Thinking on the topic of a dilemma proposed in Shatterpoint about Geonisis(sp?). Mace Windu and Bilaba argue over whether the Jedi should have sacrificed their morals, ethics and values for the sake of the greater good by dropping a bomb on Geonisis instead of saving Obi-wan, Anakin, and Padme. Mace Windu argued against, while his student argued in favor.

By the end of the Book, Mace decides that the Jedi Path is right to have these morals and values. And that sacrificing them would be against the Will of the Force.

In a discussion with someone recently, it was pointed out that Morals and Ethics can paralyze justice from being carried out. It’s not the first time I’ve heard such an argument. In fact I had a similar fight with a person I still consider a brother (I guess you could say estranged now) who wanted to curse a person that frequents the Force Realist community (no, I’m not naming them, you can have your suspicions though! XD).

Morals, Ethics, and Values are all at the center of a social environment. The stronger a group holds to them, they more likely it is for the new people entering into the social environment to fall into line with them- in turn building a more harmonic community.

Of course, like different forms of music, what sounds pleasing to one person might not be pleasing to another. For example, some people do not find the harmony in Hip-Hop to be a pleasing form of music, and instead choose the harmonic cords of classical music. Harmony of morals, ethics and values are as varied as the Harmony of different musical genres- perhaps even moreso. And just like music, when you step outside of those harmonic cords, it creates a disfunction within the community. One that may or may not be necessary for a community to grow.

The question Mace Windu and Bilaba engage in, is whether or not the Jedi of the fiction need to disrupt the harmonic chord of the Jedi in order to push them to evolve into a force needed to correct the flow of the Republic (the larger community they serve).

What’s beautiful about the Prequel and Original Trilogies, is that it tells us something maybe unconsidered unless you read this book:

It’s not the morals, ethics or values that the Force “willed” out of existence. It was the Stanza of a Jedi Organization that had stopped being useful.

So when I look back at the conversation with my estranged brother, and even look upon the fact that this person he wanted to curse is still doing the things that caused him to want to lash out at them, I’m reminded that it’s not the Ethics of Defense, Respect the Law and Action, and the Values of Positive Regard and Compassion that are the problem (all things which support the position that Jedi do not use curse work). Standing by these things does not mean the Jedi are dysfunctional in the face of darkness, it means that we still have a ways to go before the community can discover how these same principles can be applied wisely in support of keeping harmony within the Jedi Community, and spreading it to our individual communities we each engage in. But that’s okay, we’re barely a quarter of a century along these discussions of what makes Jedi Jedi.

The Jedi Gathering is coming up soon and we're very excited to see old friends and meet new faces! Register in the link below 👇👇👇

https://jedifederation.org/Event/international-jedi-gathering-2024/

I got my stationary bike yesterday and I love it. :D
#PhysicalArt

Working on updating my Voter's Awareness curriculum. It's interesting to see how much information I'm adding to it after I created it some 7 years ago XD