Could you ever be a Jedi, do you think?
- I mean, I know what it is, Star Wars, the idea of it,
but what is it practically?
What do you actually do?
- I feel that it is a good belief system,
but I do not personally believe that it could be a religion.
- Jedi is anti-Christ.
- Like, it's not just a fandom, it's this unique,
amazing pop culture thing that has been going since 1977.
We're in the middle of Comic-Con with more people dressed up
in Star Wars outfits than I've ever seen in my life.
- Most of us have tried the Jedi mind trick at least once.
- If Jediism became a lot like Catholicism, Christianity,
or anything else, I think I'd be a little worried.
- I think the whole idea of a Jedi as religion
is rather weird.
- Jedi as a religion, I think is great.
If people wanna believe in that, go ahead.
- I can see where people get into it
as a much deeper sense of being.
Are you following a Jedi master?
How do you become a Jedi master?
Is there a Yoda level person?
- There ain't no Darth Vader in the Bible.
- I think people turn away from organized religion
because it's too structured.
- With Star Wars, you have people that have
watched the movie 50, 60 times.
They haven't read the Bible twice and yet they'll tell me
I'm fanatical because I believe my Bible.
I say they're the real fanatics.
- I think that Jediism as a world
religion would be awesome.
- It could happen, I can see people becoming Jedis.
I mean, look at Harry Potter, and
people play Quidditch all the time like it's a real sport.
- Hey, it's for them, good cause to pursue.
- Questions, I have so many questions.
Maybe I might be a follower.
- I don't think any reasonable human being could be a Jedi.
- I would love to be a Jedi.
A 2001 census recognized Jediism
as an official religion.
620 Serbs identify as Jedi.
15,000 people from the Czech Republic,
21,000 Canadians, 70,000 Australians.
In the United Kingdom over 400,000 people
declare themselves Jedi,
making it the fourth largest religion in the country.
No such census has been taken in America,
but Jediism continues to grow.
- When people come to the Jedi community,
it's not about who they are when they join us.
It's about who they aspire to be.
- And we're gonna ask some very deep,
probing, internal questions.
And we wanna see what's their reaction.
- What do you have to give and what do you have to give up?
This is the story of three Jedi
on their path to knighthood.
- I'm Opie Macleod and I'm a Jedi.
The dishes are still in the sink, huh?
Big surprise, good job.
Way to stay on top of it, Jedi.
That's a pretty good impression of my mom, too,
just so you know.
Opie is my son.
His real name is Kevin, I call him Kev,
but to everybody else he's Opie, always has been.
As a matter of fact, he used to ask me
to go pay to change his name to Kevin Macleod.
At church, he asked the minister, when he got up there,
"Don't call me by my name."
So when Larry read off his name, Kevin Trout, he's...
"I told you not to call me that!"
But he got teased so much about the Trout
that he wanted to change his name to Macleod,
because he liked the Highlander.
But now he's just Opie Macleod.
- You know, a Jedi eats with dishes,
they gotta clean the dishes.
Yeah, Luke Skywalker, I guess,
had C-3PO to handle his dishes.
I don't have C-3PO.
Han Solo was always cool
but I just wanted to be in that swamp with Yoda.
That was awesome.
I love the teaching.
I love...
I loved how Yoda's introduced as a crazy old hermit,
and I love the idea of that
someone can be so confident in themselves,
so assured of their abilities and their knowledge
that they can act the complete fool and not care.
That grabbed me when I was a kid and it's always stuck.
He used to get in trouble quite often
because he would always go and help other kids,
even if a kid was on the bad side.
He thought by befriending him,
he could turn his life into the good side.
Except for a time when he was trying to
change the wrong people and those people changed him.
- I was thinking about getting a tattoo
to signify the first stages, because it...
One, it was signifying kinda how all Jedi start out,
with that fictional idea, that fictional inspiration,
the idea that you wanna be wielding the lightsaber
and you wanna be moving things with your mind,
you wanna be battling the dark forces of the galaxy
and saving the day.
What's that say, Jedi?
- Jedi Knight.
Yes, Knight.
It goes all the way around.
What do you think of the tattoo?
- I'm not much on tattoos.
Firstly, I hate needles.
He basically dropped out of church,
'cause he used to go to church every Sunday.
- It did become kind of that negative view of God.
God, I believe in God.
I don't like him.
What's your main reason for hating God?
- Seeing friends get hurt, seeing innocent people get hurt,
innocent animals, for no reason, like,
it didn't make sense to me why a good person
or someone who's doing good in their lives
would all of a sudden come across someone that was like me
and my friends at the time, who were doing bad things.
Why would a deity place someone in that path?
- They saw somebody and they went over and beat the kid up.
Apparently, he was supposed to beat him up too, you know,
to be part of the gang.
So I got arrested and the judge sentenced me
to serve one year in Camp Louis Roth,
which is a correctional fire camp.
I had no idea what I was getting into.
- He didn't really wanna be there and he kept trying to say
get me out, get me out, I'd say I can't, you know,
you've really messed this time,
I can't do anything about this.
So, you're gonna have to change, it's you this time.
- We start off with confusion, mistakes, negative karma.
But all of that, there's not one single mistake
or delusion that cannot be removed through wisdom.
- Before I went in, I'd seen the re-release of the trilogies
in the theaters, and that was kind of sitting on me
that entire time.
And I kinda of felt like part of training,
you have a brick in your backpack
and you have to climb up this mountain,
and you have to do it in a certain amount of time.
And I just kept thinking like, it's Yoda on my back,
I'm in Dagobah, feel the Force, you know,
I was just using that to kind of push through.
You know what, if that worked for me,
there's gotta be a real Jedi out there.
There's gotta be a Jedi Master out there.
So I went online, I ran across this site
that presented it in a way that made it seem viable.
Here's stuff in the fiction,
but they're presenting it as if they're saying go live it.
And that's when it kinda first...
Why can't I be a Jedi?
- Jedi is a code, it's a system of honor,
it's protocols of behavior.
It's a way of viewing the self, and
the universe, and others.
In what, to me, looks like very beneficial ways.
This is it, I found what I'm looking for.
- There is a moment when it occurs to Luke
that he might become a Jedi,
he might seek that role in life,
he might go into the training and it's very arduous
and would ask a lot, but he begins to see that
as a possible option for himself
and to have at least enough initial faith in himself
that he can see it could happen, and this is an aha moment,
this is a real turning point.
- Film can expose the values that we have as a culture.
And how we, as individuals, also carry forth
our world view all the time.
- Joseph Campbell worked with symbolism.
He was looking at the mythic imagination,
how a picture is worth 1,000 words
and movies are all pictures.
And so, we bring our interest, our attention,
and we meditate on a series of images
and walk away feeling like more has been communicated
than just the storyline of the film, and it has.
And so, the imagination is rich in this particular art form
and that is part of why Jediism is more powerful
and more compelling and ultimately perhaps
more rewarding than some other recent religious movements.
- I think that when people do...
When they create these, you know, stories, movies,
whether it's a novel or a film,
that it's not meant to be taken externally.
It's meant to be a story for our own hearts.
- Most folks who go to movies really love it
when I talk about... Star Wars, Star Wars,
because they've had that experience of sitting there.
And, really...
Were moved when they saw the movie
and now they're sitting in church,
and they get a chance to connect that experience
in the movies with their faith.
