American Jedi Page #7

---

films, and in the stories.

But we see it in actual

action, with real

people doing that similar

process of growth.

- So this labyrinth

represents everything

you have done to get here.

Each stone, each

rock, each tree,

all represents a point in your

life that you have overcome.

Continue to mediate

on who you have been,

who you are, and

who you will become.

- Gabe's gonna bring them

through, one at a time,

this is a kind of

walking meditation,

help them confront their inner

fears, their inner doubts.

The things that can

corrupt, or destroy, a Jedi.

- And so now we

continue through life.

Its many challenges.

Its pitfalls.

- At its best,

religion is our human

attempt to reach out to

God, and to embrace God,

and to be led by

God, which is what

happens in Star

Wars, for example.

The main character

is nothing, if he's

not led by his spiritual guide.

- [Gabe] And see that

stone in your mind's eye.

Feel it, what is that fear?

- Pain.

Emotional pain.

- Failure itself.

- Being alone.

- [Gabe] Why is that scary?

- Because I've been alone.

I know what it feels like,

it's terrifying, it's...

It's a giant, black gaping, maw.

There's nothing.

There's no one.

Not even yourself.

- [Gabe] What do you see?

- [speaks indistinctly]

I left Las Vegas.

- [Gabe] What's different now?

- Instead of letting

other things control me,

I control what I'm doing,

not substances.

It's me.

- [Gabe] It's something

you have caused?

- Indirectly.

To myself.

- [Gabe] How can

you overcome it?

- Acceptance.

Recognition.

Acknowledgement.

And time.

- [Gabe] Do you think

you'll ever be alone again?

- I'd like to think not.

- [Gabe] What can you do

to ensure that you aren't?

- Not join the military

again, that's for sure.

- [Gabe] And now,

take another stone.

And close your eyes.

And see that stone again.

It's taking shape,

becoming a time, a belief

that you connect with

the misuse of power.

Do you see it?

- Yes.

It's the Marine Corps.

- [Gabe] Why?

- Because it is the...

Biggest abuse of power,

I have ever come to

experience, personally.

- And what have you

done to take control?

- [Perris] I stood up,

and I said this is wrong.

- [Gabe] Are you

happy with yourself?

- I am.

- [Council Member] It's their

job to know themselves well

enough that they

can't be broken.

It's their job to

know themselves well

enough that they can answer

what their weaknesses are.

Because if they can't do

that, they're not a knight.

They're not a Jedi

Knight at least.

I'm the person who has

to test their mettle.

My job is to try

to overwhelm them,

with intensity, and emotionally.

Michael Hannigan.

I'm starting to think I haven't

met you, until this week.

Place your hand on the stone.

The other.

Close your eyes,

take a deep breath.

Find the greatest of your fears.

When you remove your

hand from that stone,

you will release that fear.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Say what that fear was,

or say nothing.

- Inadequacy.

- False fear.

That the misunderstandings

about me were true.

That I am truly a destructive...

...force.

- [Council Member]

Do you wish to share?

- By the way, rituals

are not believed

in by everybody participating

in them equally.

Total belief is not

required for it to work.

Uniform belief is not

required for it to work.

It is the doing itself that

will produce the outcome.

- It will make it

harder from here.

In the past, you

were asked to let go.

But now I'm asking

you to engulf.

To embrace the chaos

within yourself.

To embrace the pain.

To embrace all of

the hatred, and all

of the suffering that

has been caused to you.

And that you have

caused to others.

Raise your hand to

the sky with the rock.

Feel the Force.

I want you to focus,

and visualize,

and feel the Force

rising up from the

core of the Earth, through you.

From the very core of

the Earth, filling you,

and pushing the pain.

I want you to push

it into that rock.

Let the Force move

it into that rock.

You may let go of this

burden, once and for all.

When you feel that

you have moved all

of that into that

stone, you may stand.

- For me, the fact that

there is an invisible

world, that is more

powerful than we,

or that we really

tap into, we really

tap into the spiritual

world, and its Force,

that can strengthen us,

help us to come

alive, in ways that we didn't

know that we could be alive.

- This is now stone,

what once was wood,

this is what the Force is.

It is sturdiness,

it is steadiness.

I'm going to ask

you questions next.

Do you swear to answer them

truthfully, and completely?

- I do.

- I do.

- Absolutely.

- Who are you, and

what is your true name?

- Michael Hannigan.

- Opie Macleod.

- Perris Cartwright.

- Whom, or what, do you serve?

- Notice, in the second

part of the trials,

you have something,

again, very typical

in initiation rituals, the

confrontation with the ego.

Where someone who

has more power in

this situation says,

"Well, who are you,

"and why are you even thinking

you can come into this?"

You know, "You have

to prove yourself."

And that shattering of

your elusions of yourself,

is essential to the growth

into a higher level.

- Serve the Force.

- Ki, the universal

light source.

- The world.

- Are you connected to it?

- Always.

- Absolutely.

- Very much so.

- What is your path?

- It's a path of

peace, of healing.

- What is your purpose?

- To mend hearts.

- What is your path?

- The Jedi path.

- And what is that purpose?

- To make the world better.

To be world betterment,

through self betterment,

and to lead others

to that realization.

- What is your path?

- A reiki master.

- And what is your purpose?

- To help those

that were not there

when I was there, and younger.

- Good, you didn't lie to me.

Where do you belong?

- Everywhere.

- Nowhere, but at the

same time, everywhere.

- Within the Jedi community,

where I can do good.

- What do you have to give, and

what do you have to give up?

- Everything.

And everything.

My life.

My skills, my service.

My breath, my

heartbeat, my love.

- Myself, and my ego.

- [Council Member] Very good.

- Everything that

I am, everything

that I stand for,

every piece of my body.

My physical body, and

my soul, my heart.

Everything.

- What do you want?

- Happiness for everyone.

- What do you want?

- To be a master healer.

- What do you want?

(exhales deeply)

- To be a Jedi.

To be a Jedi Knight.

- Your trial of the

spirit is complete.

- What is going on here,

is a person

would like to be

of use, they'd like

to be a teacher of

some kind, they'd

like to incarnate

some values that they

respect, and they're calling

it being a Jedi Knight.

Okay, that's as

good a name as any.

- So it could be

that in Star Wars

that these things

are meant to be

allegorical, and not literal.

Sometimes when the

person standing there,

criticizing us, or

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes