I have learned them through study, on my own, with very little external influence. I was not raised in a church, my family is spiritually dead. They have no relationship with God. I have studied many spiritual subjects and have come to my conclusions based on what resonates as truth to me. I don’t just believe in what is convenient for me either, because many of my beliefs are not easy for me to swallow. Spirituality takes hard work to develop, just like anything else worth having.

2. How do you know you are doing the right thing vs. the wrong thing? Do you base this on external laws (like the 10 commandments or the laws of your country)? Do you listen to your conscience even though it may go against the standard “rules” of society? 

I just know. External laws have nothing to do with it, although many of my moral standpoints represent external laws. The right thing to me is based on what is good for everyone else, not necessarily myself. The right thing is always selfless. I always listen to my conscience and intuition. I trust myself, and others can trust me to.

3.What are your beliefs about death?Do you believe we have one lifetime or more in physical form? What do you believe happens when you die? Where did these beliefs come from?

I treat life and death indifferently. Life to me is the process of death. We must be aware that death is always lurking. If we fool ourselves into thinking that “there is always tomorrow” we sell ourselves short. By being constantly aware of death we can be more motivated to live, and not take life for granted. It helps me to make the most of every moment. I do believe that we reincarnate. In fact I remember having my first moment of conciousness in this life, and at that point having memories of a past life. I believe that when we die if we are not pure, if we are not ready for ascension we do not go into “the light”. It blinds us and we return to learn the lessons still needed. If we are ready then we ascend and return to the force. If our karma is extremely weighty the light scares us down into oblivion exposing our wrongs and dissipates them so we can again return to the natural world to try again. We will all ascend. I learned this particular belief from Maha Vajra, and it resonates as truth to me. It is the cyclic nature of life.

4. Do you believe in a God of some kind? If so, what are the primary characteristics of God?

 I believe in an intelligent life “force”. I believe that force is inherent in everything in the universe. It is a supreme conciousness and everything in the universe is a manifestation of that conciousness. We are but little cells in the body of the universe. Just like the human body, we are all connected, part of the same body. Some of us are at a higher vibratory rate, others our not. That is why some are more functional than others, some are more enlightened, but there is no good or evil. That is what I believe at this point of my life anyway. There is good in everyone.

5. What do you consider spiritual practice? Which, if any, do you practice?

Life in this world is spiritual practice, and like it or not; we all practice everyday! This seems very simple, but it is true. We always try and overcomplicate things. Life is a learning experience that brings us to our knees until we become more spiritual. At this point we can transcend the physical world. I communicate with the universal “force” who I call God. I meditate. And I learn to combat self with martial arts training. And I continually study religion and spirituality to develop my belief system and gain greater understanding. I also read Holy books.

Why do I believe this? I believe this because science has proven that everything is the same as everything else at the molecular level. Everything is connected and mutually dependant. We are all made of the same substance  as rock, trees, water, dirt, etc. We are made up of the same stuff as everything else. We are all the living embodiment of the force and so is everything else. The force is all there is. Here is a good analogy. If a banana is good or rotten, it doesn’t change that it’s a banana. One end of the pole represents a green banana, the other end represents a brown banana. Everything in between is merely a different degree of how good  the banana is. At what point is it good to eat, at what point is it rotten? That all is a matter of human preference and there is no real answer. It’s all in how you perceive things in relationship to your conditioned identity.

How did I come to this realization? I simply learned to think outside the box and study. I educate myself on a subject and if it resonates as truth to me I believe it. It just makes sense. Whether the banana is black and buried in compost doesn’t change the fact that it’s made as the same material as my skin and hair. The only difference is vibrational frequency. The higher the vibrational frequency the more vibrant that thing is. The death of all things is a result of a slowing vibrational force. It is not a different force that is good or bad. It is the same force vibrating at a different degree of speed. One in the same it is! LOL!

What was a situation where this belief was exemplified? There was some bananas on the top of my fridge that turned funny looking, and the Discovery channel told me they were okay. LOL! Seriously though, it is exemplified under a microscope every day. I don’t have to prove it, it proves itself.

Second main belief: We create our reality through the power of our thoughts. Thoughts become things. This is the universal Law of Attraction.

