the fulfillment of my destiny. As desire wages war against fear, those walls are weakened inside me. They crumble like the burning loins of a young lover moved past the point of reason. Swollen and soaked in desire I arch and plead to be breached. It is a powerful and overwhelming feeling of yearning and want of that freedom! In the pitch black night I awaken, drenched in sweat. Grinding against the bed sheets, aching for that invasion of flesh and spirit. A desperate begging cry out into the night – “Please!.. Please grant me that release!!”

Writhing lewdly there in the pitch black, the darkness comes, revealing itself, allowing me to slide over that edge. Gasps of relief come and I know that it is simply my duty, even my fate to give myself over. With that intoxicatingly carnal release of pleasure the revelation comes - the stability of the universe depends on balance. Why should my journey be any different? Or is this simply a justification to relieve a tortured mind? Maybe, but still I cannot escape the reality that there can be no steadfast, rational light without an uncontrollable, bewitching, gorgeous, black dark. And that dark fire needs to feed, it needs to burn. For it is alive and it must consume. I must simply become its willing sacrifice. I will burn with it.

This is the journey to The Force, the path I traveled - down the rabbit hole I went and encountered the personification that is Force incarnate. And in turn that phenomenon introduced me to Force ubiquitous…

Temptation but fear - rebellion but shame; these are the elements of a superficial life. A life before enveloping myself entirely into that perfect balance that birthed the universe. My surrender to this concept revealed to me these raging forces of logic and emotion within are but a perfect mirror, reflecting the true nature of things without; that they are not rivals but kin, born of the same blood. The understanding comes that to release myself fully does not spell my own destruction. I must shed the trepidation and the indignity imposed by others to find that warm, inviting place beneath the Moon as well as the Sun with the entirety of creation by my side. It is a place without judgment, a place where the heart cannot be wrong. It is a place of revelation. Here the preconceived notions of absolute “light of good” or “dark of evil” do not exist. For I came to realize they are really the same thing, and I search no more…

Breast lain bare,
Heaving, willful eagerness
Clutch of blood red rose
Engorged, dripping wanton desire,
Prick of a thorn,
Gasp of ecstatic pleasure,
Dagger plunged home,
Slaking unbridled lust

To live life unrestrained in this way, never fearing the unknown, embracing the mysterious, is to experience the entirety of The Force. So what does it mean to truly know The Force? It is to know that, in any act, I am the alter of creation and renewal for the progression of all!!

A massive metal and stone structure rests on the lip of the active caldera along the Tythos Ridge. The temple itself, a rust-colored ziggurat, rests on four sheer support walls and is crowned with several barrel-shaped smokestacks that belch smoke created from the fires of the forges within. Located at the base of an active volcano, the internal structure forms an interior dome which harnesses the heat from the flowing lava to power the forges of fire as the students practice their craft. A monument to the art of metallurgy, this is a place of study where students learn the ways of the Force through the construction of tools and weapons. Within the halls of this temple, known as Vur Tepe, the Je'daii concentrate on practical applications; focusing on the processes in which the Force could be applied to create or improve physical things. They learn to imbue both their Tachi and their mind with the Force and make each extraordinarily strong and razor sharp.

A lone journeyer moves through the molten lava flows. She gingerly traverses the treacherous path as a hot wind whips her cloak backward. Hood thrown back, her yellow eyes seem to glow even brighter in this dark and foreboding place. Steam rises from her boots as she treks onward, warry not to stand too long in one place for fear the very soles of her footwear may melt into the smoldering muck beneath her feet. As the edge of her cloak touches the ground it becomes singed, but she pays it no mind. She has a single purpose, to reach the temple and the Jedaii master awaiting her arrival. He is a Cathar called Tem Madog, Vur Tepe’s overseer who calmly watches and awaits her arrival as the base of the temple.


Personal Log – Entry IX
One concept I have always found particularly interesting is humanities continual attempt to classify aspects of our being into categories, light and dark, good and evil and so forth. I have never found much use for such classifications as I came to the conclusion a long time ago that every aspect of who we are is a necessary and functional part of our makeup. Given this notion, how can anything that we “are” or we experience be classified as “bad” and in need of suppression or eradication?

If I had not experienced every event I have in my life, both good and bad, I would not be who I am today. I think instead it is not the presence of seemingly malevolent aspects of our nature that give rise to “evil” but our processing of these things out of balance with the rest of our makeup that causes undue suffering. That concept has been brought home even more profoundly than any other time in my life during my journey through these temples. This is especially true of this temple, The Forge. Its very name implies Coal and Fire, The blackest of black and the lightest of light combined with force to form the weapon of the Sword.

