The Jedi Path has its own DNA
Appropriation and Force Realism
The mythological and stylistic influences in Star Wars media are many and varied. In films and television, there have been homages to Samurai movies, Westerns, Heist films, Kaiju battles, Police procedurals, pulp noir, mysteries, most famously, Saturday matinée serials, and many more. Star Wars as a genre is so adaptable, that nearly any genre can feel at home in Star Wars.
One of the reasons the classic films are so timeless is that the themes, along with the spirituality is universal. When Lucas was conceiving what would become Star Wars and the Force, he looked at religions and indigenous beliefs around the world, and found that all of them talked about a sort of “life energy”. In one form or another and some even referred to it as the Force. When Star Wars came out in 1977, nearly every religion saw its beliefs reflected in the cinema spirituality surrounding the Force. I remember once as a kid, seeing a book at a library book sale called “The Force of Star Wars” that was about the Christian analogies in Star Wars. Another book I read that was instrumental in how I conceive the Jedi Path is “The Dharma of Star Wars” which talks about the Buddhist lessons in Star Wars films, especially in the depiction of the Jedi. (My early thoughts on attachment were inspired by this text).
The Force, at least in early media was pretty vague. A hazy mirror anyone could see a reflection. This was intentional. Borrowing heavily from the work of Joseph Campbell, who posits that stories and mythology have consistent forms and structures across cultures. This is discussed at length in the Power of Myth, and a Hero With a Thousand Faces. Campbell’s Jungian philosophy, (and hence Lucas’ story) often divorces these motifs from their cultural origin and context. While in the realm of academics such as Campbell, this can be harmful, but in the case of a new mythology and metaphysics to exist in a fictional setting in a “galaxy far, far away” this may be appropriate. In the almost 50 years since 1977 the mythology of Star Wars life of its own, along with a system of metaphysics, with still some mystery to it.
“Force Realism” is an umbrella term that covers what we do here at the Jedi Path Academy. Putting the lessons and philosophy of Star Wars into real-life applications. While we center on the Jedi aspects of this, some construct workable Sith Philosophy or Mandalorian Practices, and even some more obscure sects in the Star Wars Galaxy have reconstructions in real life.
Lucas did borrow from many extant concepts and philosophies while creating Star Wars, and other creators have added to this after his retirement. But it is important to realize that these real-world philosophies and spiritual beliefs are not just taken one-for-one and placed in Star Wars. They are transformed into something new that works in the context of this invented world. Jedi non-attachment is not just Buddhist philosophy on attachment with the serial numbers filed off. It is adapted in the films to serve the story of the Jedi and the fall of Anakin Skywalker, and further adapted by people like me to make a workable practice in the context of the Jedi Path. While it shares some similarities, it is different. It would have served this community better, had I made the link and similarity to Buddhist thought more clearly in my writing in the past, but I hope I address this oversight with this essay.
This brings us to the topic of appropriation. The Real Life Jedi community is now around 25 years old. It had its start on websites and message boards in the late 90s around the time of the theatrical release of the Original Trilogy’s Special Editions in 1997 and the release of The Phantom Menace in 1999. It really began to gain steam with the Jedi Census Phenomenon where British Commonwealth countries tried to get “Jedi” recognized as a religion on the Census. Soon little bits of wisdom and practice that would start on site would migrate to others, be published in curriculum and books with its origins lost to time if not for the work of “Jedi Historians” who have documented the evolution of the Jedi Path as we know it today. The thing is, the practice of taking something extant in other cultures and traditions and repackaging it as “Jedi” has also been with us from the very beginning, often without attribution. Passed off as someone’s original work or seen as something in the public domain, and copied and redistributed among Jedi and other Force Realists. This “filing off the serial numbers and slapping “Jedi’ on it” kind of practice.
I have seen this quite a lot in my many years as a real-life Jedi. I once bought a book on Amazon that was basically the Tao Te Ching, where they did a search and replaced of “The Tao” with “The Force” and “The Sage” with “The Jedi”. A popular Jedi site has as its creed a modified version of a Catholic prayer, where “Lord make me” is elided and replaced with “I am a Jedi”. There are “Jedi Breathing meditations” lifted from Buddhist and Yoga practices. There are “Force Exercises” taken from Qigong and Tai Chi. This not only does a disservice to the originating cultures and practices, it is downright lazy. Not only is it lazy, it is unnecessary.
We have nearly 50 years of Star Wars Media and nearly 25 years of real-life Jedi tradition and study. We do not have to lift whole cloth ideas and practices from other cultures and practices. While we can be inspired by, we can also transform and recontextualize to Force Realism new ideas and new practices consistent with Star Wars metaphysics and philosophy that have benefit and utility for our paths in application. Force Realism is such a new spiritual/philosophical movement, that we should create new things for it.
Putting my money where my mouth is, I have taken it upon myself to create a divination method specifically for Force Realists. I created this for people to have a way to discern the “will of the Force” without appropriating something from another culture or practice. Common divination methods include Tarot, the I-Ching, Runes, Ogham, Tea Leaves, and many others. While I have found some of these useful for divinatory practices I wanted to create something specifically for Force Realism inspired by mythological archetypes found in Star Wars media.
It is called the Mortis Oracle, inspired by the 3 episode “Mortis Arc” in the third season of The Clone Wars. It utilizes the Archetypes of the Mortis Gods, The Father, Daughter, and Son to represent the Force’s relationship to the query, and the Archetypes of the Master, Knight, and Apprentice to represent the self in relation to the query. The 6 Archetypes are randomly placed into one of 5 “realms of Mortis” representing different aspects of light, darkness, and balance. The oracular reading is a combination of where the pieces are placed in the Realms of Mortis and the relationships between them as depicted in the Mortis Arc.
The Mortis Arc and the two-episode arc in Star Wars Rebels with the Lothal Temple and the World Between Worlds are rich with mythological symbolism. They are much like mythic tales of travels into the otherworld, where the rules are different than the world we know. I was once told that the cards of the Tarot actually tell a story, so I thought the story of our heroes traveling to Mortis could be a framework for a divination method.
It is currently in the testing phase of development, and it works mechanically, as for the oracular efficacy, time will tell. I am keeping everything in a journal so that I can refer to it later, and see if any patterns emerge. Even though it is my creation, I am learning how it works, how to use it, and what it has to tell me. Hopefully, before too long it will be ready to be given to the wider Force Realist community. A gift from me to the community.
So this is an example, of being inspired by older traditions, but making something new, drawing from the powerful mythic motifs of Star Wars media, and not needing to take something else and just call it Jedi with surface modification. I think we as a community need to step up and create, truly create things for our paths. Some of you already have, and for that I am grateful While our influences are many, the Jedi Path is its own thing. It is unique. The Jedi Path has its own DNA.