And they say, "Ah, oh, wow."
- One of my best friends in martial arts class,
he came up to me, he says,
"Did you know Jedi is a real religion?"
And I told him, no, you're lying, man.
So I looked it up and sure enough, it was an actual thing,
people were doing it.
- All the stormtroopers were lined up in one area
and they had to do their buckets off shot.
So they took their helmets off
and there was this one woman there,
her blond hair just cascaded down and I was like,
oh, my God.
I have to do that.
- Along the path of enlightenment,
along the path of knighthood,
gender doesn't really make a difference.
- My name is Perris Cartwright and I'm a Jedi.
I met Perris in the online Jedi community,
where she goes by the name War Beauty.
We've been friends for about three years now.
Perris is amazing, I've been mentoring her for the past year.
I nominated her to test for knighthood
at this year's Jedi gathering.
So, now Perris and I will be going
through the trials together.
- Being nominated by Opie is, in my opinion, a big deal,
because he's, arguably, the longest active standing member
of the entire community since the '90s.
He helped mold and shape most of Jediism
into to what it is today.
To have him look at you and be like,
"You're worthy to be knighted,
"I endorse you with my own name," that's pretty awesome.
- At some point early on, you meet a mentor.
There is a guide who is willing to show you the ropes,
and they're around, sometimes it takes
some work to find them, but in mysterious ways,
sometimes the mentor and apprentice find each other
just because it's the right time.
Perris has known of me for a long time.
Believe it or not,
this is the first time that we're meeting in person.
I think it's always interesting.
Do you shake hands?
Do you wave?
Do you give a hug?
I don't...
I never know.
Parking lot of a Chili's.
The grand adventure continues.
There she is.
- My fucking sandals are melting to the asphalt,
it's so hot today.
- Nothing.
Playing World of Warcraft.
- Sounds exciting.
Yeah.
- As long as you can knock out the academic stuff.
- I've been writing everything on flashcards beforehand,
post-it notes, tattooing it on my wrists like Mulan.
- And there's a lot in it for the mentor.
The mentor went through all this before
and values it greatly,
and has a big investment in the newbies,
the next wave coming forward.
And, of course, there's an enormous
amount in it for the initiate.
- This is gonna be heavy hitter.
This is the all-star team that they're questioning.
These are gonna be the big league questions.
These are gonna be the questions that
you people would get for Masters,
and they're gonna grill us so hard.
- I mean, you go in there, you be a Jedi.
That's all it is, that's all it is.
- It might be hard.
I don't know. - I don't know.
- Yeah, you just act like you're doing everyday life.
- So, companions along the way are crucial.
We have company, it is not that lonely,
in fact, we need to be able to work well in a team.
- She's a veteran of one of our recent wars.
She married a military man and he doesn't get the Jedi path,
he doesn't respect it, so he has comments.
- Yes, my husband is the biggest troll of Jediism ever.
Anytime I talk to any of my friends on Skype
or I'm telling him about Jediism, he'll just be like,
"Oh, where is Obi-Wan and your lightsaber, ha."
Probably most people in society would think that it's weird.
Ya' know it's got the, either geek or dork or nerd...
Whichever Darth Sidious or frikkin' Mr.Force Powers, or whatever.
Ya' know, one's bad and one's just annoying.
- She's out of the Marines now and what she does now,
is she's a makeup artist.
She goes around on different photo shoots
as well as walking the Jedi path.
I've basically stated by putting her name forward
that I view her as a Jedi Knight.
So if she doesn't pass, that reflects negatively on me
and my standards and my judgment
on what makes a Jedi Knight.
- I'm a veteran, I served honorably for four years,
but it just wasn't for me.
And the transition from Marine Corps to makeup artist
was a really fascinating one.
I felt like the Marine Corps
was such a masculine environment, that I couldn't...
That femininity was really discouraged,
even by the women there.
And there was a point where
the Commandant wanted to get rid
of skirts and like, pantyhose.
And I hate pantyhose, but that was just such a...
It felt like such a violation of being feminine
that I wanted to kind of help
restore some of that to the world.
And that's why I'm a makeup artist now.
It's because I like making things beautiful,
I like making people feel beautiful,
I like making women feel beautiful.
To an extent I feel that there's a lot of weight to pass.
- Perris, what practice do you have
that enhances your spiritual well
- Currently, the practice that enhances
my spiritual well-being is Shamanism.
- You left the Jedi path and haven't been a part of it.
You had to go through a tough ordeal, right?
What was that ordeal specifically?
How did it make you feel?
- I kind of had a breakup with the Jedi organization
I had been a part of for seven years,
and it was really tough.
I came out of it depressed.
And I kinda fell out for a year from the whole community.
- Do you feel that the Jedi path is a sexual path?
- I'm not gonna say that sexuality isn't a part of it,
but I don't feel like that it is that.
- How do you reconcile your sexuality with the Jedi path?
Your overt sexuality with the Jedi path?
- I don't need to reconcile it.
It just is what it is, you know, it's free love to me.
It's like a universal love concept,
I don't believe in the tie-down.
- Does that work with your practices
or is it a conflicting thing within the practice
and lifestyle of the Jedi path?
- For me, it works.
- What a lot of us liked about Princess Leia was
she didn't take anything from anybody.
I mean, she even stood up to,
and talked back to Darth Vader,
who had everybody else just shaking and quaking.
But here was a very, very strong woman.
Being a Jedi, and a Marine,
it's a huge conflict of interest.
The reality is really gruesome.
It's like putting all of your best fighting dogs
into one cage at nighttime, and then whoever makes it out
gets put back into that cage again the next night.
And that's what the Marine Corps is, essentially.
It's a great organization and they do great things,
but it's not peaceful, there's a lot of things that happen
that are completely contradictory.
I don't know, I'm not afraid to tell my story.
And besides, I mean, people, they look at me...
Three rapes, that's pretty hefty
and it screwed me up for a lot of years.
Recently, literally, in this past year, have just kind of
come out of that victim mentality, kind of thing.
They happened when I was 18 and 19.
I'm 24, I'm almost 25, that was a lot of years ago.
And so, people, they look at me like...
They're either like, "I don't believe you
"'cause you're so cavalier about it."
Or like, "How can you talk so about it?"
And like, "You're not very sensitive," and I'm like,
no, I am sensitive, that's why I'm telling you,
is because other people have been through this,
it's a serious ordeal, it's like a piece of your soul,
that gets ripped out and you may never get it back.
But you need to know that.
You wanted to know me, well, then, here you go,
a piece of my soul was ripped out
and I probably will never see it again.
I had to, like, duct tape my heart back together
several times, because it just went...
And shattered into a million pieces.
That's the ugly reality of life.
And no, Jediism wasn't like a magic wand.
Jediism wasn't some ultra, super
secret way to fix everything.
It was a learning process
and it was like scraping my face
against cement for a lot of years.
- When a female has been disempowered by a male's
misuse of power, particularly
in a warrior situation, for her
to be able to step out of that categorization
and to rise above and become a warrior
as the Jedi Knighting process helps do,
then she becomes more than she was, she becomes more than
what other people were trying to make her be,
and she becomes an example to other people, women and men.
After spending a week with Perris,
it was hard to walk away.
And now I can't help thinking about another girl
who I trained to become a Jedi.
We were married on the bridge of the Enterprise.
