The Force User Guide - Beginner's Guide to Psionics

[JediKaren]

Arcane was very excited about this guide. He has been insisting that I post it on this site for fear of it being lost somehow. So, while it goes against my policy of posting such a thing on a new site, I am will give you a short intro.

Four years ago I wrote a 40 page guide. Now, during last Christmas break, I added 23 pages for the grand total of 63 pages. This guide is a complete guide to using energy for beginners. Though it was not written for psions in mind, it does however use and is based on psionic skills, methods, reasoning, and terminology. It just has Jedi philosophy thrown in, which I'm hoping you all will like. The guide has been well received by many, though I have yet to post it on a psionics site. Understand that this guide was not meant to offend anyone or be used to cause harm to anyone, including the reader. If you have a serious problem with this guide, please take the time to pm me and tell me of your issues in a civilized, polite manner. Rants and raging letters will be ignored. I hope that you all will get something out of it.

I must point out the guide has yet to be proofread as it's very long I truly hate grammar, so please, no need to point out the obvious. And due to the sheer length, the guide will be posted in four parts. Parts range from 10-20 pages. This may be daunting and long, but it is well worth the read if you are willing.

Please note and respect that I own all parts of this guide. You have my permission to quote passages of this guide, though you must give me proper credit. You may copy this guide into a file, but you can NOT send this file out to anyone without my permission. If you wish to share this guide, ask me or direct the person to this site or to me.
_________________
Bring Light Into Darkness

[JediKaren]

The Force User Guide
Part 1
Meditations and Basic Skills


Basic Skills
Welcome to the world of the Force and of Jediism. This four part guide will explore all accepts of the Force, including theory, the skills, the mind of a Jedi, different views of the Force, morals and ethics of the Force, and more.

One might want to first know, what is this “Force”? Is it the true force of nature? What makes is separate from what we know? Sadly, little is known about the exact nature of the Force. We can give a vague definition, calling it energy, but it is more than just energy. It is more than just life and death. It is what makes up the universe. It is the hand, and not of the path of the universe, what makes life possible, what controls our fate, and what binds us together as living beings. But for beginners, this definition makes little sense, so we will stick with the idea that the Force is energy, like the sun is energy, or the wind or yourself. You might find outside of this view, there are other names given by other cultures like “ki”, “prana”, and “chi”. These names are just words for what this article will believe as the same energy, but sometimes focusing on a different aspect or property of the energy. You might say that the Force is a combination of the different views about energy.

We don’t know where the Force came from. Perhaps it came with the beginning of the universe. Perhaps it was there before the universe came, if such a thing exists. We can’t know and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is not to be believed. But there are some things we do know. As humans on this planet, and not on some mystical, far, far away galaxy that we can’t reach, we can feel the Force. Now not all humans can, as statistics goes in any group, but there is no proof that shows that all humans cannot feel the Force. Even though we have the potential to feel the Force, does not mean we all use it consciously. Please note that last word, as that separates a Jedi from all the rest of humanity.

We, since birth, have all felt and used the Force on an unconscious level. You just haven’t ever been taught to see it. Our “gut instincts” our “miracles” and our “just knew”, somehow did the impossible”, “it was an accident, I swear”, aren’t just coincidences. You unconsciously used the Force whether you believe you did or not. This guide will help you learn to take that unconscious control and turn it into something conscious and far more controlled.

Before you fill your head with images of the movies, lifting houses, tricking your parents into believing you did your homework, and winning the Olympics, realize that this guide will not make you a superhero, famous, rich, or even powerful. The movies were fiction and will remain fiction. Anything one may have seen in the movies must be remembered to be fictional and not real. What was seen in those Star Wars movies and other movies is not reality and has yet to be done by human kind. This guide does not deny the possibility of such abilities or level of said ability being possible, but it has yet to be done by a creditable source. It will take years, and I mean at least five to ten years of steady practice, studying, reading, and thinking, before you come anywhere near the best that humans have been able to do. You will learn real “powers” as in telekinesis, empathy and telepathy, as well as many other skills, but it will not be easy and it will require far more work than any book, movie, or other media source makes it seem. This guide is for beginners and will only help you with the first few steps. In order to become a said “master” of the Force, which is literally impossible, since the Force cannot be mastered, this guide will not bring you there. If you seek mastery of the Force at this stage, it is suggested that you wait until you have a better reason to learn to control and study the Force.

