h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fixed!

And thank you!

Nice entry

Personally, I always thought of the Force as not a religion as such, but an extension to the Gaia hypothesis, seeing how it emerges from a collective of living organisms but is greater than the sum of its parts. See http://www.oceansonline.com/gaiaho.htm

Therefore I was a little surprised to see no mention of Gaia in the entry. However, as the entry is focussed on the Jedi "religion", I will bow to the concensus.

There were no references to the Gaia hypothesis because I felt that Taoism (pronounced 'Daoism') would be a better comparison. Although there are many similarities between the Force and the Gaia hypothesis, the information I could gather on modern Force philosophy did not have anything about the galaxy as an organism, nor any sense of self-preservation in the will of the Force (though I suppose that it follows from a will for balance, not all force-users even believe that the Force has a will.)

You would probably also relate Taoism to the Gaia hypothesis in the same way you would relate the Force to it, since Tao is described as 'a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living' that 'regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe.' (See http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm)
This is very similar to the idea that 'our planet functions as a single organism that maintains conditions necessary for its survival' presented in the page you linked.

The Force has been described as eastern thought presented as a western religion. Sometimes I think it's the opposite... it has a habit of mixing the two together.

Note to self: http://www.taoism.net/enter.htm is a much nicer-looking page on Taoism, but it doesn't have as much information. Maybe this should replace the other link.

What about this?

A240634

It seems to be in need of an update, though...

Yes, it doesn't do a very good job of explaining Taoism... but I'm always in favour of adding relevant links. How about "(See: A240634)" and if the sub-eds don't like it, they can cut it.

I have a rather vague idea of what Taoism stands for, but from my meagre knowledge it does seem rather closer to what I've read here about the Jedi, than Jedi does to the Gaia principle.

Very nice entry

Would you be interested in updating the Tao Te Ching entry in the future?

I honestly have very little knowledge of the 'Tao te Ching' or even Taoism itself... it would be a reasearch project, but I would quite enjoy it.

I have no idea what the procedure for updating an entry is... do I write a whole new one, using info from the old one and listing the original author as a researcher? If so, where do I submit it?

In some ways I think the guide also needs a whole new article, 'Taoism', but the Tao te Ching article needs its own updating.

It's a very flattering offer, considering I haven't gotten anything edited yet!

Well, there are a great many older h2g2 entries which need updating, and I always like to take every opportunity to nudge people in the direction of the UpdateForum

It's not very well explained there since in practice things usually are done a little differently.

If you want to completely junk and then rewrite an entry, do so and submit it to PR as suggested with a note that it's intended as a replacement for the original.

If you want to keep much of the original but simply tidy it up and also add some of your own content, submit it to the Update Forum.

If you just want to add a line or two, start a conversation at Editorial Feedback.

If and when you decide to do this, and if you need any more guidance, you can find me by clicking on my name

Oh, Isle. I'd forgotten to ask while we were on our pedantic debate:

When listing the Jedi Code, you omitted a line that was used in Knights of the Old Republic: 'There is no chaos, there is harmony." Did you do so because that's the only place it appears? If so, I don't blame you for leaving it out, but if the line appears in other places, then it warrants inclusion. After all, the only place I've seen that Sith Code is in KotOR...

Thanks for catching that! It was not an intentional omission; Apparently my resource was not complete. I intended to use the KotOR codes... it's a little sad that I caught an error in the Sith code, but not in the Jedi code!

It turns out that this is a widespread error on the internet: If you search 'Jedi code', the first several results will give the four-line version, but KotOR and Wikipedia use the five-liner.

Updated! Thank you!

No problem. While I'm not a major fanboy, I have an odd eidetic memory, where I forget mundane useful stuff, but have a steel-trap mind for trivia like that. Glad I can be of help.

I did have a little entry about this tucked away, A967386, but never really bothered to do anything with it. so well done I like your entry.

Given that Emporer Palpatine has become Pope, I think that Jedi rapidly is becoming mainstream

good god let our poor OLD pope alone

*Gently nudges this back into the limelight*

This is an excellent post depicting the emergence of the occult into something almost mainstream. It is kinda fun to watch something that has been marginalized like science-fiction edge its way back towards the forefront through the strength and undying devotion of geeks sitting in their mother's basement eating baked beans out of a can.

To be honest, I love the entire saga, it is just somewhat depressing that so many people have latched themselves onto a religion that is little more than a bit used by a quirky film maker to provide that 'extra flare' to his hero. Oh well, I've ranted enough.

Truly a fine work (and none of what I said earlier was aimed at you). Question: Have their been any formal meetings, congregations, temples, etc erected for these new Jedi? It would be an interesting inclusion if they have.

Good luck and May the force be with you.

No formal meetings, congregations or temples that I know of, but then I don't live in New Zealand, Australia or the UK. Internet searches turned up no such thing, except for a few references to www.jediism.org - which is now a garbage advertising page or whatever you'd like to call it. So it would seem that no institution has been established.

But then, I saw somebody wearing a lightsaber replica around school today...

I like it, very interesting, Only two suggestions, Jedism in Scotland, Ireland (I, being from scotland know a few people who put this down on their forms) what about other countries, the rest of Europe, is it spreading there what is the worldwide following? http://www.gonmad.co.uk/jedicensus/ may be of help (Although i wouldnt blame you if you couldnt find anything for the rest of britain the rest of the world though i saw some stuff)

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