The Starship Enterprise from Star Trek.
At the time, the Hilton had Star Trek: The Experience.
What you could do is shell out a little
money and you can be married on the bridge.
So, she was in a Star Trek-like wedding dress.
I was in a suit and tie but my hair was done all funky.
And we both loved Star Trek too, so, why not?
We had created the Jedi Academy Online website together
through this, and through our whole marriage, I mean,
we both worked on it and we both ran it
and we both, you know, put our time and effort into it.
And through that, I met a Sith.
- Being a Sith isn't something that you learn.
I don't even know whether it's something that you choose.
It's something that kind of happens to you.
It's...
You find yourself in a position,
where the system failed you.
- Interesting that Lucas came up
with such Old Testament demonic imagery for the Sith.
Here is the worst fear.
- Your feeble skills are no match for
the power of the Dark Side.
- I think that the struggle that we go through
in terms of choosing the good or the bad,
the good or the evil within us, is not to be underestimated.
And how do you wanna be known?
How do you want your name, your title, or your name?
- Oh, God, just...
Just, Sith?
- Yeah, that's it, that's good enough.
My name is Miles and I'm a Sith.
Depends on who you ask.
I wrote a book about it
looking at all the different definitions
and I still haven't found the perfect answer for that.
- What do you say to mom and dad
when they come and say their son is a Sith?
Find out if it's a fantasy
or if they're doing something else.
'Cause if they're, you know,
hurting cats in the backyard, then okay,
have a look into it.
Being a Sith is kind of a full time, 100% thing.
Daily practices, nothing quite so formal.
It's just every moment of every day
you try to actively be connected to what you're doing.
And actively be connected to what's around you.
Would you say that the Jedis
are more group oriented than the Sith?
- I would say that the Jedi are
far more group oriented than the Sith.
For them, being a Jedi is being a member of the Jedi Order.
Being a Sith is just, you're a Sith.
In the Return of the Jedi, I was a fan of The Emperor.
His presence, his mastery of his position,
and his comfort in his position.
- Your hate has made you powerful.
Now fulfill your destiny
and take your father's place at my side.
- Sith is as Sith does.
Makes his own choices and takes responsibility for 'em.
My idea of good and evil has more
to do with what do you create
and what'll you allow entropy to take,
that's where my standing on good and evil stands.
And on that score, Sith are often quite good,
because they're the ones that are done
living with the status quo, they want change,
they want something new.
- Why are you filming Miles and all this?
Because he wasn't involved in all this.
- He's been involved with the Jedi community for a little bit, but...
- Before I knew him.
- The first time I met Opie, I was teaching my sword class.
I was teaching for the Academy of European Fighting Arts.
- I didn't think he was involved all this time that you and Michelle were...
- The sword thing...
When he was doing it out in the park in Burbank.
- That's where we met. That's not why we met.
I met him at the park 'cause he was
doing stuff at the park,
but then we went over to like islands,
or we'd get something to eat, you know.
Sit down, and we would talk.
So yeah, we met online, but then...
Yeah, met face to face, you know, at the park.
All three of us got together...
- And we had a wonderful conversation.
Ate up a whole lot of time.
Just seemed to fly.
He's a passionate guy.
I love it, because I...
Talk about a passionate guy.
I just...
I even told him, at the time, I said,
you are one of the most respected
Jedi among the Sith, because you'd make a great Sith.
He didn't like that.
- And...
But at the same time, the marriage was not going well.
One night I was hanging out with my friend,
and she was like, "Well, I wanna go hang out with Miles."
And they have, like a Renaissance thing going on.
Renaissance group.
And I was like, oh yeah, cool.
You know, that sounds cool, have fun.
I have an understanding of myself that
involves things that culture rejects.
- She was into BDSM.
Not my bag.
So I pick her up from Miles' house,
not thinking anything of it.
Her back's turned to me, and it's...
bruised.
Looked like...
If you took a baseball bat, and just...
I mean, it looked, you know, bad.
And that was her thing that I didn't deliver.
Then I doubt she could've put together
a bigger sense of betrayal.
- Had a wonderful time.
We had a falling out over personal issues.
- My student, who I had said was a Jedi Knight,
not only tossed the Jedi path away,
to follow, and explore the Sith path,
but also slept with a Sith.
A Sith is gonna look to take what he wants.
- The Jedi have that great phrase,
"May the Force be with you.
"May it be with you."
Well, if it's in the trees, and the air,
and between us, and everywhere,
then it's always with you.
Well that's fine.
And Sith go with a slightly different twist.
"May the Force serve you well."
- He doesn't have morality, he doesn't care what he...
He doesn't care about stepping on you,
to get what he wants.
He's not gonna care that you're crushed,
and your whole life has been destroyed.
In my darkest moments,
I made a great Sith because I had
nothing but hatred, man I hated him.
I hated her, I hated him, I hated the Sith path.
F the Sith, man.
I had complete venom.
- He disappeared for awhile, off of my radar at least.
- All I did was basically play video games,
computer games, and drink.
That was it.
- And he went through a bit of a rough patch.
- It hit me hard, and I let all the practices go.
I didn't do anything with the Jedi path.
I didn't even try.
You know, it's not like I tried
to deal with any of it like a Jedi.
I just tossed it out the window, F it.
- All of us, at some point, or another,
if we are to grow, must descend into the darkness.
Sometimes it's brought about by another person.
- It may not be until a moment of great tragedy,
that they are actually motivated
to go take the journey.
And this devastating loss is either
going to kill you, or kill your old self,
so a better self can emerge.
Well, for Luke Skywalker, it is the murder
of his aunt, and uncle.
And so it seems we are out there alone.
- Emotional wounds, and suffering,
are a very good thing for the spiritual warrior.
They are what gets the path started.
- I've been active in the Jedi community
for 15 years now, and I've never really
had that recognition on this kind of level.
This is more than one group, you know,
this is a community recognition.
So, I'm bringing two bags.
One of 'em is gonna be for the ceremonial clothes.
It's when a lot of Jedi wear their Jedi robes.
And things that they feel represent them as Jedi.
In Star Wars, the idea of Jedi robes
was they were meant to fit in.
To be a product of their time.
And that's more what I go with.
I try to go with more...
Be good to catch up with Perris.
It'll be nice to see how she's been doing.
Hannigan.
Hannigan, Hannigan, is going to be there.
I don't know how that's going to go.
I suppose there's some tension
between me, and Hannigan.
He held onto an identity, basically
a troll of the Jedi.
He likes to run his mouth, which
tends not to go over with a group
of people who consider themselves
protectors, and upholders of justice.
Nothing really beats sitting down,
and being able to talk with people
that you've been arguing with, and debating with,
and discussing with, and laughing with online.
To be able to do that offline just
adds to the sense of community.
I'm in Chicago now.
I'm going to see Angelis.
I call him Gabe, and he's the one
sponsoring me, this year, at the Jedi trials.
- Opie is one of the oldest members in the community.
He was there before I was, and so that
already says a lot, in itself, because
I've been in the community for a little over a decade.
And so, the fact that now he's come
back and joined the rest of the group,
I think is exciting, because he is one
of those people that I've always looked
forward, and looked towards, and saw
as a guiding Force.
So here I have my altar.
I am also a Shaman.
