We Don’t Need Heroes, We Need Each Other:
Community, the Fourth Pillar
One of the first essays I wrote for jedipath.org was on the Pillars of Jedi Strength. I later expanded my thoughts in a chapter of my book, Your First Step Into a Larger World. I created a Pillars Exercise to help Jedi let go of attachments. The three pillars are the Force, Knowledge, and Self-Discipline. But while mentoring another Jedi, Blue said it believed that community was the fourth pillar. I considered its supposition and, on reflection, Blue was right. The fourth pillar of Jedi strength is community.
In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker defeats Darth Vader, who kills the Emperor. Some readings of this part of the story cast the Jedi as a singular hero toppling an Empire. The idea of a singular hero turning the tide and securing victory is an appealing fantasy, and one often used by fascists when recruiting for their cause. Luke Skywalker did not defeat the Empire or even destroy the first Death Star on his own. He was brought to these moments by a community of support working together to place him in those places and times. To get to the trench run above Yavin IV, he was raised and protected by his family growing up. He was mentored by Ben Kenobi in the ways of the Force. He was equipped by the community of the Rebel Alliance with all its support staff, leadership, and fellow fighters. Luke was not alone even when Artoo was shot. His way was cleared by Han Solo and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon. A whole collective of people made it possible to destroy the Death Star, and later the Empire. No hero acts alone to effect change, they only can do so as part of a movement.
I have been on the Jedi Path now for nearly 20 years. Some of that dipping in and out of the Jedi Community, both online and in the real world. I couldn’t tell you how many aspiring Jedi I have met over the decades, but there is some commonality across most of the people this path and lifestyle appeal to. Qualities such as wanting to help others, a dedication to personal improvement, and to connect with other Jedi among them. Another trait, and one that holds the wider community back, is something I estimate upwards of 95% of all Jedi have: A hero complex. (The 5% or less that do not have this trait now likely had it at the beginning of their Jedi path and have outgrown it or left it behind for other reasons.) We fulfill this fantasy with video games and role-playing, maybe learning martial arts and swordplay. Some of us dress up in costume, and we play it out as we join Jedi groups and organizations and try to climb the hierarchy of those places for a leadership position. But by and large, the wider Jedi community has had very little impact in the world outside the Jedi community.
Most people have interest in the Jedi Path because they see in Star Wars media Jedi heroes and want to be heroic themselves. They see the work of Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey, which gave George Lucas the mythological framework of the original Star Wars trilogy, and they want to TAKE that journey. Over the past two decades, many have mapped out for themselves such a journey or followed a “map” at some Jedi training website. All with dreams of being that hero and making a difference in the world.
I long ago created criteria for elements of the Jedi Path: does it have benefit and utility? At the time, I saw a lot of practices among Jedi that were the equivalent of spinning their wheels or endless navel gazing, or debate that really didn’t do much of anything or have any positive results or forward progress. I consider these practices as “cruft,” a term I picked up as a computer hacker in my younger years. Cruft is the stuff that is redundant, gets in the way, overcomplicates things, and is often left over from previous versions and no longer needed. So, I surmised that if something didn’t have measurable benefit and utility, not only could that thing be removed from my practice, it should be removed.
So this leads us to the question: Does the Jedi Path need us to be heroes? Does being a hero have benefit and utility? To answer this honestly, we need to step away from our ego. Our ego may say, yes, the world needs heroes, and why not me? But all the Jedi to your left, and all the Jedi to your right, are asking the same thing. And if everyone is a hero, then individual work is repeated with small impacts, each trying for a singular moment or adventure, instead of working collectively. And if collective effort has more impact than individual heroism, is it something to pursue? And if we do pursue it why us and not any of the other multitude of Jedi? Does seeking to be a singular Hero have benefit and utility? I laid out in the opening paragraphs, a hero is nothing without a movement behind them, and for a movement, we need a community. We don’t need heroes; what we really need is each other. Working together, each according to their ability towards a common goal of compassion, justice, and equity. We don’t need a hero to do this work, but it works better to do so in a community.
So when we work with a community towards the common purpose of justice and equity, we can rely on those around us to do the work with us through mutual support, as we support those around us towards the same goals. We can be heroic, and enable others around us to be the same, without any of us needing the be the main character of “the hero”. The work of the Jedi Path is to effect change. First, through our personal transformation, then the transformation of the world. We cannot do this on our own. We need each other. Change usually happens in small, incremental steps, each one building on what came before. It is this collective work, supporting each other, building on what came before, and supporting what comes after. The path is bigger than any one of us, and the path is about change. It both changes us, and we change the path as we learn better ways to train, what works, and what is cruft, and what effects change and what spins our wheels in the past. Collectively, we learn this much faster and more efficiently than working on our own. We cannot accomplish this if we hermit away by ourselves (though time to step back and contemplate is important from time to time), but in community building a movement of effective change, we just may see a world that is just and equitable. Together. We will make it there along with each other, or we will not make it at all. But I have hope that we all will be collectively liberated if we stop looking for one big heroic moment, and instead do the needed work with each other.
The times we find ourselves in are dark indeed. We cannot afford to be on our own. We must rely on each other and be relied on by others. We need to think and act strategically as those in power seek to oppress, remove, or destroy marginalized people. We must trust in our communities for mutual aid and mutual protection. Remember, survival is resistance, joy is revolutionary. Build your rebellion on hope.