|
|
| |
|
|
 
|
|
|
It is rather interesting how this quest started out for all of us. Some of us came at different times; Some of us are more experienced Jedi practicing adepts, while others have only stayed for a while. Some have just joined us and have helped take our path to new heights. We came into the legend when we did. The legend of a way, who, among those which thought it was all about entertainment, fun, and games, maintained a different outtake on the whole matter. They saw it as a great tool to help understand and grasp the spiritual world, as well as other worlds we had yet to master as human beings. Philosophies and beliefs, dogmas and creeds that simply couldn't be taken as only fictional ideals. It was this which help start the Jedi Movement as we now know it today.It was during the year 1977 when there came a creative mind that would bring to the world a new inspiration. This mind belonged to a man named George Lucas. His creation was the movie Star Wars (Now known as Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope). This inspiration would yield a realization into the truth of the desires of a vast majority of the world's populace. By combining the knowledge and wisdom of many generations of religious and spiritual understanding, he managed to tap into the aspect of our humanity which craved for adventure, for morale, and most importantly, for greater knowledge of reality itself and our potential. After the releases of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Star Wars: Episode VI Return Of The Jedi in 1983, few, at the time, started to consider the concepts introduced—namely the Force, an all inclusive field of energy that seemed to provide a chosen few with its immense powers—to possess some type of correspondence to real life, while others simply choose to view it as nothing more than primitive Science Fiction. Nearly two decades after the release of Star Wars, those who found motivation through those movies have come to emulate the symbol of spirtuality termed 'Jedi,' the guardians of peace and justice.
It started rather simple at first. The conception of Star Wars began to spread out from within the movie structure, planting itself into books, PC games, and Special Edition collector's items. Finally, a few took their interest of Star Wars on the World Wide Web, a great tool we call the Internet. Besides the official Star Wars site, unofficial fanatic sites began to grow in number on the web, while visitors and bystanders flocked to catch glimpse of the paraphernalia they uploaded and maintained on their home pages. As these sites began to grow, others began to create role-playing games online, barrowing from the concepts within the Star Wars universe. RPG sites, as they are known, were created and still are being created to this day.There came a point in which people desired to play Jedi and Sith roles, not just other fictional characters. These people began to flock together and create their own role-playing groups, playing online games and conversing in chat rooms. The first Jedi, as you know them here and at other Jedi websites, originated from these places. It was when a few of them began to see more to a Jedi then just a RPG character, where some fans began to relate most of their life with the fictious Jedi, no matter how fake or childlike they seemed. There was more about the Jedi then fighting with lightsabers or levitating tables and chairs, they percieved. With such realization, some began to believe in a new concept, applying the wisdom in which the fictional Jedi carried within the Star Wars Universe and applying it to their own, realistic lives. These so-called "Jedi" were rejected by many, becoming as outsiders. As they left their small RPG groups in search of a new paradigm, they began soughting to find others like their own. It didn't take long until some did as a few began to create their own websites. Shortly afterwards, a community was born.
As of now, there are eight Jedi websites in existance which are considered to be a vital part of the Jedi Community. From a list of older to more recent: the Jedi Knights of Canada (JKC or JKoC) founded in 1998, the Force Academy (FA) founded in June 1998, the Jedi Temple (JT) founded in 2000, JEDI (JEDI or JO) founded in 2001, the Jedi Consortium (JC) founded in 2001, the Jedi Religion (JR) founded in 2002, the Jedi Mythos (JM) founded in 2003, and the United Jedi Order (UJO) founded in 2003. There have been many other websites which were part of the Jedi Community, yet the JKC, FA, JT, JEDI, JR, JC, JM, and UJO websites are the ones currently active. Out of these, JEDI, UJO and FA are now considered the most active.If you were to simply read the above paragraph, you would hardly get an idea of our history. Besides, our history relates to so many Jedi websites which are not actively existing, as well as other Jedi advancements. In order to truly understand how we came about, one needs to start from the origin of our existance back to 1996-1997. One should also understand the beginning of the current ideals we represent today, which came into existance shortly after the founding of the Force Academy in 1999, generally concidered as the year the Jedi Community was born. The first major Jedi website which came out was the Jedi Academy created by Baal Legato. The Jedi Academy has had many changes yet still goes over