Shamanism, for those who don't know,
is very nature focused, and sees
the Great Spirit, or what people would
call the Force, or God, and that Great Spirit
is in everything, and basically,
you can connect to it, whenever you want,
however you want.
- The difference between spirituality,
and religion, is that religion has a form.
It has set practices.
It often has rules.
It has protocols.
And sometimes these can be very
constricting, and conflicting.
But often, they can be excellent
guidelines to help us better live
the spiritual principles that we want to embody.
- The way we do our Padawan training,
is we feel that it usually takes about three years.
'Cause it takes about that long to just
incorporate all the knowledge.
We take this very seriously.
We wanna make sure that a person
is committed to becoming a Jedi.
To serving as a role model.
Being a representative of who we are, and what we do.
And so that's why we say it's gonna...
It's not a short process.
In a way, we sort of consider ourselves,
sort of like the Ivy League of all the chapters,
so that if you are a knight here,
you are basically a knight everywhere.
Thank you for coming, and welcome
to another meeting for Chicago Jedi.
I think the most challenging aspect
is that we do encourage people to do self-reflection.
Actually look inside yourself,
and recognize what your strengths, and your weaknesses are.
There is no emotion.
- There is peace. There is peace.
There is no ignorance.
There is knowledge.
- There is no passion.
There is serenity.
There is no chaos.
There is harmony.
There is no death.
There is the Force.
The Force is with us.
Always.
When you deal with binaries, it seems, at first,
that the task is to overcome the
problematic one, and go to the solution.
It gets more complicated than that.
We need both emotion, and mastery.
We need inner peace, of course,
we also need our passions.
In the end we'll need both sides of these things.
- Looking at the Jedi code,
I noticed that it is just making
a few statements about how things are.
And not telling us what we must do.
- There are a lot of things about
the Christian religion, that are problematic.
And one of them happens to be the
way that many churches regard homosexuality.
And, I can see someone going from
Protestant, or Catholic, Christianity,
into Jediism, simply because of the acceptance,
that they may feel in Jediism that they don't
feel in the Christian world.
- There is a huge contrast between
being gay in the Catholic world,
and being gay in the Jedi community,
and once I realized my own sexuality
was gonna be an issue, at first I had
reconciled to that fact, that okay,
I'm gonna be gay, but then, because
I'm Catholic, and I respect that faith,
then, yes, I recognize that I'm
never gonna be with somebody.
I'm gonna just be celibate the entire time.
Spiritually is a huge part of who I am,
and the Jedi I saw as the amalgamation
of all things spiritual.
They accept all of me.
I don't have to hide who I am.
- I think it's tragic for the church
to lose people because of that,
but I embrace it, that's why I embrace
something like Jediism, because it
has potential of showing us, as Christians,
why we're wrong on the homosexuality issue.
Especially my denomination, which is United Methodist.
- Jediism, for all of its, sort of,
strange origins, is accepting of people.
It has an openness to it.
Possibly because of its newness, and for
some people that's just the right fit.
- My name's Michael Hannigan.
I've been a Jedi for over 20-ish years.
- So Michael Hannigan will be coming
to hang out with the Chicago Jedi,
before going to the Jedi gathering.
Hannigan is also testing this year.
- I have probably been one of the most
controversial people within the community.
If you talk to people you either have a,
I love Hannigan, I hate Hannigan.
There's some in between people,
but most people hit extremes.
And if you take Mace Windu, from Star Wars movies,
like how he was, multiply that by 10,
that's pretty much where I was.
- He's an aggressive personality.
He's a unpredictable personality.
He's about attention.
He's about perpetuating his reputation,
of this disruptive Force, in the community.
He can, then, I don't know, take a swing at me,
because, hey now I get to, you know,
further that reputation.
Oh, look at me, I'm the crazy guy who swung on Opie.
- There he is!
- One of the things you must do,
if you are on the path, is you have
to go down and wrestle with a dark.
You have to go within and find the darkness.
Now, if you have a person, or a situation,
who has driven you to that, you're
maybe even kind of lucky, because then
you are drawn into it, you engage with it.
And you learn, hopefully, how to deal
with it, and how to lift that up, from yourself.
- Opie, after many years.
- Here we are with their big...
- Here it is. - Give me a hug.
How was the trip?
- 18 hours, not bad.
I got to see a drunk person spew at my first bus stop.
Lovely.
- Got to see some crazy ass couple fights.
Nobody's ready to meet me in real life, in some ways.
Like, they are not ready for the...
You know, if you can see me on ones, and zeroes,
on the computer, and you have a completely
different impression, versus when you meet
me in real life, and you see that I'm more
full of energy, there's no negativity.
I lost my dad.
He died, and I felt more alone, and wanted to escape.
And the one thing I liked about, you know,
using drug use, was it wasn't actually being high.
That part I couldn't tolerate.
But it was the side affect of having absolutely no emotions.
That way, you know, I didn't have to mourn.
I didn't have to grieve, because, well,
you didn't have the emotion to do so.
In fact, I didn't have the emotions
until six months after I stopped using drugs.
So, I'll say I went 2.5 years being completely emotionless.
- Many of us have suffered it, and yet
hung on long enough to be recognized
as being who we are.
Sometimes it's just our calling.
It's just our calling to go through that.
It's a unique spiritual experience,
that you are having.
- I think that the negative energy
is going to be the delusions that we have,
and the basic delusion that we have
is assuming that everything that we see is real.
This is taking everything at face value.
This is the main delusion.
- Opie and I can have a reality TV show,
where we live together, for like a year.
You've already got my money on both of you.
- And we have this sponsorship, because
everybody would watch that.
How about this, for six months out of the year,
we'll go to different Asian countries for training,
the other six months of the year,
we'll travel across the United States,
and we'll bum out on other Jedi's couches.
Picture Opie and I going and doing
human weapon fight quest, for like six months, right?
And then going across the United States,
and training him like different Jedi,
and doing the concept.
Like going to Ross' school.
And, you know, sparring with Ross' people,
and then fighting each other.
- I'm still trying to get the mental
image of you and him strangling each other
out of my head, but keep going.
- We'll see what happens.
Opie's still trying to
get the mental image of you's two
trying to strangle each other out of his head too.
- Anytime anybody asks me if I did this, or I did that,
if I remember it, I fucking said that, I did.
If I don't remember it, sorry.
I really, truly, don't.
- Everybody's accountable for what they say online.
- Once I went off on Gabe, and Amy is the
one that I directly went off on.
Amy is in Moon Shadow?
Yes.
- Oh, you're a piece of garbage.
I know.
- You know, have I been a jerk, a jag off?
I certainly have.
But, all I can do is say, yeah, I've been there, done that.
This is where I'm at now.
This was me 10 years ago.
This is me now.
If the Jedi path is not about redemption
and growth, then what the hell is it about?
- We all need to be redeemed.
The Buddha wasn't perfect in the beginning.
He started off as a regular person,
who didn't want to suffer anymore.
And, if we all thought that we can't do this
spiritual path because we're not good enough,
you know, we've already made a big mess of our life,
then nobody would ever be able to become a Buddha.
- If you ever go to the Army, they can
shave your head in less than 30 seconds.
And it's bald, well...
- Well these are old clippers, so I like to take it slow.
- Way back in the day, when the knights
would take their pledges, and take their oaths,
and go to their things, they would shave
their head, and they would pledge something.
