A Story of Philosophy

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The students laughed.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

The true mark of a Jedi is Peace

Peace with oneself and with the world around us.

Peace gained through knowledge, understanding, discipline and self-control.

Self-control is most difficult to master, as we are human beings and driven by emotion and sensory triggers. But we are also Jedi, learning to control our emotions and reactions. Ever seeking knowledge and enlightenment, a Jedi never uses his power to gain wealth or personal power. By learning balance, moderation and control we learn and grow in the Force.

By listening, by becoming peaceful, by turning our attention to the Force, we find that place where our individuality is joined to the knowledge and power of the universe. At some point a Jedi becomes one with the force. It consumes him, penetrates him, makes him part of all living things. To use the Force, one must be at harmony with it. Only when calm, at peace, can one act with assurance of control. To act in dissonance depletes one's power.

The Paths

The light path starts narrow, so that new Jedi adhere to its teachings. As training goes on, the path widens slowly with time and knowledge.

The dark path however is wide. It runs just below the light path to catch the Jedi when they fall. After the dark path started it narrows. Each time it is used, the next act must be a little more evil than before.

Unlike the Light Side of the Force, which embraces the whole, the entire focus of the Dark Side is the self. For the Force is not itself good or evil; it is a reflection of nature, and nature itself can be cold and cruel.

That is the choice of the Jedi: serenity or hatred; peace or anger; freedom or tyranny; learning or power; the Light or the Darkness. Because the use of the Force and the way the Force uses its user are one, the choice is inescapable.

The will and the Force are one; the actor and the acted upon, the same. There is no contradiction: there is unity. That is the Path of Light.

All futures exist in the Force. You do not choose the future so much as it chooses you. Do not look for answers there.

According to their nature, there are both people who have a quick intelligence, and those who must withdraw and take time to think things over. Looking into this thoroughly, if one thinks selflessly and adheres to "The four Tenets of the The Jedi Code", suprising wisdom will occur regardless of the high or low points of one's nature.

People think that they can clear up profound matters if they consider them deeply, but they exercise perverse thoughts and come to no good becuase they do their reflecting with only self-intrest at the center.

It is difficult for a fool's habit's to change to selflessness. In confronting a matter, however, if at first you leave it alone, fix "The four Tenets of the Jedi Code" in your mind, exclude self-interest, and make an effort, you will not go far from your mark.

We learn about the sayings and deeds of the men of old in order to entrust ourselves to their wisdom and prevent selfishness. When we throw off our own bias, follow the sayings of the ancients, and confer with other people, matters should go well and without mishap.

To give a person one's opinion and correct his faults is an important thing. It is compassionate and comes first in matters of service. But the way of doing this is extremely difficult. To discover the good and bad points of a person is an easy thing, and to give an opinion concerning them is easy, too. For the most part, people think that they are being kind by saying the things that others find distasteful or difficult to say. But if it is not recieved well, they think that there is nothing more to be done. This is completely worthless. It is the same as bringing shame to a person by slandering him. It is nothing more then getting it off one's one chest.

To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not. One must become close with him and make sure that he continually trusts one's word.

Approaching subjects that are dear to him, seek the best way to speak and to be well understood. Judge the occasion, and determine whether it is better by letter or at the time of leave-taking. Praise his good points and use every device to encourage him, perhaps by talking about one's own faults without touching on his, but so that they will occur to him. Have him receive this in the way that a man would drink water when his throat is dry, and it will be an opinion that will correct faults.

This is extremely difficult. If a person's fault is a habit of some years prior, by and large it won't be remedied. I have had this experiance myself. By bringing shame to a person, how could one expect to make him a better man?

Throughout your life advance your body and mind daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.

It is not good to settle into a set of opinions. It is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that. At first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime. Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, "This is not enough."

One should search throughout his whole life how best to follow the Way. And he should study, setting his mind to work without putting things off. Within this is the Way.

Even a poor penman will become substantial in the art of Writing if he studies by imitating a good model and puts forth effort. A student should be able to become substantial too, if he takes a good teacher as his model.

At times, however,there are no models of good teachers. In light of this, it would be good to "make" a model and to learn from that. To do this, one should look at many people and choose from each person his best point only. For example, one person for politness, one for bravery, on for the proper way of speaking, one for correct conduct and one for steadiness of mind. Thus will the model be made.

