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AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's

AllFaith Community Worship:
Sundays at 2 PM Eastern.

Welcome to AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's AllFaith Community Worship! This is a community service for all people of the Light. We invite your participation and contributions. Let us know if you would like to share a spiritual song or poem.

Greetings, friends!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Today, Sunday, May 4th, is Star Wars Day (May the Force Be With You).

You may think Star Wars is just another science fiction franchise, but there is more to it than that.

Star Wars was created as a Western in Space, as what 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' wished it could have been but lacked the technology. But the spiritual side of the Force has permeated our culture and religious understandings.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi explained to Luke Skywalker in A New Hope:

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together," Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Luke Skywalker in A New Hope (Link).

According to the Star Wars mythology, the Jedi are the guardians of peace, justice, and civilization. They use the Light Side of the Force for selfless purposes and battle the Dark Side of the Force, used by the evil Sith Lords, for good. The idea is timeless. The Jedi Knights may be conceived as the defenders of goodness in all cultures throughout time and space. As a metaphor, they are the sages and prophets from all traditions who uphold righteousness and safeguard personal freedom. Those who study prophecy today understand that a remnant still stands in the way of evil. This is not a coincidence. In the original films, as in Obi Wan's explaination, we find that evil has decimated the numbers of the failthful knights, and yet a remnant still stand. The parellels are everywhere.

Luke Skywalker asks Obi Wan, "How did my father die?" Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi replies, "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.

This mythic story makes for good science fiction, but what it teaches is the truth contained in all the religions of light. There is good and there is evil. Human beings make one of three choices: They stand for the Light, they stand against the Light, or they are apathetic and try to avoid the conflict. In the Tao Te Ching, which we are currently discussing on Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern, it is said:

The Tao gives birth to the One.
The One gives birth to the Two.
The Two give birth to the Three.
The Three give birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things [or everything] arise from Yin and Yang.
Together, they harmonize all that is.

Both Yin and Yang are essential for dualistic material life. Both spring from the One. Harmonizing these powers is the Way of Return, the Way of Tao, the Way of the Force.

Buddha's Middle Way teaching encourages us all to find balance and return to our centers, to Tao, or as we would say, to God. What is done in harmony with the One causes no Karmic reaction, because although doing, we do nothing. Tao, conceived by our culture as God, is the Origin, the Doer, and the Destination. By utilizing the powers of Nature in harmony with God, everything works properly and there is balance, which is Shanti, Shalom, or Peace. This lesson has been taught to our generation through the original Star Wars movies.

Have you watched one of the new movies or shows since the Globalist firm Disney bought the franchise? Although the distinction between the two sides of the Force was once as clear as the Western adage about who wears white and black hats, the message is now bringing in confusion and blurring the distinction. This tells you all you need to know! The Globalists conceal their real agendas and fight against the Light Side, just like Darth Sidious, Emperor Palpatine, and Darth Vader. Such confusion is not the way of the Force, not the Way of Tao, not the Way of One God. But it is that we as a society are going. As a culture, we are embracing the Dark Side and the franchise that once warned against doing this is now leading the way to Dark Side.

This this is an exageration? Did you know there is a Star Wars Religion in the UK? Sort of.

In England and Wales, Jediism, a religion based on the mythology and mysticism of Star Wars, applied for legal recognition, basing its tenets on the teachings of Jedi Master Yoda, the Force, and related spiritual teachings gatehred from around the world. In the UK's 2001 Census, 390,127 people - or 0.7% of the population - described their religion as Jedi. Despite this, the UK Charity Commission rejected the attempt, saying the Temple of the Jedi Order's application for charitable status did not 'meet the requirements for charitable law purposes, as it didn't promote moral or ethical improvement.'

At the time, I tried to help them establish the Order theologically, convinced that with proper guidance, the idea had merit and potential. The Temple of the Jedi Order awarded me the title of Jediism Knight Monsignor, but they lacked the drive to move forward with the idea so it never materialized. Despite this, the essential principles of Jediism are completely legitimate as they incorporate the essential principles of Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism in Yoda modern spiritual ethos that, properly presented, would have been very attractive to many people.

