Week 2: Your Lessons - Challenges

[Gail Allen]

As a jedi you will often have heard of the three pillars of the jedi. They are the foundation for everything you are taught and everything the jedi order stands for. The three pillers are: The Force, Knowledge and Self-Discipline. The pillars also stand as the basis for the Jedi Code which has five main concepts: Peace, Knowledge, Serenity, Harmony and The Force. These are seen in the Jedi Mantra: ”There is no emotion, 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.”
As a youngling you're still learning though, so for now this is what you should aspire to: ”Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.”

As you grow older though you will come to have a deeper understanding, but it will take a lot of work. In which area do you think you will struggle the most, and which do you think will be the easiest. Why do you think these areas will be particularly easy or hard?

*You are welcome to answer this question as yourself, but you are also more than welcome to answer as your character.

Post your answer below by 11.59 pm on the 31st of May to earn 5 points .

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

The area that will be easiest to understand for Kar’ta is “There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.” Kar’ta comes from an extremely studious species that base their whole society on knowledge and revere it. It is just ingrained in Kar’ta’s nature to be knowledgeable, although it would take some time getting used to also gathering and being well-rounded in knowledge from what Kar’ta perceives to be other castes’ need-to-know information in order to be a good Jedi Apprentice.

The hardest would perhaps be “There is no passion, there is serenity.”. Kar’ta is a very passionate individual, especially when it comes to studying, almost to a fault, so he would have a difficult time understanding why this passion needs to be tempered, especially when the pursuit of it leads to positive things for the order.

[Iverian Gnash]

The most difficult one for April is, "There is no emotion, there is peace." April is quite an emotional Vage as most Vages are. The normal rule that most creatures abide by to hide your emotions doesn't apply for Vages, and they openly discuss them. Taking away all emotion from April will take away a large part of who she is. However, April's planet is very peaceful so in some aspects, she'll be able to replace her emotions for peace.

The easiest one for her is going to be, "There is no chaos, there is harmony," because Vages are organized creatures who always do things for a reason. There is rarely any chaos on Arisvage, if any at all. From building their homes, to venturing out to other planets, everything is done with a sense of calmness about it.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

Lufta already knows, has known all her life, that "Death, yet the Force" is true. The content of all that is is held within the force; forms change, appear and disappear, but always the Force is alive and exuberant. The word otoharu exemplifies this for her: ot-that / o-I / ha-Beauty transcendent / har- Beauty immanent / ru-thou. One simple word for all that is. She was taught that word first and all else flows from it.

Lufta has most difficulty with this: "There is no chaos, there is harmony" because she feels that all of content, all of what is, comes from out of chaos (ha - see above) to assume a form, whether it be a thought/energy form or even unto a more dense physical form. So she had to give the word 'chaos' a different meaning before it seemed it could even be true.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Being a member of the Dragon clan, I feel that the Force will be the easiest for me to master because its aspects - both in terms of the light side and the dark side - speak to my tenaciousness, will, and drive. (The hard part there would be to avoid being corrupted by the dark side and letting my ambition override all of my other desires!) And in light of all of this, it makes sense that serenity would be the hardest aspect for me to strive towards as I always feel like I want to strive and compete for more and always be doing better... and something in me just tells me that this is not what serenity points towards!

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

For Orgendino the challenging aspect or Struggle will be "There is no emotion, there is peace." In this case: Emotion, yet Peace will be the most valuable practice, as he tends to let himself get carried away by the E-lectrical-Motion of internal sensory input. While usually able to keep a grip on things, he'll inconsistently have a difficult time reeling himself back in once overcome by these feelings.

Conversely, and in many ways ironically the exact opposite, the Strength (his area of ease) will come from "There is no death, there is the Force." Dreinkhan evolution has given them quite a tangled look into the spectrum of Life and Death, peering deeply into the multidimensionally infinite world(s) of lightness/the dark. Thus, Death, yet the Force will be easiest for him to continue mastering over time. While their kind currently are not a chaotic or violent species, this was even up until quite recently not the case and has taught them much about themselves. Orgendino, to counteract certain control issues, has spent much of his lifetime honing an ability for "Non-Attachment" to external circumstances, giving himself over to the higher Force.