For example, for me, I'm gonna pledge
that I'm gonna be a stronger leader
within the community, by doing my radio show,
by teaching my reiki classes, and by getting
more active within the greater Jedi community.
- It was interesting to see that Hannigan
cut his hair for the trials and the gathering,
and that the hairstyle he chose
was not too far off from the one I'm sporting now.
- He has me by 30 or 40 more gray hairs than I have.
Which is incredible because I am
about three, or four years older than him.
- Well we're at the Skyline Camp, in Almont, Michigan.
When Jedi get together we call it
a Gathering of Jedi.
- And so there are the ordeals, also trials,
and tribulations, tests, and exams of all kinds.
These challenges, we don't pick them, they pick us.
- I'm a little excited to see everybody.
I didn't go to the gathering last year,
so it's been two years since I've
physically seen other Jedi really.
I didn't think this place
was gonna be this nice.
Oh, what did you think it was gonna be?
- I thought it was gonna be a campground, not a resort.
- I am Kitt Tells.
I am the organizer of this year's gathering.
We try to have a gathering once a year,
where Jedi from across the nation,
can get together and meet people,
that probably they've interacted with online,
since most Jedi are spread out,
except this one time of year, when
we can get together, and all meet each other,
and get to know each other a little better,
and do some activities that are good
to do when you're actually with other Jedi.
- Thank you so much for organizing this, Kitt.
(overlapping cheering and applause)
- In the fiction, there are particular Jedi
trials that you must go through, and they're
actual, you know, they sort of give an assignment.
In real life, we use that sort of as a basis
to plan out how we give people that, sort of, recognition.
- We, the Council, are looking for candidates
that showed growth.
Growth as a person.
Growth in building their path in life.
- George Lucas made the Jedi based on the ancient Samurai.
I get to teach self-defense to the people in the Jedi order.
What's going on with those?
- Sparring.
- That's cool.
Oh yeah.
Same attack.
- Is that your breathing getting kind of heavy?
- Yep, I'm an old man.
- I believe your powers are weak, old man.
During the time that we have the Jedi
gathering, I'm going to ask certain
candidates to show me certain things.
I need to see.
I want to see.
It could be something mental.
It could be something physical. It could be verbal.
- Nice. - It depends on the person.
Uh-oh, this is about to hurt, isn't it?
- What I want to see is Hannigan's ability to adapt,
so I wanna show him some of the things that I do,
and I wanna see him, to be able to absorb it,
and show he could do it.
Because at the level you become a knight,
you're ready to become someone's teacher.
To be able to teach, you have to be able to learn.
- Yes.
Yes.
- This keeps going that way, like
you're wringing out a towel.
I wanna see more fire.
I appreciate that that's settled, but I wanna see more fire.
You know, when they do the form, when someone
grabs your throat, they don't just do this.
I want you, without killing me,
but with fire, I want you to grab me by the throat.
I'm prepared.
No, no, grab me by the throat.
I'm serious.
Now you see how you just grabbed me, and I went...
Like that?
And when you're out there doing that,
and you're going...
Yeah, I wanna see...
Like mean it.
Mean it, man.
You know when you go like this?
And you do this?
It looks like you're dancing.
- If you're getting knighted, get up here.
Let's go!
- To an outsider, ritual looks strange,
sometimes even silly.
The meaning is deep within, it's an emotional meaning.
Now, it may be easier to believe in something
that's taking place in a grand cathedral,
than in some patch of the woods.
But we're not dealing with mythological creatures,
or gods incarnate, we're dealing with
people like us that are trying to help
us by teaching a thing or two.
- Lets go!
- I'm nervous.
Heart's, you know, starting to get there.
And I'm sure the closer I get, the more it's
gonna start going, but you know, whatever.
What am I gonna do not show up?
- Get them moving, make sure they've got their rocks.
- Yeah, I got my rocks, I don't know
what they're for, but I'm ready.
- Okay, so last minute, we're finally
getting ready for our trials, three years,
it comes down two minutes.
- The Jedi Council evaluation, trial ritual,
whatever they've got planned, is happening
right now, and we're going to meet Gabe,
and them, down the road, right now.
- They'll probably torture us, with Hannigan
said this, and Opie said that documents
that are bigger than the Encyclopedia Britannica.
I don't know, what do you think?
- I think I'll get more shit over bringing a beer.
- Ritual magic is evoking certain emotional qualities
through certain practice behaviors that
have been found to work.
The labyrinth experience, sometimes acted
out in the woods someplace, is showing
that we are capable of getting lost,
and yet, by getting lost we are found.
- We're going to be running people through the labyrinth.
Try and get them to look inward,
find something about themselves they don't already know.
Or maybe they know, but they've been ignoring,
or that they're afraid of, or they
just haven't been able to deal with.
We're pushing them.
What the Jedi, in real life, are doing,
is a very mythic journey.
It's reflective of a lot of the initiatory systems,
where people go through a series of testing,
and training, and trials, in order to better themselves.
We see it archetypically embodied in the Jedi in the
films, and in the stories.
But we see it in actual action, with real
people doing that similar process of growth.
- So this labyrinth represents everything
you have done to get here.
Each stone, each rock, each tree,
all represents a point in your life that you have overcome.
Continue to mediate on who you have been,
who you are, and who you will become.
- Gabe's gonna bring them through, one at a time,
this is a kind of walking meditation,
help them confront their inner fears, their inner doubts.
The things that can corrupt, or destroy, a Jedi.
- And so now we continue through life.
Its many challenges.
Its pitfalls.
- At its best, religion is our human
attempt to reach out to God, and to embrace God,
and to be led by God, which is what
happens in Star Wars, for example.
The main character is nothing, if he's
not led by his spiritual guide.
And see that stone in your mind's eye.
Feel it, what is that fear?
- Pain.
Emotional pain.
- Failure itself.
- Being alone.
Why is that scary?
- Because I've been alone.
I know what it feels like, it's terrifying, it's...
It's a giant, black gaping, maw.
There's nothing.
There's no one.
Not even yourself.
What do you see?
I left Las Vegas.
What's different now?
- Instead of letting other things control me,
I control what I'm doing,
not substances. It's me.
It's something you have caused?
- Indirectly.
To myself.
How can you overcome it?
- Acceptance.
Recognition.
Acknowledgement.
And time.
Do you think you'll ever be alone again?
- I'd like to think not.
What can you do to ensure that you aren't?
- Not join the military again, that's for sure.
And now, take another stone.
And close your eyes.
And see that stone again.
It's taking shape, becoming a time, a belief
that you connect with the misuse of power.
Do you see it?
- Yes.
It's the Marine Corps.
Why?
- Because it is the...
Biggest abuse of power,
I have ever come to experience, personally.
- And what have you done to take control?
I stood up, and I said this is wrong.
Are you happy with yourself?
- I am.
It's their job to know themselves well
enough that they can't be broken.
It's their job to know themselves well
enough that they can answer what their weaknesses are.
Because if they can't do that, they're not a knight.
They're not a Jedi Knight at least.
I'm the person who has to test their mettle.
My job is to try to overwhelm them,
with intensity, and emotionally.
Michael Hannigan.
I'm starting to think I haven't met you, until this week.
Place your hand on the stone.
The other.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath.
Find the greatest of your fears.
When you remove your hand from that stone,
you will release that fear.
Say what that fear was, or say nothing.
- Inadequacy.
- False fear.