many Jedi philosophies. Back in 1996-1997, this was a regular place to visit for those who were interested in analyzing the Jedi ways. Their discussion forum, as before, was one of the most popular forums ever. In 2003, due to problems, it closed. In 1998, there was a smaller website founded which is very signficant to bring up, even though it wasn't very known at the time. This website was called the Jedi Alliance, created by Mitth'raw'nurida. Also during this time, Streen, Mitth'raw'nurida's apprentice, created a website called the Jedi Alliance II. Both of these websites included concepts about the Jedi which were very revolutionary and gave way more detail than Jedi websites beforehand. During this year, there was still not much involvement from the Jedi, since many of them were still in the middle of a transition between RPG and the real world. Mainly due to the expected and promised release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, 1999 was a great year for the advancement of our ways and was the year which created three main groups of Jedi. In the beginning of this year, Mitth'raw'nurida and Streen merged their Jedi Alliance websites together to create what was known as the Jedi Council. Shortly afterwards, Streen recieved a crucial E-mail from Relan Volkum and soon became a member of their group. Sometimes considered as the "big three," Mitth'raw'nurida, Streen, and Relan Volkum, along with the help of Tionne, Winter Heart, and Darth Scorn, updated the website to be one of the greatest advances in our small Jedi history. The Jedi Academy had also morphed into a new look, noticing Jedi greats such as Deean Kett and Hellflower Ryu. It was during the middle of 1999 when Relan Volkum and Streen went together and began to come up with ideals which are now being practiced today by this website and many other Jedi websites, especially the ideal of uniting all the Jedi groups together and creating a Jedi Community. On June 19, 1999, the Force Academy was created by Andrew Watson (also known as the "Force Master") and is still considered one of largest and biggest contributer to studies of the Force, bringing together followers of the Light side, the Dark side, and the Shadow side. The Jedi concept was greatly expanding at this period of time, which is seen as the "awakening" stage for Jedi in the real world. The date though to remember has to be August 6th, 1999. This is a very, very signficant date to many Jedi websites today, including the Jedi Temple, the Jedi United, and JEDI; if it wasn't for this date, these websites may not be in existance or as known as they are known today. It was on this date when Mitth'raw'nurida, Relan Volkum, and Streen formed the great and mythic Jedi Creed website. With Mitth's skill in webmastery and understanding Jedi concepts from Star Wars, Relan's skill in summarizing Jedi spiritual concepts and philosophy, and Streen's skill in Jedi learning experience and Jedi website awareness, the Jedi Creed became a place where many great and well-known Jedi today learned from. It began to expand on the as a realistic group which could, indeed, be practiced in the real world. The term Jedi Realism came from this idea. Together, the Jedi Academy, the Force Academy, and the Jedi Creed (also representing smaller websites, such as the Jedi Praxeum, the Jedi of the New Millennium, and others), created what is known as the Jedi Community. Ideals, though, soon reached new heights in 2000. Many concepts which Relan Volkum and Streen wasn't able to include in the Jedi Creed soon made advancement to other projects, such as ideas of an actual training facility for Jedi and creating portals to connect the Jedi Community together. These advancements were soon presented in a temporary group called the United Jedi Council (held by Relan Volkum, Streen, Shinobi, Mitth'raw'nurida, Winter Heart, Gedi, and Jae), starting off the 2000 year. This is where the familar Jedi symbol (as show in the picture above) was created by Relan Volkum and has been presented throughtout the years, including this website. This group, sadly, turned out to be a failure due to lack of participation. Because of this, Relan Volkum and Streen decided to split off for a while and do two seperate projects at the same time. Relan Volkum, early in 2000, founded what was called the Jedi United in response to the coming of the new millennium using the phrase "Unity is the Key" as his mantra. Streen, on the other hand, began to help other websites, and is known as to have given a group called the Jedi Temple a new look and order for founder John Olorin. To mark the first year anniversary of the Jedi Creed website, Relan Volkum, with the help of Streen, Opie-Wan Macloed, and Shinobi, as well as the leadership skills of Relan's apprentice Allowat Sakima, created the DEGA group, a group of a dozen Jedi ambassadors (Ait Voicu, Allowat Sakima, Demetrius Vorak, Justan Alan, Keiran Halcyon, Melendil Tahlaera Mithlorin, Opie-Wan Macloed, Relan Volkum, Streen, Shinobi, Tionne, and Tathlyn Vrinn) who would go around and help Jedi websites in need. By the time the year was later over, the Jedi United shifted to what would be called the Jedi Organization, in which many Jedi known today, such as Opie-Wan Macloed, Brandel Valico, Gekkensei', Allowat Sakima, Seth Ra'ad, Joshua, Justan Alan, Demetrius, and Alloran Celemir gained experience.