Finally, you might be wondering who am I to teach the Force to you and where do I get my research from. If you think of me as a master of Jediism or the Force, you are wrong by a long shot. There is far more for me to learn, but there are some things that I know that are worth passing to others. I have studied and practice the Force since the year 2000. I have self trained myself, trained in online groups, read countless articles, argued and debated theories and opinions, had my methods tested by others, trained others, and written many a page about the Force outside of this article. I ran a site called PsiWorld which no longer exists and co created Shifted Perspectives. There I taught psionics, a more science based view of the same energy that Jedi call the Force. I have trained in both psi and the Force. I have literally helped hundreds of teenagers and adults understand the Force and the skills that the Force allows us to perform. This guide comes from my years of experience, from the experience of others, and well tested methods and agreed on theories.

There is one note I wish to point out. For those wondering where my research comes from, I heavily rely and all but quote from psionics sites. My “Force” methods are really psionic methods and come from psionic articles, my own teaching of psionic students, studies, polls, and questionnaires that I personally conducted, and my own training. Some topics and methods also indirectly come from the practice of magic, but this guide will not purposely reference from magic(k) beliefs, practices, or logic. This guide also may sound close to other energy names like chi, ki, qui gon. Understand this guide will not talk about such energies and will only focus on the Force and indirectly psi. Psi and the Force are largely the same with a few differences in philosophy such as psionics does not separate the idea of energy’s connection to living things. The terms given are largely from psionics, unless said otherwise. Some terms like “living Force” and “cosmic Force” come from Star Wars books and movies, which diverge from other official beliefs like Taoism. And of course, all star wars terms and related terms are given credit to George Lucas.

Due to the nature of the guide and the sheer length, it is impossible to include all beliefs, as some conflict with others. It is not the intention of the guide to misstate a fact or misquote something on purpose. The guide was written with the utter most care and attention. If you find something you feel that offends you dearly, please understand that the author did not mean to do so and has nothing against you or your beliefs. You may contact the author at any time to politely point out areas you believe are wrong or in need of correction.

So here comes the actual guide. Please read each section carefully. You should read the guide several times over to make sure you understand and remember what is being taught. Practicing should be done in short intervals of no longer than thirty minutes or when tired. You should also make sure you practice most every day. Missing a day or two isn’t the end of the world, but establishing a routine is a good idea. If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, know that you don’t have to practice at the same time every day. If you are careful and do your best, then this guide and the others will help you understand the Force. Remember, you control your outcome in this study.

I wish you the best and may the Force be with you.

Meditation
So often time meditation is misunderstood and simplified by society. We are taught that meditation is the clearing of the mind, the total and single control of our hyper brain. We, as normal average people, see this as a daunting feat that borders the impossible. What we do not know, but should know if we wish to understand the nature of the Force and how to harness the energy that makes us and the world that we see and experience, is that meditation is far more than just the clearing of our minds. This is just the first step.

Meditation is the conditioning of the mind in order to understand the universe and thyself. One can use meditation to solve a problem, to find out what is bothering oneself, to explore a concept more clearly, or to find simple peace for a time. Clearing one’s mind allows the person to move on to these goals and it is far from impossible. If you find it still seems daunting, it is only because you are approaching the topic from the wrong angle.

First, let us talk about why meditation can be hard. One may not be aware of it, but we are surrounded by distractions. Our society has been set up to make sure we are rarely left in a quiet place with no one around us and nothing to hold our interest. We have TVs in most rooms of our houses, restaurants, classrooms, and even our workplace. Music is played in most stores. There are advertisements on the internet, TV, radio, billboards on highways, parking lots and so on. It is impossible to go anywhere and not be confronted with the “noise” of humanity. We are herd animals, scared to be alone and to be without sound from some source. We have been so overwhelmed, that we have to search for what is the most important and valuable us and our limited time and energy. Our minds have so much to take in, that we are never allowed to process the information or taught how to. Meditation will help you sort out, organize, and understand every last fact you see, hear, feel, taste, and touch.