When a person is extremely busy and someone comes to them with some business or other, often there are people who will treat them coldly and become angry. This is not good at all. At such times, the etiquette of a Jedi is to calm himself and deal with the person in a good manner. To treat the person harshly is unworthy of a Jedi.

There is a way of bringing up the child of a Jedi. From the time of infancy one should encourage Wisdom and trusting in one's own abilities and avoid trivially frightening or teasing the child. If a person is affected by fear as a child, it remains a lifetime scar. It is a mistake for parents to thoughtlessly make their children dread lightning, or to have them not go into dark places, or to tell them frightening things in order to stop them from crying.

Furthermore, a child will become timid if he is scolded severly and unjustly. One should not allow bad habits to form. After a bad habit is ingrained, although you admonish the child he will not improve. As for such things as proper speaking and good manners, gradually make the child aware of them. Let him not know avarice. Other than that, if he is of a normal nature, he should develop well by the way he is brought up.

Moreover, the child of parents who have a bad relationship will be unfilial. This is natural. Even the birds and the beasts are affected by what they are used to seeing and hearing from the time they are born.

It is spiritless to think that you can't attain to that which you have seen and heard the masters attain. The masters are men. You are also a man. If you think that you will be inferior in doing something, you will be on that road very soon.

If one is but secure at the foundation, he will not be pained by departure from minor details or affairs that are contrary to expectation. But in the end, the details of a matter are important. The right and wrong of one's own way of doing things are found in trivial matters.

Whatever you do should be done for the sake of your teacher and parents, the people in general, and for posterity. This is great compassion. The wisdom and courage that come from compassion are real wisdom and coruage. When one punishes or strives with the heart of compassion, what he does will be limitless in strength and correctness. Doing something for one's own sake is shallow and mean and turns into evil.

There are times when a person gets carried away and talks on without thinking much. But this can be seen by observers when one's mind is flippant and lacking truth. After such an occasion it is best to come face to face with the truth and express it. The truth will then be arrived at in one's own heart too. Even when greeting someone lightly, one should consider the circumstances and after deliberation speak in a way that will not injure the person's feelings.

A Jedi must be careful not to become more and more prideful if he gains a little understanding. Doing so may make him think he knows his own limits and weak points. However, it is difficult to truly know one's own limits and weak points.

Covetouness, anger, and foolishness are things to sort out well. When bad things happen in the world, if you look at them comparatively, they are not unrealated to these three things. Looking comparatively at the good things, you will see they are not excluded from wisdom, humanity and bravery.

A person who knows but a little will put on an air of knowledge. This is a matter of inexperience. When someone knows something well, it will not be seen in his manner, this person is genteel.

When you are listening to the stories and legends of other men and the like, you should listen with deep sincerity, even if it's something about which you already know. If in listening to the same thing ten or twenty times it happens that you come to an unexpected understanding, that moment will be very special. Within the tedious talk and legends are the keys to wisdom and insights.

If a Jedi will just think about what he is to do for the day at hand, he will be able to do anything. If it is a single day's work, one should be able to put up with it. Tomorrow, too, is but a single day.

There is nothing so painful as regret. We would all like to be without it. However, when we are very happy and become elated, or when we habitually jump into something thoughlessly, later we are distraught, and it is for the most part becuase we did not think ahead and are now regretful. Certainly we should try not to become dejected, and when very happy should calm our minds.

To ask when you already know is politness. To ask when you don't know is the rule.

The essentials of speaking are not in speaking at all. If you think that you can finish something without speaking, finish it without saying a word. If there is something that cannot be accomplished without speaking, one should speak with few words, in a way that will accord well with reason. To open one's mouth indiscriminately brings shame, and there are many times when people will turn their backs on such a person.

To be anxious is to be worried about some uncertain event or matter. It is not unnatural for a person to become anxious over the future, and it is easy to become overly anxious about the future, as it is always in motion and difficult to see. It is also a simple matter to become anxious about the Dark Side, since its paths are clouded from our view. However, anxiety over the future or the Dark Side (and those who follow its paths) is easily converted into fear. Fear is the beginning of the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

a Jedi must always remember that the actions he takes in the here and now will affect the future, perhaps drastically altering it. A Jedi must carefully consider all possible outcomes of whatever action he takes. While others blunder through life without contemplating the Will of the Force, a Jedi must always be mindful of this, and act so that its purposes are fulfilled.

