Swordsman?

Here's the final post from my old Jedi Life blog.

Hello friends. I wanted to say a thing or two about something that I think the majority of Orders and individual Jedi out there are getting wrong. They're stressing, or at least placing great value on, sword training. 

When was the last time you heard about a murder with a Scottish claymore? How about a mugging with a rapier? I venture to say never. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I fail to see the practicality behind training to fight with a sword. Yes, there are certain benefits (mainly, however, if learned in an actual school/dojo). Martial arts training teaches you disciplineD gives you self confidence, etc. I'll give you that. Sure, you'll even be able to grab a convient—or maybe not so convinient, more than likely—closet clothing rod dowel or such an implement and defend yourself. Yeeeah ok.

Why don't we focus on learning to use tools that we may actualy USE someday. For example, I have no problems with "stickfighting." Buy again, that brings up the concern that your weapon will never be around when you need it.

What's the solution? Learning to use a tactical telescopic baton. You can get one that's at least two feet long. This is much shorter than most swords out there. Is the baton a practical defense tool? Yes. Is it able to be reasonably carried on your person at any and all times? You betchya! If you want to learn the cool blocks, attacks, all that kind of stuff, do it in a way that you can actually use.

Please, Jedi Orders out there laying such an emphasis on sword training, think about what you're doing! You're teaching a skill to our Jedi that they will never be able to put into use, and you're giving them a false of security. I gave up learning and teaching the sword a long time ago in order to learn and teach an actually practical skillset. Maybe it's time you do too?

Mastery Over Emotion

Here's another recreation of a post I made back in 2010. I'm going to leave any perspective reader with these for a day or two because I have one more post to add and it's a bit more controversial so I hope you enjoy reading my old posts and I'll be back to post more soon.  

Let me just say first of all, don't expect me to be popping out three or four posts a day, because it likely won't happen. I just have some things to share and now that I have this blog, I have an outlet to share them.
So, let's go into mastery over emotions. This is going to be very important for multiple aspects of Jedi work later on. Whether you're a brand new aspiring Jedi, an intermediate like myself, or a salty old veteran of our Community, I hope you can benefit in some way from what I have to say.
Emotions can be good and bad. I'm not necessarily referring to the obvious that that there are positive (happiness, love, humor) and negative (anger, hatred, depression) emotions. What I mean by good and bad emotions is the fact that an emotional response to a given situation can be good, or it lead to good consequences or it can lead to bad consequences.
Again, emotional mastery is a skill that comes in handy in a wide variety of everyday situations, not just bein a Jedi. Those are the kind of lessons I like to teach. Here is my personal view on how to attain mastery over your emotions:
Step 1. Meditation. The old cliche tells us that before you can know anything else, you must first know yourself. Meditation can be done anytime. A split second taken by breathing in and out can replace a split second which produces an angry response. Full meditation, for however long you can, is also important. Identify your hot buttons. This can be done both in quiet meditation as well as out in the field, your daily life. Knowing what emotional response you'll likely have to a given situation is the first step in learning how to control those responses.
Step 2. Practice. That's right, I'm going to make this a simple two-step process. Why? You only need two steps, learning and applying. There are several ways to apply what you've learned. First of all, as I mentioned earlier, breath. When you realize that you're about to have a (negative) emotional response, take a breath. I know this is corny advice, and everyone says it. But it really can work. Another method is to repeatedly tell yourself not to respond in that fashion. Whatever works best for you, <i>calm down</i>, <i>dude shut up</i>, they're your own thoughts so you can tell yourself whatever you want. The last is when you're in a group of friends, people who are close to you. They can realize when you're about to explode and try to calm you down.
All in all, this will take a lot of practice. I've been trying for years, and I'm nowhere close. Find what works for you, stick with it, and progress. That's really the best advice I can give you on this subject.

Recruiting Jedi

You know, it's funny. I literally just posted this exact information (obviously not written the same way) at IJRS under a thread titled "Jedi Recruiting". It's strange how things work together like that. The Force works in mysterious ways, my friends. So here is my original post entitled "Grassroots Networking"