People seem to think that meditation must be done sitting down, for hours, in utter silence, taking all fun and enjoyment from the moment. They see meditation as a chore, as a must do. That is the biggest mistake to make. Beginning with a negative mind set, a closed mind, and rejection of any progress that could be made, is a sure promise of failure and frustration. Meditation is a time of peace, of taking a breather, of a break from the speedy pace and stresses of life. It doesn’t have to be done for hours on end. Five minutes may be all you need. Nor do you need to be sitting cross-legged. You can be walking, writing, lying down, standing up, or really doing anything that is mindless and leaves you free to focus on the mind and immaterial world.

There is another misconception of meditation. People think that only the wise can learn. These people see from movies and such that meditation will lead to instant understanding of the universe and that the average Joe isn’t suppose to be privileged to such knowledge. Anyone, Jedi or not, can meditate. They perhaps won’t explore the nature of the Force, but they can learn why they feel a certain way.

The Jedi meditate so they can “hear” the Force. It is the first step to feeling the Force. As you progress, you will find yourself being able to quiet the mind in less than a minute. But you might find that when you start it can take a good ten minutes. Do not get discouraged. Quieting the mind after a lifetime of the hyperactivity of a squirrel on drugs is hardly an easy feat, but with the proper mind set and the understanding of how meditation works and why, it can be done, so long as it is practiced with consistency and patience.

Now that we have dissolved some common fears and myths, let’s go into some meditations that one can do with the Force.

A Starters Meditation
This is a common meditation for beginners. It is used to teach the student how to solve the “hyper mind” that we all suffer while not yawning in boredom. It will also teach your how to breathe. This meditation can be used help calm you down, center yourself, combat panic attacks, help with every day stress you may not be aware of, and can be used as a first step towards feeling the Force.

To start with the meditation, find a quiet room where you can sit or lay comfortably. Make sure you have dealt with body needs such as hunger or the bathroom as this will be highly distracting to beginners.

The next step is to focus on your breathing. Become aware of how you breathe. Notice that you breathe from the chest. When we were babies, we use to breathe from our bellies, taking deeper breathes of air. Now we are shallow breathers. So when you start to breathe, allow your stomach to rise and fall rather than your chest. From there, take in a slow deep breath for three seconds, hold it for a second or two and then breathe out slowly for six seconds. As you get better, you will be able to breathe in and out for even longer. Do not think or feel anything. Just focus on your breathing. Keep breathing for a few minutes and stop. You should notice how much calmer and more relaxed you feel. Your mind should feel freer and more open to ideas. Your body should not bother you anymore. You might even notice that most of your worries and problems seem small, easy to deal with, and almost silly. If you don’t feel this way, it’s not a problem. Practice will help you achieve this.

Flowing with the Force
Like all meditations, the first step is calm yourself. You will need perfect peace of the mind and body in order to do this meditation. Practice the meditation mentioned above. This new meditation will require you to be able to do the basic Force skills. It is suggested that you first read the rest of the guide and return to this.

Open yourself to the Force as much as you can. Let it flow through and around you. Get comfortable with the feeling and flow of the Force. This is very important because you will have to trust the Force enough to let go and let the Force carry you along its current.

As you feel the Force flowing through you, be aware of the grip your mind has to yourself. Your mind will cling to Self, resisting the current of the Force. Let go and drift along with the Force. At first you will be very conscious that you are drifting and will notice things through the Force. This is normal, but not the point of the meditation. Do not think about what you are doing or where you are going. Don’t think and just feel the Force. You should, after a few times, remember nothing except the Force.

This meditation will help you feel the Force more and will let you see the more subtle connects of life. You can this meditation to help you solve problems or come up with ideas.

Emotional Meditation
This meditation is for finding, confronting and getting rid of negative emotions. These emotions will block you from the Force.

You will want to sit or lay for this. You will need to first calm yourself and blank your mind. You might try visualizing a blank, black chalk board. Do not let your mind wander. Once both your mind and body are still, bring up an emotion. It can be any emotion, but it is recommended to pick one that is bothering you or keeping you from the Jedi peace. Feel that emotion to the fullest. Let the emotion fill you up until you think are going to be taken over it. Then take a deep breath, feeling the strongest part of the emotion and let the emotion out.