I am that Sword, formed of light and dark through conflict. I have become accomplished in doling out the most violent intrusion as well as providing the greatest of securities.







THE MIND
The mind is the most powerful weapon one can possess. Everything one will ever accomplish begins in the mind. Classically speaking "Magic” is the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. This is simply the creation or manifesting of something physical or tangible out of something intangible. This intangible factor begins in the mind as desire, will or need. But if you cannot concretely define what it is you want, it remains esoteric and therefore you cannot manifest, refine, practice or improve that thing. Even such apparently subjective concepts as "more confidence" can be measured, if one defines what "more confidence" actually looks like. This is done by establishing a set of criteria for its measurement and then a concrete process for its improvement. These details must be fleshed out or the goal of “more confidence” will never be achieved.

Once the criteria is set it must then be acted upon by the individual by the taking of ownership over self and enacting physical change. These goals also need to remain personal and not the understanding of others or society in general. When one thinks in terms of what everyone else is doing, it either naturally imposes limits on what one is able to do or it creates frustration in the individual from perceptions of inadequacy or superiority. Yes, this process functions both ways. Not only should one not accept external standards but they should also never impose their personal standards onto others. Never speak for others, only speak in terms of self. Thinking in terms of “we” is naturally limiting. “We” implies an average and average is not a goal to strive for.

Theories about a group can be entertained, but one must keep in mind that one can only “know” something definitely of self. So one should only think in terms of who they are as an individual. In doing this, their potential becomes unlimited because it unbinds them from artificial external standards. All that needs to be accomplished at this point is the work. For example, let's say one were trying to adopt the habit of writing more. The worst thing they could do would be to look at the average daily word count for most authors. Slightly better, would be to try and match the word count of 1-2 writers that were personally admired. With both, one would be putting an artificial limit on accomplishment. One may not be able to achieve the number or one may be able to achieve much greater than the number. In either case an artificial limit is set. The better goal would be to ask “How much I can write”. Decide how much one personally seeks to improve and then strive to hit and even exceed that number every day through grind and persistence. That way potential is unlimited. The only thing holding you back and the only benchmark to measure against, is yourself. The key here is taking on the work to physically manifest the concepts of the mind regardless of constraints.

Those ideas remain meaningless without the work, the effort and pain and sacrifice to bring those ideas into the world, Relying on false paradigms such as the concept of Karma, a made-up sense of universal justice or self-entitlement, to just manifest your desires in life is folly. That is not to say there is not a spiritual component to happiness. The goals we strive for are very much empirical in nature but the process in obtaining those goals can often times be esoteric. By esoteric I don’t mean supernatural or occultist, I mean obscure or mysterious and even hidden. There are a myriad of processes that can be deployed in the pursuit of any given goal and depending on how those are deployed one will either be successful or not successful in achieving their goals in an empirical sense. Discovering those processes and deploying the correct ones for the proper situation is as much a factor in success or failure as anything. If you want to get stronger but you hate to lift weights you are doomed to failure. Instead find the process to increase strength that you have passion about.

These processes are about knowing the self. They entail the management of emotion and belief both in ourselves and in others. In fact every decision ever made will always have a component of emotion and belief in it. Because of this they are messy and often times not driven by logic. The key is picking the correct process for the situation by successfully reading the dynamics of the environment in that situation and then invoking the best process to ensure success. This is an esoteric art as much as it is a science because not everyone has the ability to read a situation successfully. Everyone has different talents and different skill levels. Emotions cloud judgement and belief can be biased. One must know their natural talents in order to better develop their skill and one must master the ability to constantly self-monitor their internal engine of desire for accuracy and one must constantly evaluate beliefs for bias. The “I will never be as good as “X”” being a prominent one.

One must also have a solid grasp on what is permissible and what is not. What are one’s personal boundaries? How far one is willing to go and what consequences is one willing to accept for the accomplishment of that goal. This is what fascinates me and this is what I study. Why do people use mechanisms that lead them to false conclusions and why do people prefer to delude themselves into false beliefs rather than search for truth. I think it’s because people want to see the world as they would prefer it to be and not as it actually is. They carry an overinflated sense of self-importance. If you ask any individual if they think they are above average the answer will invariably be yes. This is a cognitive bias built into the human psyche. None of us are above average, but we are all unique. The trick is to seek out that bias and destroy it to discover what you are truly good at, truly passionate about. And then pursue that relentlessly. Anything less than this is just wasted effort.



