Then slowly my beliefs under went a shift. I had a series of experiences that led to me making a radical change in the way I view things. As this happened I started to view the Star Wars saga with new eyes. Admittedly the hair and clothes still seemed silly, but there was something about the Jedi that caught my attention and imagination.

So I started to read the books and comics. Anything to do with the Jedi I devoured. Everything else I still found faintly boring. While I was reading fiction I was also gaining an interest in Zen, gnosticism, mysticism, Druidism, Shamanic practices to name a few.

The thing I started to notice was that the beliefs of the Jedi as shown in the books and the movies by and large drew from all those real world traditions and then synthesised them. Best of all the Jedi had no real dogma, they had no churches, and no "mumbo jumbo". Rather what they taught was using your mind to tap into a field of universal energy to help achieve desired results. No candles to light, no prayers to be said, no chanting required. As someone who likes the low key approach to things this was very appealing.

Then the new movie came out. The Phantom Menace. I was agog. Sure it was simplistic in many ways but it had one thing that made it stand out head and shoulders above the original trilogy... LOTS OF JEDI!

So of course my interest renewed I started to scour the internet for Star Wars related sites. That was when I found the Jedi Academy. A place for people who wanted to be Jedi in the real world. People from all walks of life who were not nuts, who did not go around in brown robes unless just having gotten up in the morning, and most importantly who felt that the Jedi way was something that had a value in the real world beyond the simple dimensions that the movies had given it.

As time progressed the Academy became a place for people to relax and discuss. Topics became lighter in nature. It became a place more for enjoyment and camaraderie than serious study.

Around this time Project Jedi was formed. It has since grown into a place for serious intellectual and philosophical endeavors.

I still felt that something was missing. In creating the Jedi Union I am attempting to offer what could be considered the third part of a triad.

The purpose of the Jedi Union is for people from to come together and talk about what it means to them to practice the Jedi Way in real life. To discuss how much if any the stories contained in the movies and books. To share ideas and experiences and in so sharing to come to better understand ourselves and each other.

So welcome, enjoy, read what others have left and leave something of your own for others to read.