Imagine the emotion as a red mist that will flow through you to the ground or bed. As you breathe out, have that emotion flow out of you. You should notice a change in how you feel. You should feel calmer, but not calm. This is normal. Repeat the steps of feeling, breathing, visualizing, and directing the emotion out until you are calm.

Another version of this is to let the emotion keep rising through your body until it gets to your head. Do not stop there. Let it continue out of your body. This is the natural and healthy flow of emotional energy and it will get rid of the negativity.

If you are in a rush and are walking you can still meditate. This should be done if you are unable to stop for a minute you can still do a quick emotional meditation if you need some calm. Feel the emotion and imagine it as light and movable. Think of a breeze flowing through you. Let go of the emotion so that it can flow with the breeze and out of your body and mind.

The Mind
Before a Jedi student can learn about the Force and how to use it, one needs to get their mind in shape. The mind of a Jedi is very organized and centered. They can think ahead quickly. A Jedi can make huge decisions extremely fast. They are always aware of everything, everyone, themselves and the Force. In order to have this mind, a Jedi must be able to focus and silence their mind. If one is always thinking and feeling, one can’t hear the whispers of the Force. If a Jedi lets their mind wander, they will not be aware of what is around them and may miss a warning or a feeling from the Force. In the world of today, many people have trouble focusing due to the noise, the lights, the colors and the many other distractions society had created. Our attention is often divided and fought over, we have learned to not focus on ourselves, but have to choose the most important to pay attention to. Remember that through becoming a Jedi, we learn to pay attention to everything about ourselves so to help others. We are so busy being entertained by the multi media that we have almost completely lost of concentration and therefore have lost our connection to nature and the Force. So learning to focus is the key to the Jedi mind.

Focusing
Find a quiet room with no distractions. May sure you have at least half an hour to an hour of promised alone time. Get into a comfortable position, but beware of lying down; falling asleep won't help. You may close your eyes or you can leave them open. Image a blank piece of paper or a blank wall. Keep thinking about that image and do not allow any other thoughts enter. If you find yourself beginning to think about things just tell yourself that you are not, and try again. See how long you can keep your mind blank.

You do not have to use the blank wall. Try listening to music and pick on instrument to focus on. You could focus on the drums for starters. As you get better at this you can add some distractions in. I strongly suggest that you add one at a time. Turn on some the television. Think of the blank wall while in a loud crowded room.

This exercise can be useful in many ways. This could be the start of your meditation. It will quiet your mind and shape your mind to be able to feel the Force. You can stop another Force user from knowing your surface thoughts by raising a shield. Blanking your thoughts may stop you from dreaming or from having nightmares.

Visualizing

The focusing exercise talked about above involves visualizing, which can be a hard skill for some beginners. Visualizing is the ability to see a mental image in your mind. It is not a Force skill, in that you must use the Force in some way to visualize, but is an everyday skill that is related to Force skills, and will be used for most methods in this guide. For those who can not visualize, you are not alone and there is another way to train, though it will not be mentioned in this guide. It is called tactile training, or known as touch training. Tactile training is a physical method that excites a response of energy in the system, like touching your hand to calm your mind to cause yourself to open up to the Force. It doesn’t have to always be touch. If a sound or a smell can trigger the desired result and make you feel the Force that will work too. The only problem with this method is that person must watch out for bio-feed or getting false results. Visualization can be done using all senses. When you stare out a window in class thinking about that car you have always wanted, that is visualizing. For example: Try thinking of a car that you have always dreamed of owning. It can be a real car or an imaginary one.

Picture the whole car. Maybe it is tiny or maybe it's really long. Now mentally walk around the car. Look at all the sides. Now go inside the car to the driver's seat. Is the seat made out of leather? What are all the cool new features? Turn around and look at the back seat. Can you see it? If you can, you have just done visualizing. You can also try using your other senses. What does the metal feel like? The seats feel like? Does your car have that new car smell? Using as many senses as possible will greatly improve the lucidity of your visualizations.

This skill is greatly used by many Jedi. The technique will be used in feeling, gathering, grounding the Force, telepathy, scanning, and even telekinesis, so it is highly suggested that one makes sure they have mastered the skill.