Why do I believe this? Our thoughts like everything else have a frequency that goes out into the universe. These frequencies effect matter and communicate to the surroundings what it is we think about. These things manifest as reality. Molecules are directly effected by our thoughts. In fact they say that they aren’t even measurable until we intend to measure them. That means that the molecules relate to us and our intentions. Go to you Tube and watch the video Reality’s a Dream. I know it’s spelled wrong but that’s how it’s listed. If we are made in God’s image and God is a creating force that is one with us and everything else, then we too can create using that same power.

How did I come to this realization? I watched the secret, read the secret, and read the Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Law of Attraction. However that is not the end of the realization in itself. I apply it every day and my life is getting better. Other people  think at a lower frequency and their lives directly reflect that. Again look around, it proves itself.

What was a situation where this belief was exemplified? I was broke working a job I hated, and I asked myself, “How can I change this?” I had no university education, but I had 20 years of martial arts training. I love to teach but I had no money to open a school. So I decided it might be possible to start an online school. However I started visualizing a brick and mortar school as I was trying to build a generic web-site. A month later a friend got ahold of me who said he was stuck in a 2 year lease with this building he didn’t want anymore. He also said the rent was only $600 because he bartered with the landlord for his security services. Needles to say I jumped on it, and things just keep improving.

Another example is my Mothers boyfriend. He had this phobia of getting hurt and not being able to make money as a truck driver because he had no money to fall back on. All he talked about were the what if’s! Then he pinched a nerve in his back, and now he is in a wheelchair.

Third main belief: The world is sustained by the force and we are part of that force. We were thought of and designed and created by this higher intelligence, there was no random big bang which we evolved from. (to put this force in a religious box does not glorify it, in fact it is an insult to its power and might.)

Why do I believe this? The big bang just doesn’t make logical sense. To say that a big explosion randomly occurred and caused the perfect conditions to sustain life is just retarded. We have just the right gases in the atmosphere to survive in just the right ratios. If we were any closer to the sun we would fry,and any farther and we would freeze. I could go on and on. Just think about it. The odds of this just are not possible. That is like me taking C4 to a junk yard, detonating it, and the result being a working and functional Lamborghini Diablo! Evolution is a scientific contradiction also. I forget its name, but there is a scientific law that says everything in creation dissipates. In other words, nothing born gets newer, we age and dissipate and go back to where we came. There are too many missing links in the evolutionary chain to prove it real anyway. It is all theory that is outdated and we are brainwashed into believing it.

How did you come to these realizations? I spent one year in a residential Bible institute. My view on Christianity is not traditional but that is irrelevant. I studied apologetics obsessively. Science points to an intelligent creator more and more. However if you are a scientist and you talk about it you lose your career. Universities brainwash us into buying into their biased theories and most of us are just too darned lazy to research the truth by ourselves.

What was a situation where this belief was exemplified? I simply read the other side of the story. Many scientist who have tried to prove creation wrong ended proving themselves wrong. When you do the math, it takes more faith to not believe in an underlying intelligent force than it does to believe in one. Just do the research and weigh the evidence. Then present the facts to a university professor who only knows his side of the story and watch him get all pissed off. That’s always fun!

-Syris

I asked him, “Why are you so frustrated?” His reply was, “You are just so freaking fluid and fast, I feel like a clumsy retard!”

I get this from new students all the time. They all want to get to be Bruce Lee overnight. They want to be great at martial arts with no investment of time and effort. In a way it can be insulting. I persevered through a down right abusive instructor, and a lot of blood sweat and tears to get as good as I am today. It cost me a lot of pain and suffering, and very, very hard work. There is not a job in this world as hard or fulfilling as the path of the warrior.

I told him that the answer to his question relies on his investment and effort. Only he can decide whether he will be any good. Age is just an excuse. I have trained guys in their sixties and watched them grow substantially through martial art. I can guide him but I can’t make him work to reach his goals. 

What sucks is that a true warrior will feel like him regardless of how good they may be. There is always room to grow and improve, no matter how much you have already grown. I always feel like I suck! However that feeling fuels the wish for continuous improvement. You just have to persevere, and work through it. That is why this art is not for everybody. Many times people burn out emotionally before they do physically. I am always testing the limitations of the student, so that they can recognize them and demolish them.