That the misunderstandings about me were true.
That I am truly a destructive...
...force.
Do you wish to share?
- By the way, rituals are not believed
in by everybody participating in them equally.
Total belief is not required for it to work.
Uniform belief is not required for it to work.
It is the doing itself that will produce the outcome.
- It will make it harder from here.
In the past, you were asked to let go.
But now I'm asking you to engulf.
To embrace the chaos within yourself.
To embrace the pain.
To embrace all of the hatred, and all
of the suffering that has been caused to you.
And that you have caused to others.
Raise your hand to the sky with the rock.
Feel the Force.
I want you to focus, and visualize,
and feel the Force rising up from the
core of the Earth, through you.
From the very core of the Earth, filling you,
and pushing the pain.
I want you to push it into that rock.
Let the Force move it into that rock.
You may let go of this burden, once and for all.
When you feel that you have moved all
of that into that stone, you may stand.
- For me, the fact that there is an invisible
world, that is more powerful than we,
or that we really tap into, we really
tap into the spiritual world, and its Force,
that can strengthen us, help us to come
alive, in ways that we didn't know that we could be alive.
- This is now stone, what once was wood,
this is what the Force is.
It is sturdiness, it is steadiness.
I'm going to ask you questions next.
Do you swear to answer them truthfully, and completely?
- I do.
- Absolutely.
- Who are you, and what is your true name?
- Michael Hannigan.
- Opie Macleod.
- Perris Cartwright.
- Notice, in the second part of the trials,
you have something, again, very typical
in initiation rituals, the confrontation with the ego.
Where someone who has more power in
this situation says, "Well, who are you,
"and why are you even thinking you can come into this?"
You know, "You have to prove yourself."
And that shattering of your elusions of yourself,
is essential to the growth into a higher level.
- Serve the Force.
- Ki, the universal light source.
- The world.
- Always.
- Absolutely.
- Very much so.
- It's a path of peace, of healing.
- To mend hearts.
- The Jedi path.
- To make the world better.
To be world betterment, through self betterment,
and to lead others to that realization.
- A reiki master.
- To help those that were not there
when I was there, and younger.
- Good, you didn't lie to me.
Where do you belong?
- Everywhere.
- Nowhere, but at the same time, everywhere.
- Within the Jedi community, where I can do good.
- What do you have to give, and
what do you have to give up?
- Everything.
And everything.
My life.
My skills, my service.
My breath, my heartbeat, my love.
- Myself, and my ego.
Very good.
- Everything that I am, everything
that I stand for, every piece of my body.
My physical body, and my soul, my heart.
Everything.
- Happiness for everyone.
- To be a master healer.
- To be a Jedi.
To be a Jedi Knight.
- Your trial of the spirit is complete.
- What is going on here, is a person
would like to be of use, they'd like
to be a teacher of some kind, they'd
like to incarnate some values that they
respect, and they're calling it being a Jedi Knight.
Okay, that's as good a name as any.
- So it could be that in Star Wars
that these things are meant to be
allegorical, and not literal.
Sometimes when the person standing there,
criticizing us, or insulting us, it feels like
Darth Vader is about to kill us.
But we just let it go, and then we're okay.
- When you get into the emotional aspect itself,
when you really start digging deep into
why do I feel the way I feel about certain things,
these feelings have meaning, and they have
purpose, and they came from somewhere.
And that somewhere comes from inside you.
And digging through to find out where
they come through, we set up infinite
roadblocks of self-denial, and delusion,
and outright lying to ourselves.
We need to work through that.
And going through that means you have
to face things that those lies,
delusions, and misconceptions are protecting you from.
They were established to protect
you from some form of pain.
Well now, if you really wanna come
out the other end, it's time to own up to that pain.
- That's cool.
- You want to see a weapon I can wield, it's this.
It's not that.
- Here's a weapon, there you go.
That's a weapon.
- I'll frikkin' shanks somebody.
That's my new toy.
- Yeah.
- This is cute, I like this.
- Yeah.
- Hey Ross, we're talking about Bruce Lee,
and his aspirin
- It wasn't heroin, you're an idiot.
- Everyone knows that Bruce Lee
died of a smack heroin overdose.
- The only one who you should be smacked is Mike.
- Here, I'll be like Ross.
- Well that's true of all sort of religious texts,
not that I'm gonna call Star Wars a religious text.
That makes me uncomfortable.
- It's an inspired text.
- Inspired text, see yes.
- I'm gonna go vape, and drunk journal.
Don't wait up for me.
'Sup?
- The final trial that they would go
through is to meet with those who
have previously been knighted, and discuss
with them what makes them think they should
have the title, Jedi.
- When people come to the Jedi community,
it's not about who they are when they join us,
it's about who they aspire to be.
- And we're gonna ask some very deep,
probing, internal questions.
And we wanna see what's their reaction.
I want everybody to get to speak their fair piece.
And let this person express themselves.
It's never such a clear cut thing.
It's not like anybody has midichlorians,
to make things raise off the table.
If somebody does that, I'm definitely promoting 'em.
We're not concerned whether they know
what color underpants Luke Skywalker wore in episode three.
We're not asking crazy questions like that.
We're asking them very personal questions
about themselves, what have they done in their lives.
What are the things that they've
done that they regret?
What are the things that they should've done?
How are they making up for something they did wrong?
Every person's different.
And it's actually tougher for this group,
because we know them.
It'd be one thing if I've never met this person.
But everybody who's going up is somebody I know.
- Hannigan certainly thrives on controversy.
He brings a lot of issues to the table,
that we'll have to deal with.
- When I first met this guy, I was gonna jack him up.
His mouth is pretty big, and he says
things that will get him in trouble.
Before we even said hey, I was gonna lay him out,
I was gonna deck him.
- The person who is sponsoring Michael,
I would like them to tell us why you
have nominated him for knighthood.
- I'm Andy Spaulding.
I've been a long term member of the community.
I nominated Hannigan, because he has
also been a long term member of the community.
In previous years, he came to a gathering,
and we had a previous history before that.
And that previous history was going
to lead to physical confrontation.
He swallowed his pride, and he apologized before.
And that started our terms.
Our terms.
- At this time I would like to allow Michael
to speak for himself, as to why he
wishes to become a Jedi Knight.
- Was I a hellion in the beginning, I certainly was.
Did I rattle cages, I certainly did.
Have I not cared about the community, no.
If I did not care about the community
I would've said, fuck the community years ago,
when I was Bannigan Hannigan, from every
damn website that we could imagine.
- You do have a long, checkered past.
Certainly do.
- To be honest, the questions they asked
me up there was what happened in the past,
what's going to go on in the future,
am I gonna raise some hell again.
Did I do some shit to rattle cages, yes.
What was the big thing I was known for?
Get off your ass and do something.
Don't just sit there on your keyboard,
looking at ones, and zeroes, do something about it.
Get into martial arts, get into fitness.
Do something.
- It's 11:45, we're waiting for the Jedi council
to call us in.
- I'm tired because I've been waiting
for like three hours. Are you kidding me?
What about Perris?
- Perris is somebody that I met, through the gathering,
she has a certain presence about her.
One would not say a princess, like Cinderella.
But more like the one from Shrek.
So she's like this princess who
likes to kick people's butts.
- I think for Perris, the interesting question
will be just, why the move over from
one Jedi order to another, essentially.