Feeling the Force
There are many ways of feeling the Force. All Force users learn to feel it a different way. The constants seem to be that for beginners, they need a blank, calm mind that is not focused on anything. This leaves them open and willing to receive the energies of the Force.

Most people have felt the Force as a kid, but due to society, they have closed their mind, setting up mental barriers to keep the Force out. Society has taught us to close those barriers and to not explore them for various reasons. These reasons include fear of the Force that stems from lack of understanding or misunderstanding, jealousy, hate, or being fearful of the power you might have that others don’t and the fact you might have control over them. We are also taught from an early age not to hear the Force, trust our gut feelings, or explore anything that is strange. It is through this reasoning that we build a mental shield that keeps us unaware of the Force except in certain situation that will discussed in another guide. In order to reopen yourself up to the Force you will have to take down these barriers. Here is one technique that has worked for many other people.

Think of a song, one that is calming. Play it through your head, or turn it on, but have the volume on quietly. Relax your mind and body. Stop thinking and feeling. Do not try to feel the Force or try to do anything. Just sit there and enjoy the moment of peace. If you are one of those who can't sit still or be quiet, try taking a breath, holding it for three seconds and then blow all the air out and then breathe in slowly. Repeat the song and breathing until you are calm.

Now, stare at air. Try looking at the space between you and your hand. You won't see anything, but that is not the point. Do not strain yourself and just space out a bit. Let the music help you by calming your mind and body. Let the music help you let go of any thoughts or stresses. Now pay attention to what you feel. Do you feel something around you, or in you feeling warm, tingly, a good feeling, possibly like your blood is rushing, but it isn’t? You may feel an energy field that seems very close to you. If you feel any of these descriptions, you are feeling the Force.

Some people have found that strong emotions like anger, fear, and love can help you feel the Force. Although this is true, these emotions come from the dark side. Jedi find that with these emotions, it is hard to feel and control the Force. These emotions will cause uncontrolled reactions with the Force. When a new Force user is angry, objects around them or even in another room, tends to fall and break. With peace you will find it is easier to control the Force.

Recognizing the Force
Another skill there is essential to learning the basics is recognizing the feeling of the Force. People will feel the Force without noticing it. This happens because you are not aware of the Force and should teach yourself to recognize its feeling. Religious people say what you are feeling is the power of God. Some people feel it when they have a gut or strong feeling. As Jedi, we call it the Force, but you may yet still wish to call it another name.

In your first few months of training you will find that you often feel the Force for a few seconds without trying. This is a good sign. This means you are naturally starting to open yourself to the Force. This shows that you are learning how to quiet your mind and letting go of those barriers. Some people will find that at random times they will feel a strong, sometimes overwhelming surge of the Force. This happens because you lack control and will pass as you keep training.

Some people have the ability to see the Force around a person, object, or place. They see an energy field that is called an aura. An aura will give you information about the person or energy. The aura of someone can tell you the person’s mood. Generally green means calm, growing, happy and so on. Blue is calm or tranquil. Red means emotional upset and dangerous. Black is the most dangerous, generally hinting the breaking point of someone.

Gathering the Force
As you probably know, the Force is all around us. We are able to feel and call this energy to us. Because the Force is all around us there is no limit to how far we can gather from. So you can feel and gather the Force from all over the world, but that is impractical. For starters it is suggested that you practice on gathering energy from inside of you and then moving on to the outside of you.

There are two ways of feeling the Force. The first way is one you have already learned. It is the passive, opening, yourself up. The second one is the natural, but harder way. It is the active and conscious calling and gathering of the Force to and around you. Imagine energy around you and in you. You may want to imagine it as a mist. Envision this mist coming to you, by your own will. If you have trouble imagining the mist, make it green or blue. Open yourself to the Force and connect the feeling of the Force to the mist. Gather the Force from around and inside of you.

It is suggested that a Jedi learn not to gather the Force too much. This will lead to overloads, which can do damage, or in extreme cases kill people. One should never gather more energy than one’s body and mind can handle. One should also never try to will the Force to do anything that this energy should not do naturally, since it leads to the dark side. It is better to open oneself to the Force, rather than bringing the Force to them.

