Rise Of The Jedi Church And Fall Of The Jedi Order
A short time ago, in a galaxy not too far away (actually, in our very own galaxy)…
The Jedi Church was founded. It was established in the town of Holyhead, Anglesey in North Wales and is headed by Barney, 26, and Daniel Jones, 21 – brothers who drew their inspiration from the Star Wars films as well as teachings from other beliefs.
They admit the Jedi Church began as a joke when the results of a 2001 census showed that nearly 400,000 people in the country claimed their belief system to be “Jedi”. However, Barney (a.k.a. Master Jonba Hehol) and Daniel (a.k.a. Master Morda Hehol) firmly believe that they will succeed in transforming it into a proper organized religion.
“It’s serious. We will have teachings based on Yoda – the 900-year-old grand master – as well as readings, essays submitted, meditation and relaxation, visualization and discuss healthy eating. The Jedi religion is about life improvement, inner peace and changing your lifestyle so you have a more fulfilling existence. It’s based on the films but we have brought things into it because the films are a bit more sci-fi. But we have developed on the film’s teachings, introducing teachings we believe the Jedi Knights would seek,” explained Barney (DailyMail.co.uk).
The Jedi Church currently has 80 initiates, who are clad in robes of black while the Masters are clad in robes of brown. There will be a series of tests for the Jedi in order for each to ascend the ranks to “Master”.
Master Jonba Hehol and Master Morda Hehol expounding the teachings of the Jedi Church
(Photo courtesy of: DailyMail.co.uk)
Ah, there is no limit whatsoever to the imaginations of die-hard fans. Since I am a fellow Star Wars fan myself (yes, I admit it), I cannot help but feel pride in their determination to bring certain elements of Star Wars to life. They succeeded in what I once tried and didn’t follow through with.
This may sound a bit geeky at first, but bear with me – it’s a true and rather sad reflection on society in general.
It must have been six years ago. There were eight of us initially who had the same intention in mind: to establish a Jedi Order in our world. Three of us were from Canada, two others were from England, one was from New Zealand, one was from Belgium and another was from Mexico. We began developing our vision of the Jedi Order in earnest.
I guess the major difference between our Jedi Order and the Wales brothers’ Jedi Church is that we focused more on the political function of the Jedi rather than the spiritual element. Our vision was to eventually establish an international Jedi Order that would serve as a moral anchor for all governments in the world, with Jedi ambassadors working alongside each one.
We brainstormed for several months on this project and finally established the Jedi Code of the Order. In time, our Order grew from the original core eight to twenty-one members, with further representation from regions such as U.S.A., Macedonia, and Africa. Six of us core members formed the Jedi Council (half the number in the Star Wars world) while the other two decided to remain as Masters. The rest of the members held the ranks of Jedi Knights or Padawans. The ranks were distributed in such a way so as to prepare for proper delegation of “embassy regions” around the world. However, as most beautiful visions that initially seem to have potential tend to go, it began to unravel.
One of the Council Masters, a major contributor to the development of our Jedi Order, began to push for – how could I put this delicately? – alternate ideals. He attempted to rewrite our Jedi Code and when the rest of the Council did not budge, he resigned from the Order…but not before recruiting many of the Order’s members to his cause. This was a significant blow to our fledgling Order. Those of us who remained tried to hold it together as best we could, but to be honest, none of us had the spark that the ex-Council Master naturally possessed. Within a month of the devastating chasm in the Jedi Order, our vision was abandoned.
In retrospect, even though our attempt to establish the Jedi Order had been born of flights of fancy and definitely naïvety (we were young and blinded by idealism), the episode was a prime example of how even the strongest governments or organizations can never withstand an internal dissension, let alone a newly-conceived one. History has shown us again and again how entire empires can crumble when the smallest fissures begin to appear in its foundations.
Anyway, let’s stray away from the melancholy. To conclude this on a cheerier note, I sincerely congratulate Barney and Daniel Jones on their success in forming the Jedi Church and I wish them all the best in maintaining their vision.
May the Force be with you.
Hello Sir, thank you for such a moving story, it is very saddening to read of your dissension, and I hope it hasn’t knocked you too much.
You should definitely email me, someone with your passion and dedication could be essential to our organisation.
I was truly warmed to read of your feelings towards us, in this age, it is so difficult to find people with a genuine motivation towards something positive, as we have found out from certain pieces of bad press we have recieved…
I would be very honoured if you would email me, so we can discuss things,
May the Force be with you.
Barney and Daniel Jones
Hello, I am amazed at the work you have done that you helped me be more pumped to want to a Jedi. Thank you.
Wow that is so cool I wish I could join it.