Pandemic Archives - The Daily Jedi

“Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.” – Yoda

The AA 12 Steps are a path to recovery and peace. The program takes an alcoholic who is at war with herself and others and redeems them. Recovery is arrived at by committing to action. Action changes thinking and ultimately beliefs.

In my experience the 12 steps are transformative at a mental, physical, emotional and spiritual level. Taking the first three steps bought me out of my personal “rock bottom”. The journey has since led to sustained sobriety and a measure of serenity I had never known before.

I was able to make peace with the past, myself, others and my Higher Power. It was a new beginning. A second chance. A way out of suffering.

“I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator, there will be nothing left of our cities, our people, our way of life…” – Padme Amidala

The world is sick. Suffering is everywhere. A pandemic rages across the world, the global economy is sinking, starvation and famine is likely in many countries. The United States is burning as years of fear, anger, frustration, hate and division explodes into violence and looting. Media pumps out more fear which only feeds on itself.

There are no easy solutions. Each person has a duty to act in accordance with what is right. To first, be a good human being. To act on the things that they can control. This includes one’s own emotions and actions. Fear is an illusion, anger is a choice and hate is a grave fault.

“Revenge is a confession of pain.” – The Clone Wars

Perhaps the spirit of the 12 Steps provide a model path to heal not just the individual but also the community and ultimately the planet. What the world needs right now is not more fear and anger but hope, compassion and forgiveness. Whether we like it or not we really are connected and in this together.

Here are 12 suggested steps:

First admitting a problem exists, is systemic, is causing harm and needs to change.
Being willing to accept a vision for change that provides hope.
Committing to that vision.
Being honest about the injustices that have been done.
Being committed to not allowing those injustices to repeat.
Questioning ones beliefs and seeking to change individual behaviour and attitudes at a personal level.
Demonstrating that change comes through ones actions and words.
Seeking to address injustices of the past and present.
Taking meaningful action to right those wrongs and provide justice for all.
Being open, honest and transparent about mistakes as they arise. Resolving to fix them.
Taking time to be grateful, reflecting on achievements and celebrating success.
Learning constantly and striving for continuous improvement.

How we conduct ourselves during these times will ultimately determine where we end up. The choices we face could never have been more stark than now.

Make the right choices. That’s all you have to do.

“There is no Emotion; there is Peace” – Jedi Code

“He who seeks to control fate shall never find peace.” – Ghosts of Mortis (The Clone Wars)

The underlying message of the mantra “There is no Emotion; there is Peace” is Equanimity. Emotion is a part of being human and to fully experience life one must embrace the full spectrum of emotions whether perceived as negative or positive.

The Buddha said that in life “there will be 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows”, that everything in life is essentially impermanent and transient. To grasp to anything, to build attachment, leads only to suffering. This includes emotions.

Equanimity is being able to experience emotions fully but without forming attachment to them. Without giving emotions free rein we can experience acceptance and peace.

In order to achieve deep inner peace one must be able to allow emotions to be as they are. To fight emotions such as fear, anger or grief is to give it life. What you resist persists. By being able to observe our emotional state, being aware of it and not letting it dominate our lives or dictate how we react to situations is the key to achieving inner peace.

The image of a Jedi calm in the face of adversity and completely at peace as a storm of fear and violence rages around him is in essence what this line teaches us. Think of Qui-Gon Jinn facing Darth Maul in the final scenes of the “Phantom Menace”. Before the duel Qui-Gon Jinn meditates despite the danger he faces and finds inner peace. Decades later when Obi-Wan Kenobi met his former friend and apprentice on the Death Star he also confronted the peril with equanimity.

Right now the world faces peril in the form of a pandemic. There has been nothing like it for over a hundred years. How this one will play out no one really knows and much of it depends on the actions that each individual takes in the face of this global threat.

No one is immune and everyone will be affected in some way. It is a reminder that we live in a global community. The most unremarkable acts, far away, can have profound consequences for all.

Will you face the peril with fear, anger and denial? Will you act irrationally and irresponsibly or will you find calm and peace amidst the calamity? Jedi Training prepares us for times such as these so that we can face them with equanimity. We accept that it is happening, we respond rationally and use self discipline to do what is expected of us without complaint.

Recovery means practicing our principles every day, not just when things are going well.

Use these times and every challenge you face to practice your principles. Embrace emotions as the divine gift that they are, but don’t let them rule you. Don’t give in to fear. Be “calm, at peace, passive”.