A Jedi must not spend so much time meditating on potential outcomes and possible futures that he loses sight of why he is making the choice. Too much time spent contemplating what could be will cause the Jedi to miss an opportunity to act. And to not act is sometimes worse than to act wrongly.

The "Jedi Ethics" of Defense

Self-defense according to the Jedi must always comply with certain ethical imperatives. These are many and complex, but for our purposes we have devised situations.

In these situations, each situation represents an ethical level of combat. The level rises as we proceed from situation A to situation D. Each situation consists of two men. The man on the left is the Jedi. The man on the right is any other person one might come across.

In situation A, the Jedi on the left, without provocation and on his own initiative, attacks the other man and kills him. Ethically, this is the lowest of the four levels-unprovoked aggression in the form of a direct attack.

In situation B, the Jedi does not directly attack the other man, but provokes the other man to attack him. It may have been an obvious provocation, such as an insulting remark or the more subtle provocation of a contemptuous attitude. In either case, when the other man is invited to attack and does so, he is killed. While the Jedi is not guilty of launching the actual attack, he is responsible for inciting the other man to attack. There is only a shade of difference ethically between situation A and situation B.

In situation C, the Jedi neither attacks nor provokes the other man to attack. But, when attacked he defends himself in a subjective manner, i.e., he takes care of only "number one," and the other man is killed or at least seriously injured. Ethically this is a more defensible action than the other two. The Jedi was in no way responsible for the attack, neither directly nor indirectly. His manner of defense, however, while protecting himself from possible harm, resulted in the destruction of another life form. AS you can see the result in all three situations- A, B, and C- is identical: A MAN IS KILLED.

In situation D, we have the ultimate in ethical self-defense. Neither attacking nor provoking an attack, the Jedi is attacked. Though he defends himself in such a way, with such skill and control that the attacker is not killed. And in this case he is not even seriously injured. Yet the attacker knows that he will get nowhere by attacking except to sooner or later hurt himself.

This last and highest level is the goal of all Jedi self-defense arts. It requires skill: the result of intensive practice of the technical means of defense devised by the Jedi. But it requires more than that! It requires an ethical intention. A Jedi must sincerely desire to defend himself without killing others. A Jedi's goal is to protect life. He must be well on the way toward integration of mind, body, force, of physical means and ethical motives. He will often have practiced various other disciplines. Breathing exercises and mediation are common means employed in the Jedi academy to further this integration?

As we see then, at this ethical level, Jedi's emerge as disciples of Coordination, where a Jedi develops his own coordination of mind and body while helping his partner or partners to develop theirs as well. The practice of the Jedi then becomes a harmonious interaction between two or more people, fulfilling all Jedi's intention via translation of the highest ethics into vital and active modes of conduct.

Patience

Patience is a virtue all Jedi should learn; I cannot stress this enough. It is one of the first things you will learn, and one of the most important. If a Jedi is not patient, with his studies and with others, then the pull of the Dark Side increases. You want things quicker and easier, which is the way of the Dark Side.

Many a Jedi have fallen because they believe that their Master is not teaching them as much as they need. They believe they are ready for more knowledge and tests, when in reality they forsake the most important lessons. You must work diligently on the lessons your Master gives you. Explore, learn, and discover every facet of the lesson; master it. Continue to do this through- out your training. You will be presented with more lessons as the time presents itself. A Jedi must also be patient with others. Let us use an example: You are on a basketball, or football team. The coach is giving you a new play. It seems simple to you; you quickly learn it and perform it well.

There is another player on the team who cannot get it. Every time you run through the play he makes a mistake- he just cannot seem to learn it. Now, you have a choice. You may choose to be angry with him and yell at him for not getting it right. Or, you may be patient with him, and try to help him understand it. I suggest you choose the latter. This way he'll probably understand it, you won't be angry, and you will have learned patience. Not to mention that the play will probably work better.

You see, if you are patient with others, they will have a higher respect for you and a better opinion of you. You will have more friends, and strong friendships. You will also see things from their point of view, and you can benefit others. They can also help you on troubles you have. This begins to teach other virtues: Unity and teamwork.

Be patient in every thing you do.