As I was learning JKD I watched students come and go. After 13 years there are only 3 of us that persevered. Anyway, this gave me some encouragement because it reminded me that I am the one in control of my destiny. I can choose how much I grow as a Jedi and if I don’t grow, I have no one to blame but myself. There are no teammates to blame, I can’t blame the referee. And that is why I have always cherished the solitary path of the warrior. My fate is in my hands and the more I sweat and hurt in training, the less I will bleed on the battlefield.

- Syris

1. What first inspired you to seek the Jedi path in your life? “Truthfully I feel like I have always been on it. Everything I have ever studied was a progressive step toward the Jedi Knights path. I feel this path manifested itself due to my diligent study of martial arts, religion, spirituality, and metaphysics. It discovered me.”

2. Were there any key events around that time that caused you to seek this path? “Yes. I moved here to Amarillo to open a martial arts school. I left everything I knew to follow a dream in hopes that I can bring my children and my fiancée home to me, and get them out of the negativity that is trying to corrupt their lives. This fell into my lap, I can’t even tell you how. It came right in time because I have no one here to guide me. Now I have the Jedi path to follow, and I see that it will always go in the right direction.”

3.How did you find this training? Like I said, it found me. A friend brought over some Star Wars movies to watch. I wanted to google Jedi pictures or something and I clicked on your link somehow. I saw the word REALIST and was hooked!

a. Have you received any training elsewhere? “I have been researching all this stuff my whole life, but no; I have never actually trained it in any great detail. Just a little here and there. I also recently joined the Order of the Jedi.”

Part 2: The View Along the Way

1. How would you define a Jedi? “I would define a Jedi as a knight, a great warrior who spends his whole life developing virtue and compassion. A Jedi is a student of the force. A man or woman who develops it to its greatest potential for the empowerment of the world, in order to bring hope and peace. We are protectors and servants to those in need.”

2. What aspects of the Jedi do you aspire to? “All of them. I will find balance in my study so that I can consistently improve in all areas of life. This includes warrior skills, meditation, psychic development, ESP, reiki healing, community service and leader ship skills, as well as leadership and communication. I will leave no stone unturned in regard to personal development!”

3. What does it mean to be a Jedi in society? “It means to go out of my way to become more than just a productive part of it. It means earning more so that I have more to give. It means looking for opportunities to serve the community, to strengthen the collective conscious of the world so that we will manifest peace instead of chaos on our planet. It means to fight for what we believe in with a ferocity that this world has yet to see, and to win!”

Part 3: Looking Forward

1. What are your goals in your Jedi training for the next three months? “My goals are to consistently train in mind, body and spirit. I will start meditating more and working on ESP. I will strap on a white belt and go learn the way of the sword. I will strength train without neglecting flexibility and endurance. I will start the process of changing my lifestyle in a way that will be conducive to my growth as a Jedi.”

a. The next six months? My goals are to have some more experience in feeling the force and to develop my intuition in a more practical and useful way. By this time I want to diligently serve my community using my martial arts studio as a springboard for helping others to empower themselves in a more complete way.”

b. The next year? By this time I want to have improved dramatically in all areas mentioned thus far. I want to be a descent sword fighter by then also. I want to glow with radiating health and abundance so that people are inspired by being around me. I will re-asses my goals at that time, and plan for even more growth and development.

2. What do you anticipate will be your biggest challenge to reaching those goals? “Time and money. I have to spend every penny I have on keeping my dojo open until it becomes a profitable endeavor. This makes it hard to afford books, and classes that would be beneficial to me as a Jedi.” I don’t know where to even look to find instructors in Reiki or energy work or meditation anyway. I will have to look into my options. Time is an issue because I spend a lot of time teaching martial art, so it is hard to find time to learn. I am making time now though, and as my business grows I will cross that bridge when I come to it.”

I am excited ecstatic about this journey. I have already busted through some plateaus so any challenges I face seem irrelevant. This will give me purpose and initiative. Failure is not an option, and whats really cool is that I feel like there is no way to fail as long as I stay on the road. All lessons learned will be beneficial and have an accumulative effect. I can even be thankful for opposition because I work best under pressure!”