While this has been a natural talent for letting go without sinking too far into detachment, it is still that of one who has not matured into being able to harness the skill appropriately and will continue to grow as other areas become stronger. That is to say, as an example: it is one thing to trust and give oneself over to the Force, it is another thing to be able to be at Peace with it in the process. This disconnect between the two, more-so than any other faltering, is what causes the most amount of conflict within Orgendino's personal reality.

[February Fortescue]

The most difficult challenge for Lyra will most likely be there is no passion, there is serenity. Lyra believes this refers to letting go of attachments, whether those attachments are to other people, or pets, or places, things, ideas, her health, her thoughts, or anything of the sort. To feel passionate about something is to care very deeply about about it, and while it's ok to care, taking it to that level removes your serenity should you ever lose it or feel in danger of losing it. Lyra is attached to many, many people and things, etc. She is passionate about her family, her pets, her health, her mind, her future, etc. and accepting the idea that she should "see the glass as already broken" isn't something that appeals to her.

The easiest challenge, she believes, will be there is no chaos, there is harmony. She believe that life is a balance of good and evil, darkness and light, happiness and sadness, sunshine and rain, and that these opposites create balance and harmony. If everything were all sweetness and light, people would become lethargic, and there would be no growth or progress. If everything were all darkness, there would be endless destruction. It's the balance between the two, like the middle bar of a seesaw, which creates harmony. This makes complete sense to Lyra, who accepts that she has both darkness and light inside herself, and it is in accepting herself and balancing the two that she is able to create the life she wants and to hopefully find harmony and become a Jedi.

[Emily Spencer]

Despite her young age, Ky'lia has known enough hardship to last her three lifetimes. Life on the west side of Xubos was a scratch-to-live existence and like many denizens of the Drag, she finds it hard to put her trust in anything or anyone. The hardest concept for her to master will be There is no chaos, there is harmony. Her earliest memories are filled with chaos; it was a daily way of life for her up until now. The concept of 'harmony' eludes her, as life on Xubos was anything but harmonious. This was especially true in her former line of work. Putting it quite bluntly, she was a scavenger, an opportunist, and known to be quite ruthless if the occasion warranted. Family ties and friendship meant very little when it came to salvaging goods for resale; it was just the way it was. Life was a constant fight for survival, both in the abstract and all-too-real way. Let your guard down and things could go very wrong, very quickly. She had never been afforded the luxury of harmony and fails to see how it would be beneficial to her now.

Conversely, the easiest concept to grasp will be Ignorance, yet knowledge. Ky'lia may not be the most learned of scholars, but she is far from ignorant. Most every skill the girl possesses has been self-taught, and she prides herself on her ability to study a problem and then tackle it head-on; not always successfully, but the effort, at least, is made. Her life on the streets of Xubos taught her self-reliance, and it was a lesson she learned very well. There are many her age, who came from a much softer background that may have given up, for example, when the ship she had borrowed, found, stolen had broken down on her for the final time. Without a ship, she could not work, and without work, she could not eat. There was no other solution but to build another. She had no idea how when she started out, but with determination (and a bit of help from an old space pirate named Charales Lattgreg), she had done just that. Charales, for his part, was quick to mock her for her ignorance, which only made her more determined than ever to prove him wrong.

Ky'lia honestly sees ignorance of a subject as just another opportunity to learn something, and it is this quality, perhaps, that led to her being here in the first place. At first glance, the girl is a highly unlikely candidate for Jedi training, but surely the Masters must have seen something in her to afford her the chance. After all, once upon a time, there were those that said Luke Skywalker himself did not have the temperament to be a Jedi, and he had become one of the most famous Jedis of all. Then, of course, there was that matter of Darth Vader.....

[Lorainia Riverrider]

The pillar that will be most challenging for Annbur will be here is no chaos, there is harmony. While she is works to be peaceful, chaos still seems to follow her around. While the chaos does not cause her to get in trouble, it does affect her decision making from time to time. This is what has lead to her following her own heart to make decisions instead of letting the chaos make decisions for her.

[Mya Abititeux]

The pillar Zala finds to be the easiest to understand is there is no chaos, there is harmony. She has never been one to allow chaos to overcome her. Instead, she takes stride in the madness, always allowing herself to find some semblance of peace. Somewhere beyond the storm, the sun still shines.
She struggles most with there is no emotion, there is peace because while she can indeed find peace in her emotions, she doesn't think that means that peace is all there is, that the emotions don't lay the foundation for the peace.