Explain that whole process, why did it happen?
- She is not online a lot, and not
dealing with us online a lot, and so
many of us don't know her that well.
- It'll be interesting to see
if she can take those experiences,
and be able to translate that into how
she's moving forward, and her vision.
10 years in the community, and still doing things.
Already has plans in the works for
some great organizational work,
work within the community for girls.
Just a lot of projects in hand.
Knocked out her Jedi academics,
Temple of the Jedi Order, rocked it.
Blah-blah-blibbity-bli.
- Without repeating what he said, per se,
we want you to give us as much supporting
information as to why you would like
to become a knight in our organization.
- It's a piece of my spiritual soul.
And, while I'm not in it for the titles,
or for the recognition, to me,
being a recognized knight, within the community,
being a knight, within the physical community,
it's a pretty big deal, and now
I can go out, and out into the world,
and say, Jedi Knight, it's gonna have a lot of substance.
You know, Jediism is a pretty heavily male-dominated,
and sometimes that soft feminine,
that motherly kindness, it gets swallowed up.
- Awhile back, I recall a radio interview with you.
In which you said if you were attacked,
by an attacker, you would not defend yourself.
- At the time, when it was asked,
I was still a United States Marine.
I was physically, sexually, emotionally,
and mentally abused, almost every single
day in the United States Marine Corps.
It was so bad, for four years, I literally
went to the Chaplin, and I was like
I don't know if I can do this anymore.
I think I need to be a conscientious objector.
Because I can't defend myself against this kind
of violence, and it crushed me.
I'm fighting guys who are three times my size, and strength.
- So you'd have difficulty in defending yourself,
you don't see that as any kind of weakness?
- To be completely honest, I would freeze.
How is that knight like?
- It's not.
There was a card that was pulled, during mine,
that was greatly unfair.
If a random mugger, a guy comes, yeah,
I'm gonna defend myself against a random mugger.
But, in my experience, it's never a random guy.
It's always somebody that you know,
and it's not only a physical attack,
it's a complete, and total, mental terrorism.
I was a little pissed though, man.
He pulled that shit out, I was like...
- Opie Macleod was a person who I heard about.
He was kind of like a legendary character.
- For you, I think the biggest thing
will be why the return.
Like, 'cause you have been away from the community,
in one regards, for awhile.
Haven't been to gatherings until pretty recently, and...
- Opie is sort of part of an old guard
that's been around for a long time,
those that were involved in the online
activities, long ago, know him well.
But he hasn't been as active recently,
and so I think those of us who are
newer to the online community won't know him as well.
And so I think his challenge will be proving
that he's a good representative for our groups.
- You kind of get this build up,
and it's all part of it, I suppose.
Walking in there, kind of tired.
Kind of frustrated, kind of like what's going on?
You know, that's a part of it.
It kind of gets you off your game.
- When you walk that journey, you have
no idea whether you're going to succeed or fail.
In fact, nobody knows.
You could fail.
It is a very real possibility.
- Well I present before you, Opie Macleod,
and the reason I believe he is a knight,
is he has done much in the community.
He has been a long standing member.
He has been around for well over a decade.
He has been at various academies,
and continues at the Jedi Academy online.
He has presented much curriculum,
and even a published author himself.
- Opie, I would like you to be able to make
a statement, as to why you would like
to become a knight in this order.
- Because it validates a lifetime of work.
Not online, not done through any sort of
misunderstandings, but because they
see something of quality, and where you're
going, and that you can handle the responsibility
of that title, and everything that it means.
- I know Hannigan quite well, I've dealt
with him for a long time, and in talking
with him, he said that your story was just like
his, and you were just like him.
Tell me in what ways that's true,
and in what ways that's not true.
That's the best question all night.
- Okay.
I am like Michael Hannigan in the sense
that there is a preceding reputation with the name.
We both were kids, at a time, who were hurt individuals.
We had very low self-esteem, and what we did
is we covered that up with this big bravado.
Of this...
Yeah, I'm a bad monkey.
I'm a bad man.
Watch out.
No one believed it, we didn't believe it,
but that's alright, we just kept going with it.
We're both skinny, white dudes.
- If you sat on the opposite part of the table,
if you were sitting there now, what would you ask yourself?
- There was a time of complete, utter loss,
and it was not too long ago.
I would ask...
And there was tags along with that.
There was a little bit too much of this in it.
Now at gatherings, my vacation,
you'll see one of these in my hand at most times.
So if I was sitting there, I would say,
dude you had a pretty dark moment, where that's all you did.
What are you still doing with that bottle in your hand?
The answer, of course, being...
I went through some demons, and had to face it,
and for me it wasn't an absence, it was stability.
It was control, it was learning to come to terms
with what had happened, my own issues,
and the things that I was using as a crutch.
And then to kick that crutch out, and now
I get to laugh at it.
To me, this is laughing at the dark side,
the weak side, the guy who was down in the bottle, me.
Thank you guys.
Thank you.
Jedi council didn't end until something
like five, 5:30 in the morning.
They decided to just wait for the knighting ceremony,
and kind of do it as one big group thing,
while everybody's standing up there.
It's iffy 'cause if you didn't pass,
do you really wanna be standing in front of everybody,
in your nice getup, all happy and excited,
and then they're like, "Yeah, and you didn't pass."
- Now we're on our way to find out who
actually passed, and who didn't.
- Upon completion of the trials of skill, flesh,
courage, mind and spirit, displaying adequate
knowledge of the code, a Padawan may then become a knight.
Michael Hannigan,
who has been around us for a very long time,
and was a different man, came from
a different side of the tracks, and now
has proved that he can become something better.
Next, we have Perris Cartwright,
who comes from a long time of training, as a Jedi,
and now wants to be with us.
Opie, also a long term member of the Jedi community,
and also has proved to us that he has
earned his right amongst us.
Today we are here to acknowledge what
the Force has proclaimed.
We are pleased to authorize the knighting
of Opie, into the Jedi Order.
We are pleased to authorize the knighting of
War Beauty, into the Jedi Order.
We are pleased to authorize the knighting
of Reven Hannigan, into the Jedi Order.
- I swear to act with courage, and integrity,
in deeds, and in words.
I will seek knowledge and understanding.
- I will serve the Jedi Order as best as I am able.
I swear to provide assistance...
To those who are in need.
- I will work for justice, to relieve
the distress of the world.
This oath I give, of my own free will.
- Bow.
I dub thee, Jedi Knight.
- We have given them nothing, because
Jedi Knight is not a title.
It is not a gift, it's something someone takes.
Something someone earns.
With hard work, and dedication.
But it is not a prize.
It is not a thing you strive for, for recognition.
It is a job description.
It is saying that you will stand up proud,
tall, capable, that you will help the world,
and that while you will fall, as we all fall,
you will always rise again, as a Jedi Knight.
- And then, there is the celebration,
because we have survived, we're grateful for that.
Because we have found connections with others,
a real sense of community, our loneliness is eased.
Because we are of service, our need for
a meaning of life is reinforced, so there
is a great deal to celebrate.
And it is important, at this point, to be grateful.
- Had some strong feelings about the process.
I had to defend the fact that I was raped.
For women who are going to identify as Jedi,
they're already strong women, whether
they see themselves that way or not.
That's not somebody people randomly attack.
And these guys, they're not intentionally sexist.
It's very subconscious.