May the force be with you. – Syris

I had some strange experiences with this exercise. First of all, it was like I would lose all awareness of my body and surroundings while going in and out of a dream state. I don’t even know how much time I was visualizing the guided meditation. I was working at it but thoughts would just get in as dreams and I would lose complete awareness. I just kind of let them go in and out because I figured too much effort would be counterproductive.

Although my eyes were closed I saw flashes of white light. I could also swear that someone touched my right arm too, it kind of freaked me out; but I just continued the meditation. I experienced another strange physical phenomenon. At one point my heart skipped a beat, and at another it added an extra. Also, I could have sworn I performed two inhalations in a row instead of the normal inhale then exhale cycle. This was the most profound to me because it was like one huge continuous inhalation. It felt pretty unnatural.

This was a strange and almost supernatural experience, and I almost do not believe it. I have not slept very much the past few days so maybe it is because I was tired. Maybe I was delusional. Is this type of thing normal?

I decided That since I am mainly a mental intuitive because I scored a 57 in that area, I should do this exercise for the next 11 days that I will be charging the mantra, to help bring me some balance. My physical intuitiveness was a 37, emotional 43, and spiritual intuitiveness was at 39.

That was a strange meditation experience though. An interesting hour to say the least, but I felt good afterword.

-Syris

Through my experience so far from reading the introductory course from The Institute for Jedi Realist Studies, I have already learned a little about myself. I have learned that my strength lies in mental  intuition. I knew that I had strong intuition, I know peoples thoughts and intentions quite well, even if they don’t. It makes me seem cold-hearted sometimes also. Someone may say, “I don’t feel good,” and when I know they are lying to get sympathy I withdraw my attention. However if someone were to say they did not feel good, and I knew it was true, nothing would be able to stop me from doing my best to care for them.

I simply hate wasting energy on lies! What sucks is that on another organization other than the realist group, I sense nothing but competition for rank. The leader is awesome, and so are his teachings, however, members have this vibe of false humility. Like, “Look at how humble I am, hurry look!” So much time is spent on trying to impress others through the mask of humility that these people are losing sight of the real issue. This  causes friction between people and myself, and many times bad feelings are the result, if not hurt feelings. It is usually me, who is the cause of the bad feelings despite my so-called “good intentions.”

 Just like I withdraw myself from those who pretend to be sick, or those who lie about whatever, I almost want to withdraw from this group because I feel like it is a waste of the force. I just don’t get it. Why waste so much energy on roleplay to impress others? False humility is really just arrogance! Everyone just insists on feeding the ego to grasp a sense of self. The sense of self is the biggest illusion. Therefore, me trying to withdraw from these people is also counterproductive. I can’t withdraw because we are one in the same.

On the molecular level it has been scientifically proven that we are all connected. Not just us as people but the whole universe! We are not separate at all, we are all but pockets of energy in the same “force soup.”  Science is telling us this now, but spiritualists have told us this for centuries.

It reminds me of the fall of Lucifer who was the minister of music in heaven. What did he want to do? Pridefully separate himself from God, and compete with him for the greatest title of status as ruler of the universe. I don’t think it has anything to do with sin. What has destroyed man is their need to separate themselves from each other, and the living breathing force that we are in all actuality, already one with. Does my finger compete with my penis to rule over my body? Then why should the body of the force and its collective concioussness be weakened by such nonsense? The answer is really simple. It isn’t weakened by it at all.

Power, false humility, ego, it is all one in the same. The force, and the so-called “dark side” are mutually dependant. Varying degrees of the same force. Some view friction between people as a divide between us all, like it is almost toxic. However, I know that it is needed. There is no “dark side”, just another necessary part of the force that we need to survive.

We need friction to create vibration and movement at the molecular level. This is the essance of life. The friction we experience between each other is just an example of that same thing on a larger scale. We create friction with each other to sustain the life of the living breathing force. We are but tiny cells in the body of the universe, the universe is but a tiny cell in the galaxy.

There is no Yin and Yang, there is Yin Yang. They are mutually dependant and not mutually exclusive. No good and evil, no up and down, no opposites at all. Opposites is just another illusion! Man I will think myself to death one day! I hope you can get at least one organized thought out of this. My mind is all over all the time, and it really does just need to stop.

-Syris