Though she cannot see it, the thing she finds ease in and that which she struggles with are quite similar. She looks through the chaos and only finds the harmony, but is unable to look through the emotion to only find the peace.

[Mia Fountain]

The most challenging aspect for Tia to master would be emotion, yet peace, because she can be very emotional at times depending on the situation, and it could lead to making matters worse. Controlling her emotions is something she needs to work on, so that she is able to stay calm in distressing situations and finish her tasks.

The easiest for her to master would be chaos, yet harmony. She is very organized and because of this she does well at controlling the chaos. She has experience in working with the chaos to get tasks completed on time. She has become good at working in controlled chaos.

[Isa Vestal]

I’sa Vestal was nearly not accepted into Jedi training because she lacked many of the characteristics specified in the Jedi Mantra. Ever since she was young, she was prone to outbursts and high levels of energy, making her highly emotional and passionate. This passion and emotion caused I’sa to also be slightly chaotic, thinking more with her emotions than with her head. I’sa believes that this part of the Jedi code is unnecessary and outdated. After studying Jedi that became Dark Jedi or Sith, I’sa realized that many had turned as a result of suppressed emotions that the Jedi code had forbidden them from expressing. In I’sa’s journey toward becoming a Jedi Master, she not only hopes to save lives across the galaxy but looks to change these values once she has enough influence. Until that day comes, she still believes that she will still make a good and proficient Jedi while keeping these feelings intact, thinking that her passion has driven her to be full of courage and a drive to persevere for the sake of both her own pride and the people and things she loved. Of course, this is a dangerous mindset but I’sa is set on believing that her gut will guide her. She has been reminded time and time again that an obstinate Jedi can be even more or a perpetrator of evil than a Sith.

On the other hand, I’sa is highly gifted with the force. As her species, a sub-Iridonian Zabrak, is one heavily tied to force-users and force-sensitive individuals, it is thought that she has inherited this gift from her ancestors. Though sometimes chaotic and uncontrolled, I’sa can manifest great power and her ability to be in touch with both her own self and the life forces around her leave her more strongly tied to the force.

The last value is something a bit more ambiguous for I’sa. She is sometimes reckless, causing her lean less on intellect but is still knowledgeable. Her passion to reform the Jedi code has led her into exploring deep philosophies of both the Sith and Jedi codes as well as the codes of many Gray Jedi. This has made her highly resourceful and creative, letting her think outside of the Jedi norm. However, when it comes to making quick decisions, I’sa is often brash and does not use this full scope of knowledge. During battle and stealth missions, she becomes hyperactive in her use of the Force, leaving aside critical thinking and analysis. This makes her a strategic and calculating thinking when she is not in immediate danger but a horrible strategist when she is under pressure.

[Prof. Sky Alton]

Interestingly, Elesti struggles most with the emotion/peace and passion/ serenity dichotomies, simply because she feels she understands them deeply but doesn’t actually truly appreciate them for what they are. Since birth, she has been trained to put aside her own emotions for the sake of peace with her kind and all other peoples, meaning that she sees peace as the absence of outright conflict and not as something more nuanced. The only passion she knows is her passion to bring about a peaceful resolution to problems and that is less a passion and more an all-consuming fear of the alternative, meaning that she herself never really reaches serenity but instead lives in constant fear of not fulfilling her purpose. During her time at the temple, Elesti has begun to realise the crippling sadness and deep buried anger she has always felt at having to ignore her own needs and have others ignore them as well. Only in watching everyone else communicating their needs, coming to blows and reaching some kind of solution has she started to accept the unbridgeable distance that exists between all members of her species.
However, she is very accepting of the importance of knowledge; trained as a diplomat and arbiter, she knows the value of listening, gathering information and also accounting for gaps in her knowledge or understanding of a situation so that she can later address them. Death is also an easy enough concept for her to lay aside as it has never held much sway over her, given that the Ansmerians are quite a collective people where the individual only matters so far as they help to prevent conflict.

[Prof. Polaris Black]

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
No question – this would be the easiest for me. I have no trouble spending the day in the library or in the company of a Lore Keeper. I love tangential research and learning something new.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.
This would be the hardest for me. No matter how hard I prepare, something uncontrollable gets the best of me. I’m sure I’m an instigator so I clearly have work to do. And chaotic events prevent effective meditation.