The year 2001 was planned to be one of the biggest years for Jedi advancement, yet it turned out to be one of the worst. This was a period in time considered one of the darker moments in the Jedi Community when many Jedi websites closed down, due to disagreement, website problems, lack of participation, and even the media. March 6, 2001 was a very interesting day, in which the BBC made an article dealing with the popular New Zealand Census concern included references, names, and a link from the Jedi Creed. Reporters and media shows from around the world attempted to interview the Jedi Creed members. This incident, often refered to as "the media incident," made many Jedi Creed members upset since their reputation had been falsely accused and misrepresented. By April 2001, the Jedi Creed sadly was forced to shut down and step back from the Jedi Community.It was after this incident when it seemed as if everything was going downhill. Communities grew inactive, groups seperated, and conflict broke out between Jedi. One of the key moments representing this point in time was when the Jedi Organization fell apart due to the exhaustion of its key members. Some turned toward darker tendencies while others let emotions cloud their judgement. The results of these problems created a catastrophe resulting in the physical and spiritual destruction of the JO Website. Because of it, a split was formed; One represented by Opie-Wan Macloed, while the other by Relan Volkum. Each, because of the incident, had to take time to refocus on their paths - for it was a time when the Jedi were seen not only as corrupted, but confused. As with every positive action, there is a negative reaction; Though for every negative action there is also a positive reaction. This is what the year 2002 was all about, the year when the Jedi Community began to heal. The Jedi Organization split led to the creation of a new site: Jedi United, a website recreated and founded by Opie-Wan in late 2001. Sharing long ago values that the older Jedi United website used to hold, it coined the phase "Unity Through Community" in attempt to set up offline meetings for their members and promote better communication.
It is during this time when Relan Volkum, after a couple of months of retirement from the Jedi community, began to create a new and more radical project in rememberance of the values he shared at the Jedi Creed. Knowing the year 2002 would bring the next Star Wars movie (Star Wars: Episode II Attack Of The Clones), he knew it was another chance in attempting to bring back the advancements gained in 1999. This time, instead of him coming up with the name like he did for the Jedi Creed, Relan Volkum, in return for Streen's help over the years, allowed Streen to name the website. "Why not just make it simple and call it 'Jedi?'" After hours and hours of planing and stucturing the website, Relan Volkum finally came up with Version I for JEDI on January 1st, 2002.The year also brought new groups emerging from the old, such as the Jedi Religion (also known as Jediism), which lasted until 2005. The Jedi Religion began to see Jedi (as you would guess) as a religious group which could be ran with its own moral code. Some believe Jediism has gone too extreme, while others embrassed it as a newer way of seeing the Jedi ways. Even though they hold some different ideals than we do with Jedi Realism, we welcome them as a friend and hope to keep ties with them as they begin to grow. There was also another website, Temple of the Jedi Order, which existed due to a a merge between the Jedi United website and the Jedi Temple website. Founded November 18, 2002, TotJO was forced to close it doors in 2003. Just recently in 2004, websites in the Jedi Community had planned a set of conference meetings called the Jedi Community Conference (JCC), predicted to come into full effect by the middle of the year. Although its interest died down, its concepts are still in the works today. We have also seen a contruction of new websites, such as the Jedi Realist Academy and the United Jedi Academy. JEDI itself has been through many versions and many layout changes, stressing out content and communication and providing education tools unheard of before. Attempting to preserve content lost from non-functional Jedi websites of the past, JEDI, day after day, has become more and more a major meeting ground for Jedi Realists from all over the Internet world. At this point in time, the Community is looking at us. As we attempt to bring great progress, we notice many advancements by the Jedi Community already. We have definitely recovered from past incidents and now are becoming a massive discussion and education center. We have also regained ties with other Jedi which have been absent for a long while. As 2005 emerges, we find ourselves holding a great responsiblity. Although we have all come at different times and share different lives, exploring different ways of living and perceiving truth we all share one common bond. This is not only unity, but the realization of who we are and what we are all about. Ideas planted in our heads, dreams spoken within our minds, we have grown and grown as the days pass. In our view, a life as a Jedi is only what you make it. Though there may be no rules or boundaries as to what you should believe or how you should believe it, there are ways to help you understand your beliefs. We are here to help find those ways, plain and simple. Join us to help find that path in which we can understand who we are and what we are all about. We would love to have you with us. |
|
  |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
| © Copyright 2001 - 2006 thejedi.org, jedi.ws. |
|
UP |
|
|
|