One exercise you can practice is the making of a Force ball. Calm and open yourself up to the Force. Feel the Force flowing through and around you. Imagine the mist again and gather the Force to your body. Hold out your hands like you are holding a medium ball. When gathering the Force, focus the energy to inside your hands. Keep the Force in your hands tight and compact. You should be able to feel this. It may not feel as solid as it could. This is ok and will improve with practice. Some Force users have described their Force balls to feel like heat, or cold, and sometimes like a magnet, pulling your hands together, and some have reported feeling like the hands are being pulled apart. You may feel tingling in your hands and up your arms. This is fine.

Grounding the Force
There will be times you will not want to feel the Force, or not feel so much. Everyone has their own level of awareness to the Force. Some feel it more than others. Some end up feeling too much or will accidentally gather too much. There is also another kind of overload, called empathy overloads. More on empathy overloads will be explained in futures guides.

Overloads are not a good thing because for the obvious reason that they don’t feel good, also because they can cause long term harm to yourself and your connection to the Force. This is rare, and can be easily avoided by keeping yourself from overloading, learning what the signs are for an overload and how to ground. The signs for overloading usually are marked by unexplained headaches, tiredness (if the overload lasts for a long time), breaking things unnaturally, or extremely energetic. Sometimes you can feel the actually Force overloading your system. If you do not get rid of the excess energy your mind will automatically block you from feeling the Force in order to protect you.

If you find yourself or a friend feeling overloaded you need to go to a quiet, peaceful place and focus sending energy to the ground. Although there are many ways of getting rid of energy here are two methods. One is the golden roots method. Image standing still and image golden roots of energy going from you into the earth. Then picture the extra energy going from your body into the roots and to the ground. The second method is imaging the excess energy in you and moving it through your body, towards the ground. Remember to never panic when being overloaded. It can sound hard, but fear will only make the situation worse and will make it harder to get rid of the energy.

Grounding will teach you how to recognize the feeling of the Force and how to control it. You don’t have to get rid of all your energy. You can just get ground some of the way. This is good controlling practice because sometimes a little of the Force can go a long way. Grounding can also serve as a way of centering your mind and emotions, a first step to meditation. It can be used after a traumatic event or a hectic day. By allowing the flow of the Force down and out of your body, you carry away the negativity that blocks you from the Force and opens you to receive the natural flow of the Force.

Controlling the Force
For the first few months your control over the Force will have it ups and downs. Some days you will have near perfect control, and some days you may not even feel the Force. This is perfectly normal, and there is no reason to worry. It is like learning to walk. Sometimes the baby can stand, sometimes the baby will fall. Eventually the baby will be able to stand all the time after learning to control the muscles in his body, but it will take time. New Force users are no different. Some days your grip over the Force is going to be better than other days. This does not mean you have lost your skill. It means you need to keep practicing to fine tune your control. As you practice, your mind will learn to accept the Force and learn how to work with it and not against it. But, it is highly important to be consistent and to truly apply yourself when you meditate and practice, otherwise you will never reach your goal. The journey to the Force, for dark and light practitioners, has no short cuts. Even the so called Sith must practice their ways to use their abilities.

Should you find yourself struggling with one skill, take a break and then practice with a skill that is easier for you. This will boost your confidence and will mentally make the skill you are having trouble, seem easier.

Like any type of exercise you can get tired and need to take a break and get some water. Practicing psi is mental exercise. If you find yourself getting tired or sleepy, take a few hours break.

With any exercise you can hurt yourself, and possibly hurt your abilities for a long time, though you really have to push the limits. Headaches are the first and most common signs you need a break. Feeling drained all the time is another sign. Unexplained weakness in abilities is a major sign that you need to take a month off from practice. You can really hurt your mind and I know, because I did this. Even after months and months of not practicing much I still got bad headaches. If you keep practicing beyond what your mind can handle, you can cause long term damage. Some signs of long term damage are: Your connection to the Force will weaken or, at times, disappear; headaches will come constantly and will increase with intensity. This damage can be healed, but it won’t be easy.

