Kate Solusar’s Holocron

As many of you might know, I regularly visit other, related sites with a similar theme.  It’s a way for me to keep an ear to the ground so to speak and often times I learn something that helps me in my own study, training and walking this path in my personal life.  Opie Wan MacLeod wrote a brief reflection at his site, Jedi Academy Online, that really gave me pause.  It resonates very much with my own personal experience and understanding since I chose this path publicly almost three years ago.  He wrote about his own view of Master Qui-Gon Jinn’s comment to Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, “Training to become a Jedi is not an easy task, and even if you succeed, it is a hard life.”  Opie Wan goes on to discuss the truth of this statement in his own life.  I agree with much of what he says, but have an alternate view as well.  I chose to become a Jedi to make my already difficult personal life and circumstances more manageable.  My study, my training, my daily practice of seeking and living in accordance with what I sense the will of the Force is in my day to day and the discipline doing so that has instilled in me has made a great and positive difference and impact not only on my own personal life and outlook, but on all I encounter.   Is it challenging?  Yes.  But it has been so worthwhile.  I have finally been able to name, understand, and actually come to terms with my empathic abilities and all that entails.  I now have a perspective that has enabled me to understand and see where I have used these abilities and skills before and how I use them now.  Most importantly for me, I now have a moral and practical framework and construct to work from and within to channel them appropriately, for the higher good, in love and service to others.

It has been my experience that, at least for me, choosing to be a Jedi is not an either/or experience, but rather a both/and experience.   I am married with a family.  I do not see or experience any conflict with my walking and living the Jedi way and being in such a relationship.  My love for my husband and family is non-possessive.  I love them for who they are and as they are.  My first response at the birth of both of my children was for the grace to love them enough to let them go and grow.  Give them roots, yes, but let them develop and use their wings too.   The practice of nonattachment is a process, a healthy and necessary developmental part of life for all individuals.  And, for certain, the Star Wars saga, particularly the prequels, illustrates the effects of not honoring this basic aspect of sentient development on the Jedi Order in the Old Republic.  However, I cannot imagine that governing my emotions and circumscribing my passion as stated in the Code mean that I not relate to or invest myself fully and openly to the full range of human experience.  Even Master Yoda finally conceded that Force-sensitive children might be better served by growing up with their families, rather than being taken from them at an early age to live at the Jedi Temple (cf. Revenge of the Sith).  It is more about being faithful to our calling as Jedi, as servants of the light and of the Force, by living our best lives, in accordance with our most basic beliefs, in the Code and in the Padawan’s Oath (see Ashla’s academy for the texts) in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

So what does living this mean for me right now, today?  Well, I have been online much less these days because I have started my own small, part time business.  I clean houses while my children are at school and I do so for a small number of clients who struggle with difficult circumstances, such as disability, or hoarding, or juggling more than one job to make ends meet.   Yes, I am compensated for my work, but I still view it as a service, a way to make a difference, while helping my own family to meet expenses these days.  It’s very hard work and has been physically demanding at times, but it serves to augment my physical training, bringing that part of my practice into more focus and balance.  I have seen the difference in the peace of mind my clients feel as a result of the improved order in their house and lives and the sense that they can put their focus, care and concern in other areas of their lives.   I also read a wonderful article, The Point Within a Circle, by Bruce E. Nevin, in my husband’s Freemasonry magazine, The Trowel, which gave a wonderful lesson in geometry and philosophy about human nature and our interactions within ourselves, between each other, and with our environment.   The article’s main point is that independence is an illusion; it is autonomy, mastery of our personal boundaries, that makes it possible to relate well with others.  The article discusses how to skillfully navigate and understand our differences by choosing to develop a sense of perspective that bridges an either/or mentality, instead of taking sides, which results in polarization, which makes it much more difficult to resolve.  This article resonated very deeply within my heart, mind and spirit in a way that only magnifies my personal call as a walker of the Jedi way to bringing peace and serenity to all I encounter within my sphere of influence.  It is why I have chosen to respectfully sidestep the personal and political conflicts, in our communities online, within my extended family, and particularly all the polarization that is rampant in presidential election politics, that have been endemic in these trying times.  I believe that it is even more imperative that we who walk the Jedi way be the light that others are searching for in these days, and to not contribute to the darkness (of negativity, dissension, difficulty, and doubt) without by adding the darkness we carry within ourselves.  Let us choose to live our best lives, in harmony with our basic beliefs and practices as Jedi, within our current circumstances every day.

May the Force be with us all.