They just don't know.
And so, it takes somebody who does know,
from experience, to educate them.
And that's, hopefully, I can guide trials
where those questions aren't asked of men or women.
- It was also very touching to have my own family
out there as well, my sister joined for her son.
And she saw we do good work.
Gabe is my son's uncle, and he's
the cool one, because he's into Star Wars.
He's always been kind of nerdy,
so I think, initially, it was just kind
of a hobby, but now I think they see
the seriousness, and how much it really means to him.
What do you think about
your son being a Jedi?
- Well it's something different,
and I feel proud of it, so...
I wish I could've been younger, so I can join him too.
- I think they share my same feelings in that they
are very proud that he's built something
that he's passionate about, and that other
people can be passionate about, and
share that passion, and be supportive of each other,
because if you're a true nerd, or just
a nerd in general, you feel lonely.
- It means a lot, that I can share this,
with my friends, and my family.
- It takes a lot of guts just to do it.
So you support your son?
- Yes, I do.
- I guess in the back of my mind,
I always wonder if I'm making my family proud.
And I see I am.
I wanna be able to leave behind a legacy.
I want something to continue after I'm done.
After I'm gone.
- What we don't talk about in our hero stories,
is after the end, after the hero moment is done,
and living with the consequences.
Then the mourning, then the grieving,
then the loss, then the pain, then the suffering.
Then all of the betrayal that comes in.
- The interesting part about coming up
against the Dark Side, is that
often we are lured, or trapped, into
engaging with it so deeply, and so strongly,
that we then are there.
At times it seems like those who practice
the dark arts win everything.
There are moments in the film series
when the Empire seems awesome, and unstoppable.
Sometimes the people that cheat at life,
get more money, or get the girl.
So there's not always immediate justice
in the long haul, serving your better values
is so good for you, you do turn out the winner.
- Jedi is my life.
And I've been rebuilding it.
And I feel I've been...
I've done it in a way, even better.
That I needed to...
I had to.
I had to go through the fire.
Where did I go wrong?
How come I didn't respond like a Jedi?
How come...
I put years of my life into it,
how come it all went down the train?
Well, love man.
Do crazy things, it'll mess up your head.
And then I was invited to a Jedi gathering.
And I was like, I don't wanna go.
And then I heard Miles was going.
Oh.
Okay.
I wanna go now.
Some people would be like, I'm going to punch
the dude who slept with my wife in his face.
That's a natural reaction.
I wanted to go, just to see my reaction.
- You know, you can't afford to not
know what you're doing as a Sith.
Because everyone expects you to be doing it intentionally.
Whether you are or not.
They expect you to know what you're doing.
They expect you to have a plan, within a plan.
So you might as well have a plan within a plan,
because you're expected to have one.
You're gonna get credit for having one anyway.
- If I was going to place blame on someone,
why not Miles?
And so I went.
Would I hit him when I see him?
Would I Jedi up?
And if I Jedi up, what does that even mean?
What does it look like?
- Part of the reason why I went to that event,
was to see what would happen.
You know, I had to own up to it.
I had to face off with, and decided
whether are we gonna be at each other's throats,
or are we gonna be friends.
What are we gonna be?
- He walked through the door.
- And I walked in, and I took a look,
and he was the only guy I recognized.
And I looked him right in the eye.
- I looked at him, he looked at me.
There was a pause.
- And I watched the cogs turn in his mind for a little bit.
He's like, "I would love one."
- We've been thick as thieves ever since.
- Redemption is a curious thing, people become different,
people that were very set in a certain idea,
or disliked a certain person, or had a certain
prejudice, can go through a transformative learning
experience that really melts some of that away.
It's seeing something so differently
that it takes no particular effort.
It's called change.
- I don't think that we're going to learn
that we can't trust anyone.
That's not what we're learning.
But we need to learn something about
our own expectations, what we thought
we were going to get out of it,
that we wanted things to be our way.
And we're gonna be happy if it goes my way,
and if it doesn't go my way, then we have
a right to be unhappy.
Now I hear something I didn't have.
Someone who understood that I could talk with.
I can sit down with Miles, and have
a cup of coffee with him, and we can
talk about all sorts of things, we do.
You have to have something healthy.
It's like the rules, or something.
- Do they still have the french onion soup here?
It's like back order. - Yes.
Through mutual discussions, Miles ended up
coming up with this idea to put a YouTube
series together, called Jedi versus Sith.
So he's coming over today so we can work on that.
- Okay, yeah, we're gonna need to move that.
Oh god, my face is huge.
And I don't have any hair on my face anymore.
We'll see how the Force community appreciates that.
- Okay.
We're buddies.
Yeah, this is a bit close.
- It's a very intimate setting.
- Gotta get the lean back.
- Where's the...
Guess then if I'm like...
- We all have many great questions, you know,
where we come from, where we're going.
How can we relate to one another, ultimately?
How can we do good, and not do evil?
If Jediism does that...
Then more power to it.
- In order for Jediism to become a major world
religion, I think there would have to
be people who are following that path,
that become amazing people, and then
it will catch the attention of the world.
They will say, "Oh, how did you get to be like that?"
And they would say, "I did that because
"I follow the code of the Jedi."
- Inspiring images are with us from
the very beginning of the first Star Wars film.
The idea of the numinous, the mysterium tremendum.
Something so big, so intense, so much
beyond our grasp, that, well we have a kind
of mystical experience, or at least an invitation
to one, if we're willing to take in
what's really happening in this story.
What we're up against is way beyond our means,
so if we're going to rise to the occasion,
it's going to take everything we know, and more.
There's where the transformation comes in.
So yes, the stories are profoundly mystical
in their implications, and all you have to
do to join in to the ritual participation
is buy a ticket to the theater.
- Yeah.
I don't have students, I have friends who,
by the time we're done with the process I love dearly.
In fact, it pains me when they finish.
I don't want...
Because then I have to let them go.
The last step is you have to walk on your own.
It's your life, you have to go on your own.
I don't...
This is my friend, this is my companion too.
I walked through with them.
I shared in that experience, we have a bond.
I don't wanna let 'em go.
It breaks my heart, every time.
- So it's all come full circle, and
the people who were once sitting in the hot seat,
are now sitting on the other side of the table,
to ask questions and determine if their
fellow Jedi are ready for the responsibility of knighthood.
- What are your views on motherhood?
- Being able to participate in the growth
of a human being, like blows my mind.
- It's unique to be the black sheep one year,
and then next year you're one of the respected knights.
Ms. Cartwright, how's it different for you?
- I traveled alone for the first time,
to a gathering, I normally bring someone.
- This is the hero's journey, we're all on it.
- I see this as our legacy.
- I'm here to surprise Opie, he doesn't
know I came here from California,
to see him for his first book signing.
- It's been a ride, and out of just those
little things of working on the path,
and living it daily, and kind of
the experiences you have with the...
- I've seen a big growth change,
we actually have conversations now,
because as a teenager, that never happened.
So would you say Jediism brought
your son back to you?
- I would say yes.
- I feel the Jedi path is growing continually,
and each year the gatherings have grown in number.
So next year I really feel that we might
have to go the way of a lot of groups,
and start booking a hotel, and using
the conference rooms within a hotel.
But it's gonna grow again.
And actually, the gathering might evolve.
The year after that, Jedi conventions,
instead of Jedi gatherings.