THE BODY
STRENGTH
I have spoken extensively about the need for training the body in the Martial Arts temple. This temple is designed to refine the philosophical aspects of that pursuit. I am a perfectionist and I am OCD and that combination drives me to be "achieving" every single second of my life. The first thing I ask myself when I wake up in the morning is "what is the plan for today?" I concoct that plan in my mind to best fulfill every second with maximum effort and efficiently, even down to the point of mapping out my route to complete errands so that my path is the most time saving. If I'm not doing something, executing some process every second, it makes me nervous. To not be accomplishing in this way to me is laziness and that equates to weakness.

I don’t accept defeat easily and I don’t like things out of my control. I think I can do more and so I push myself harder. I have a very linear thought process. My mind thinks in logic and not emotion. Emotion is messy and all over the place and not my natural state of being. So what I find in myself is that I tend to just execute programs like a machine in need of controlling her environment because when I control the environment I have the perception that things are easier or work better. I feel if I can just force every aspect of my environment to my will through sheer strength things will be perfect.

But this quickly becomes an untenable situation because I’m trying to control every aspect of my environment when most things are actually outside my ability to control. The natural consequence to all this is that I often times burn myself out. I go so hard for so long that I end up crashing. My friends see this and are constantly trying to get me to slow down. They tell me that I'm a tank that just goes and goes until I finally break down. Its wasted effort, inefficient use of my strength. Over time I have realized that I can’t control these things, I can only control myself, my actions and perceptions. I need to stop and slow down sometimes, get that routine maintenance done by doing nothing on occasion and be ok with that. I need to stop burying my emotions and listen to them, experience them more fully. Life is not an efficient machine, it’s a messy process and I need to recognize that.

I have lived my life in this state of maximum effort, every second of my day filled with concerted determination in every endeavor. I constantly asked myself “can I do more” and the answer was always yes. But what I have learned is that this may not be the best question to ask because I often find myself unbalanced. I had convinced myself that my drive is for the best. That by pushing myself I was achieving everything I could, that I was strong. What I really needed to be doing was not living this way but striving to achieve a better balance in my life. This is true strength. Not only putting in the effort but also the ability to tell myself “no” sometimes. Developing the ability to know when to let go. This is the idea of not striving for quantity of work but quality of work. When I can do this I can shape my reality to what I want it to be without using a means of artificial control or causing burnout. It becomes effortless effort. This is empowerment, this is strength.

POWER
Attempting to control every aspect of my environment is wasted effort because in the end all I can truly control is myself. Having mastery of myself in this way is the only true power. It is only through this ever vigilant and prepared control of myself that I can affect my environment. Sometimes this is through direct influence facilitated by respect or fear but most often it’s done through subtle manipulation enabled by submission or collaboration.

Preparing myself for such interactions is the key. This happens in a myriad of ways. Being vigilant of my surroundings and sensitive not only to others wants and needs but mine as well. Always having a strong defensive posture and taking care of myself, staying in shape and eating well. Always taking every chance for new learning and new encounters. Challenging myself at every opportunity. When I prepare myself in these ways the unknown becomes something not to fear but to embrace. This is power. When I possess power in this way people recognize it and intuitively bend to its will. It implies a natural leadership that people respond to.

I have always been driven to achieve and about 10 years ago I found myself having worked up into a good job in which I was a group leader and I was in a marriage of a few years. I was also an angry, brooding person. At the time I did not know why I was this way, I had just accepted the fact that this was my personality and this was my life. I considered most people at my work to be inept and I would argue with bosses and colleagues about process and procedure all the time. My spouse was bipolar and had an issue with prescription drugs and we fought a lot because of this. But these things never deterred me. I thought if I could just get these people in my life to listen to reason and do the things I was telling them to do at a level I felt they should be doing them, then things would improve for them and for myself. And when they didn’t I was incredulous at the level of incompetence they displayed. Instead of taking my advice, what I saw begin to happen was I started to be passed over for bonuses or promotions and my spouse began to have affairs and would disappear for entire nights. And I fell into a depression.

This sort of thing went on for a few years until one day I snapped. My level of frustration and depression reached a peak and I decided I could not take it anymore. I walked away from it all. I left my job and took a contract position where I could work as I pleased and I left my spouse and we eventually divorced. Over the next year I did a lot of contemplating about how my life had progressed. What I finally came to was the idea that I had been desperately trying to control my environment. Not only that but I had been using brute force techniques to do this. I spent a lot of time in direct confrontation. Screaming, demanding, threatening, coercing and convincing to no avail. And as a result these things had all failed in my life.