Jediism Knight Monsignor John of AllFaith OCP

Star Wars Made Me This Way!

I played a role in the hit Star Wars Fan Film, Star Wars Made Me This Way. I played Jedi Jar Jar at the very end of the film:



Link to the fan film

According to the 2011 UK census data, more people than you probably expect consider themselves Jedi Temple adherents:

Oh well....

Consider:

When Padawan Ganodi struggled to find her kyber crystal in the caves on Ilum in The Clone Wars, she called upon the Force to calm her frustrations. When Force users center themselves and succumb to the direction of the energy field, they can find what they're looking for—in this case, it was literal. This quote reminds us that using the Force is like trusting your instincts and trusting that there is a greater power or force that us in the world.

Luke Skywalker had problems following Yoda's guidance in The Empire Strikes Back. He didn't fully put his faith in the Force and only saw limitations. When he didn't believe he could lift his X-wing out of the swamps of Dagobah, Yoda schooled him on the Force. The Jedi Master showed Luke that having the Force on your side makes things like size and strength inconsequential.

Maz admits she's no Jedi, but the pirate is knowledgeable about the Force. She wasn't a Jedi, but she was Force-sensitive. Maz explained the Force to Rey in The Force Awakens and made it sound like a loyal friend who has always been by Rey's side. I like to imagine the constant presence guiding Rey throughout her lonely days on Jakku.

Giving in to fear and anger is all too easy; it's one reason the Dark Side is such a dangerous temptation for all Force users and why, today in the real world, the Globalists are altering the balance in their favor. Likewise, consider how so many of today's cowardly religious leaders are standing firmly on the wrong side of the spiritual equation.

However, understand that fear is weak, compared to the Light Side of the Force. Demons flee from the Light once it is kindled by brave Masters of Faith. But where is the Remnant?

Kanan realized this in Star Wars Rebels when he fought the Grand Inquisitor. The Imperial enemy tried to use fear against Kanan, but he was unstoppable once the former Jedi realized the Force could overcome anything. So too is a person who awakens to the power of faith! Is this not the potent spiritual reminder we need today?

Those who saw the Jedi defeated during the Clone Wars had a hard time believing in the effectiveness of the Force, but consider that Grand Moff Tarkin was in that camp by the time A New Hope rolled around. He doubted Darth Vader's instincts about Obi-Wan still being alive, and Vader had to point out the value and reach of the Force to him.

Han Solo didn't always believe in the Force. He was an apethetic con artist who thought only of himself. But that changed after he took a job transporting the two strangers to Alderaan! Even though he didn't understand the ins and outs of using the cosmic energies of the Force, he knew enough to school Finn about how the Force didn't work.

There is no greater power than Faith in One God, however conceived. Emunah, shrada, but whatever name, faith is the greatest power in the universe because it draws it strength and guidence from the One God.

My Point: I am not advocating that anyone embrace Jediism, nor that it should be accepted as a religion, but the Force is real, however defined. Think of it as the power of the Ruach HaKedsh or Holy Spirit, or Yin and Yang achieving Tao, as the Prana of the Kundalini being released, or whatever works best for you, but Divine Power permeates the Multiverse and is available to each of us. As said in Star Wars, using it is our destiny! As we discussed in this week's Spiritual Ascension class on the Tao Te Ching:

As we go from birth to death.
Three out of ten follow life.
Three out of ten follow death.
The rest who rush from birth to death
They also are three out of ten.
Why is that so?
Because they want to make too much of life.

Everyone uses this Power in one of three ways. The Sanatana Dharma describes these as the Triguna, or Three Modes of Material Nature. People either use the Force for positive purposes, negative purposes, or in apathy and ignorance. Those who are wise will use the Force to better themselves and the world.



USE THE FORCE!
For Good

What is AllFaith Spirituality?

Never Forget: God is Everywhere!

"Weird Al" Yankovic - The Saga Begins

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US ALL!

Praises and Prayers to God.

Hold all those you would pray for in your heart and release them to GOD for healing and blessing.

May One God hear our prayers and respond favorably to us.

There Is Only One God, Barbara Streisand

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