So tonight I wanna talk a little about networking and organization. I'm watching a video on the subject made by a survival expert and I started thinking about developing Jedi networks. However, this skill doesn't come in handy only for Jedi use. It can be used for survival preparation, and I use it almost daily when gathering information from the "grapevine" (I wish to become a member of the intelligence community later in life). The principles I discuss here can be used whenever a community of trust needs to be developed.
So first of all, I'll lay out the 4-step procedure taught by the CIA.
1. Spot.  This first phase is simply looking for people who may be interested in the Jedi (or may already be Jedi). Self-defense schools, gyms, New Age bookstores, these people may be anywhere. This phase is solely in finding people whom you may want to get to know. Remember in the first step not to "judge a book by its cover," you never know who might be a good candidate. For example, I have several offline friends who used to be Army Special Forces whom I never would have guessed their past occupations.
2. Assess.  After you've found someone who seems like a good choice, start finding out if they actually would make a good Jedi. Asses their character, their reliability, and if they are trustworthy. An important consideration is, would they be interested in being a Jedi? Oftentimes people don't think about this. If they likely wouldn't like being a Jedi, best not to approach them. Again, remember that you can't judge a book by its cover, but you could hopefully get a pretty good reading on them. If they're not likely to be interested in the Jedi, but they would make a great Jedi, and you go ahead and tell them about the Jedi and what we do, things could get awkward between you both.
3. Develop.  Begin building a relationship. Were I teaching how to create an intelligence network, I would say you should make up common ground if you can't find any, but that's not a viable option as a Jedi. Find common interests, take part in common activities, etc. Get to know the person, and become their friend. Build trust. You need to show genuine interest in all aspects of their life, such as family and personal problems, not just the skill sets they posses. Lastly, begin dropping "hints" into conversation. Approach "Jedi topics" when talking (making sure to do so subtly), gauge interest, etc.
4. Recruit.  If you've reached this step with the subject, congratulations. Now come out and explain to them what the Jedi are. Ask them if they're interested. But don't be pushy. If they shut you down, drop it. Remember that you can always try again later, but by this point you should be able to be able to read the person and determine if you can try the issue any farther. At this point, if they say no, you shouldn't have any social repercussions to fear as you should be able to trust the person, and look on the bright side: you've made a close friend!
To tie this all together, let me answer the question some of you (and even myself, a bit) are probably asking. Why did I just take up a page of text teaching Jedi how to create a circle of trust? For multiple reasons. First of all, this can be used for many aspects of life, not just being a Jedi.
For the time being, at least, the Jedi Order is not an accepted group. Being a Jedi is something of a social faux pas. Most of us don't choose to run around proclaiming to the world "I'm a Jedi!!!" For now, we need to be careful of whom we tell that to. It could lead to, more our less, our social downfall.
Another benefit of this trust-circle based approach is just that. You'll have a trust circle. I would prefer to be able to pick and choose the Jedi that I know, the people I bring into the Order. And if there's ever an emergency situation, I would much rather be able to work with people I know, trust and have trained with for such incidences.
The last is possibly the most important reason of them all. This is one possibility for taking our Order into the Real World. Small, centralized Jedi "cells," if you will. Each "cell" will eventually combine with another "cell," building a network of Jedi. These networks will develop into their own Orders or geographical divisions of an Order. Once offline, they can begin working on important elements such as funding and a somewhat formalized curricula.
I'll probably talk about it at some point, but learn psychology. Learn to read people, find out what they're thinking, etc. I promise, you will benefit from that knowledge in all facets of your everyday life.

Intro

Hello all. My name is Dogan Nar. I've been a member off and on of the Jedi Path for almost exactly a decade at the time of this writing. The Jedi Life is a blog that I started back in December 2010. I since have lost the login details so I am recreating it here. The first few posts that I make will simply be reposting what I posted back in 2010 (and I will do so in their entirety--even if they no longer fully represent my views as a Jedi).

So as I mentioned before, I was off and on with the Path. I left sometime in 2011 or 2012 from the Path for several years until making a return in January of this year. I've been reconnecting with old friends and mentors throughout the community. I've undertaken training at the Institute for Jedi Realist Studies. I'm very happy to be a part of the community once again.

I've had a bit of an identity crises since returning. I described myself in my last introduction post as "...more or less a self-titled Jedi Knight (I achieved this title at the main Order where I studied and it has been recognized by the majority of my colleagues." Where I'm training, I consider myself an intro-level student. It isn't about that. Its more my own sense of identity, how I see myself. Am I still a Knight, or has my absence dulled my knowledge level? I suppose that will been seen as time passes. 

Anyways. This blog wass created as a place for me to come and pass off things that I've learned along the way, both in the past as well as in this new iteration of my Jedi Path. The topics will range from Jedi-related to non-Jedi related, but useful for Jedi as well.

I hope you learn a thing or two, please don't hesitate to leave a comment on anything. I'm all for discussion on anything that I post here, in fact I could argue that it's the entire reason that I post here. Enjoy!

May the Force be with you, always.