During this time I also met my best friend. We spent many long hours talking about life and philosophy. With her help slowly over time I began to realize that the power I had so sought to wield could never be gained by demonstrations of force. That in fact I had no control over anything in my life except myself and if I ever wanted any sort of power in my life that I didn’t need to change my environment, I needed to change myself. And so I began to transform my life. Instead of complaining about things at work I began to take responsibility for them and leadership roles in fixing them. In my relationships I stopped telling my friends and family how they could improve this or that and just let them be who they wanted to be. I began to support them and nurture them and cater to their wants and desires. I began a life of cooperation and not confrontation, submission not domination and only exercising control on a very limited basis at appropriate times. And guess what, everything changed! I had learned the true meaning of power.

Power is not about domination or control or force. It’s not about maniacal laughter in the face of your cowering enemy. The epiphany of this philosophy came home to me one night during a conversation with my, afore mentioned, best friend. I was lamenting about how I was just not a dominant and forceful person and I needed to realize that. That my life would not be what I wanted it to be because of this. I told her that I was not like she was. I saw her as strong and full of the greatest of power. And what she told me stunned me into silence.

She said that she saw me that way as well. It was not because I had tried to control her that she saw me this way but because I had nurtured her in ways I never even realized. When I wanted something from her I had learned to influence her in subtle ways to get what I wanted but I also gave unconditionally and encouraged her unconditionally as well. And it was those traits I had begun to naturally gift her with as a result of our conversations and my introspective searching that had given me that power over her. This is what I had been craving in my life. I had power and did not even realize it and I submitted to power willingly without ever noticing any ill effects.

This is true power and from that time on this is the use of power that I have strived to perfect. As a result my life has been irrevocably changed. I am no longer that angry dark brooding individual but one that now experience true joy in life. Sure I have ups and downs like anyone, sometimes happy and sometimes sad but the underlying joy is ever present. The power of that feeling is the greatest power one could ever experience.



THE ENVIRONMENT
THE HEART OF THE FORGE - Kamikeedi Principles to Strive For

Life itself is warfare. It is spend in the pursuit of objectives, gaining as much ground as possible before death overtakes us. Any pursuit of a goal begins with planning. With good planning one can calculate the chance for victory over her adversary, whether that adversary is a physical goal or a mental accomplishment. It defines the idea that one’s source of strength and effectiveness is in unity and organization and perseverance in working a plan, not in blind, brute force. But all the planning in the world is meaningless without action. Momentum is a powerful tool in this. When opportunities come in the environment they must be seized and then defended relentlessly until such time as one achieves the ability to advance the goal.

If one desires something in life there is no choice but to engage. In this, the need for flexibility in the tactics and maneuvers through different situations, terrains and territories can’t be more stressed. One must be ever vigilant and constantly evaluating intentions. Situations and stages of a campaign and the specific resources that may be needed to successfully conquer must be well known and effectively rehearsed. Kamikeedi are not born, they are formed in fire, refined as steel by hammer and sharpened through opposition. Through any worthy campaign there are principles Kamikeedi live by. These principles are a synopsis of the journey, the fight. They are described here as a nine Sanctums.

1. Sanctum of Fear - Anxiety is an inability to reach resolution.
It arises from the fear of an imagined, unknown or poorly defined threat. It is the source of hesitation, indecisiveness and ineffectiveness in the pursuit of goals. Instead of succumbing to fear or anxiety when faced with it, challenge it. Ask “what is the worst/best thing that could happen” and then break down the solution to each question to achieve the desire, step by step. In doing this it will become clear that there is confidence in preparation and anxiety will disappear.

2. Sanctum of Motivation - Develop the ability to recognize any opportunity no matter how unconventional.
The basis for this is courage. Courage is enacted by saying “Yes”. Yes, I will go to that gathering, Yes, I will take on that task/goal or Yes, I will lead that group. There is a kernel of enormous value in everything we experience, especially things that are frustrating, unpleasant or challenging. This is where opportunity hides and this is where the courage to seek them out is vital. Once opportunity is realized this is the time to make detailed precise goals that can be measured and a battle plan to achieve that goal.

3. Sanctum of Passion - Passion begins in the mind.
Passion provides a sense of freedom when doing something that one values. It gives you a reason to keep learning and to work toward mastery. It gives purpose to life and it often has a satisfying physical aspect. This action will naturally develop physical strength but also develops mental strength as well as strength of character. It gives meaningful structure to your time. It makes the world a richer place. When you’re in pain it can actually be a refuge, a distraction, a solace. In this pursuit it’s vitally important to identify true passions, not the passions one “wishes” they had. Following false passion will ultimately lead to failure.

4. Sanctum of Will - No opportunity is seized or goal achieved without action.
The plan is set but all the positive thinking and dreaming in the world is not going to get you what you want. Believing in the pseudoscience of movies like “What the Bleep Do We Know” or “The Secret” will get you no closer to a goal than the toaster on your kitchen counter. You can’t tune into the “feeling resonance” to think your way to a bigger bank balance, a nicer car, a bigger house and a better partner because the universe doesn’t care about what you want. If you want it then action is required! Physical and mental effort, pain and sacrifice.

5. Sanctum of Strength - Never sacrifice one sense to heighten another.
Don’t pluck out an eye to attune hearing, self-maiming is not a path to power. In other words don’t suppress emotion or any element of life that strength is drawn from. These elements include things such as health, a support network in friends and family, the vision of what is being accomplished, and curiosity. The link between health and productivity is self-evident. Sacrifices of time will have to be made but should not be to the detriment of an inner circle. Don’t let negativity or criticism diminish your vision. Be adaptable but committed. Always consider the impossible and flesh out complex ideas.

6. Sanctum of Perseverance - Don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
This is the idea that being so focused on being perfect robs us of our efforts to progress at all. The Pareto principle is a component of this concept. It states that 80% of effort only contributes to 20% of a task while the remaining 20% of effort will contribute to 80% of the task. Achieving absolute perfection is impossible and increasing effort to try and achieve perfection only results in diminishing returns and further activity becomes increasingly inefficient. So be ok with “Good” because before you realize it, it will be great!

7. Sanctum of Power - Get rid of the things in life that no longer serve.
This goes for material possessions as well as physiological baggage. Fear is the driving factor that creates the belief these things are still needed. Belongings, situations, and relationships become security blankets placed strategically to ignore and avoid the pain of eliminating these useless things that are dragging down personal growth. Identify them and take on the conflict to eradicate them. This will naturally open up space to pursue true passions.

8. Sanctum of Sacrifice - Know the true value of the things that do still serve.
One may consider the new Jaguar in the driveway their most important possession. But lose control of that car on a mountain road and consider how fast that car will be sacrificed to keep from sliding over a cliff. What if a shark attacked and grabbed your arm. Would you be able to cut that arm off to save your life before the shark drug you to the depths or would you just quietly accept your fate? This is the nature of sacrifice for passion. How far are you willing to go to get what you desire?

9. Sanctum of Victory – Victory and defeat are each of the same price.
Defeat is not failure. Failure only comes in never having tried. In finding victory, strength and speed are required to develop greater power. Power is the ability to generate as much force as possible as quickly as possible. Greater power provides a stronger mind, stronger body, better awareness of environment and the necessary means for the desired ends. This is the primary weapon utilized to secure victory!



THE WEAPON
In the end all of these things are meaningless without the ability to manifest real physical results. There is a lot of people out there constantly trying to improve themselves by looking for the one change in their lives that’s going make their dreams come true. On top of that there’s a lot of self-help gurus, hyperactive motivational speakers and self-appointed modern Zen Jedi warriors, that are trying to sell the “one thing” or the “9 steps” or the “enlightened path” or “the secret” that’s going to unlock ones human potential and fulfill their dreams so they can live a perfectly fulfilled life, or a life others told them they should be living according to a false universal law or that they feel they deserve to live just by right of birth. But in the end, the words Self-help or self-management or self-improvement are meaningless. The truth is there is no one thing, and you are owed nothing in life. There is no quick path and there are no shortcuts. Meditation won’t get you there, or a drug or organic lifestyle of selflessness or a super food or a plea for societal equality. Getting better is not a hack or a single change or a secret or something that will happen if you wish hard enough or stomp your foot emphatically enough.

Getting better is a personal campaign. It is a daily, weekly, hourly physical fight, not some spiritual or esoteric struggle for enlightenment. And that fight does not stop! It’s a fight against weakness and against temptation and against laziness and a fight to overcome fear. It’s a campaign of discipline. It’s a campaign of hard work and dedication. It’s waking up early and going to bed late and grinding out every second in between. And doing this every single day. So you want to get better? Self-improve? You want to be rich? Have a nice house? A beautiful car? Gorgeous wife? Amazing career? Accomplished hobbies? Awesome volunteer life? Stop looking for a short cut and go find your discipline. Find your guts and your passion and your drive and find your will! It is only in finding these things that you will ever find your freedom! The weapon used to shred life is “hard work”!

I have spoken here about accomplishment and part of my time here at this temple must include some aspect of that as well. Being a forge, it is natural that weapons are formed here. I have always had a desire to work in fire and steel and wood. And so I have accomplished that here as well.
The forge I built so that I may shape steel.


The knife I have made out of fire and steel and wood using that forge.