Patience
Going with the idea of the baby learning to walk, a new student will not be able to everything at once. Practice is really needed, but even more importantly, patience is required for using the Force. No baby can learn to run until it has learned to crawl. No Force user can learn telekinesis without learning how to feel the Force. There are no true short cuts when it comes to learning to use the Force. Even if a student finds a way to skip several steps, it is not a good thing. Some of these steps may seem pointless, but there is always a point. Gathering the Force into a ball in your hand does not seem like a big deal, but it increases your control. Being impatient brings greed which is part of the dark side. Force users who are impatient for more access and ability to use the Force have a tendency to be power hungry. It is not unusual for a beginner to have a brief period of “power hungry”. This will be outgrown, but such behavior should be carefully watched in case it is not outgrown.

Remember, the Force will always be there. It is up to the Jedi to be aware of the feeling and the flow. If a Jedi listen to the Force, they can learn quite a bit, but in order to do, a Jedi student must learn their basic skills. It will take time, energy and commitment, but it is well worth it. May the Force be with you and as you journey.
_________________
Bring Light Into Darkness

[JediKaren]

The Force User Guide
Part 2
The Living Force

Review
So far you have learned the basic skills of the Force. These skills include calming yourself with meditation and learning about the Force. You use this meditation to open yourself up to the Force and recognize the feeling of it. Once you know what the Force feels like, you learned how to gather it around and send it away by sending it to the ground. To end it you learned the reasons why your control may not be constant and what to do what that. You also learn about the dangers of what too much of the Force can to do the mind. Now comes a new aspect to the Force, how the Force affects living things.

Living Force
The Force and life are forever connected and bound to each other. Without the Force there could be no life and vise versa. The more life in one place, the stronger the Force is going to feel. When a person grows weak, their life Force grows weak too and can be sensed by another Jedi. There will always be the living Force if there is a life. Even when a Jedi is in the dead of space, there is still the living Force, because the Jedi is alive. The living Force can come any animal, human or the smallest life forms, single cell organisms.

There is a very special connection between the Force and living things called the living Force. The living Force is different from the cosmic Force because its source comes from only living things, while the cosmic Force comes from everything else such as rocks, water, and the sun. The living Force is the interactions of the all things living on the universal, world wide and local level. The Force is an ever lasting, multi layer existent that controls all aspects of life and the total “plan” of the universe from the “crawling ant” to the fate of humans, the health of the planet, to the path of any and all life outside our world. You will find that the living Force is what truly gives the Force that power, that strength. Life and the Force are utterly connected and dependent on each other. Although it is important to remember that the living Force is different to each of us, affecting us slightly differently and because of our different views, we see, feel, and understand the living Force differently. It is vital that a Jedi not only “knows” this, but senses, studies, and learns this connection if they wish to understand the nature of the Force and learn to help others. When a person dies, so does a part of the Force on a tiny scale. When mass of people die, a Jedi can sense that huge lost. A Jedi’s skill in the Force will mostly come from the living Force.

The living Force affects each one of us, right now, in the past and future and as said, in different ways. We are affected by the Force differently because each of us has a different natural reaction to the Force. Some of us accept the living aspect of the Force openly, allowing that person to work and understand human kind. Others consciously or not use the living Force for their benefit, which is not always seen has bad, as some people can and will use the living Force to help friends, groups, or themselves so to help others. For those who resist the natural flow of the Force, they are seen to be socially awkward, angry, overly forceful, demanding in the wrong sense, and highly manipulative.

The Force flows everywhere and through everything. Through the living Force, Jedi can see how all life is connected. A Jedi can see how the Force affects societies and how these societies function by connecting and feeling the Force flow through and around them, as well as the world. Jedi can also sense thoughts and emotions of humans and animals. This is important for a Jedi to be able to connect to living things because they serve the people. In order to that, Jedi must be able to understand the complex web of thoughts and emotions. A Jedi can sense everything, even non living things, around them. This includes the living world of plants and the circle of life.

Sensing
With the Force, a Jedi can feel everything from air molecules to distance planets to people, and even events that might happen in the future. This skill is known as remote viewing and many nationally known and approved studies have been done on the skill. Although this level of skill takes years of training. For beginners, this skill is a basic, most one of the most important and useful skills to learn, as it can be used for most anything, at anytime. Distance, time, and size do not matter, only the skill of the Jedi and how they interpret the information they get from the Force. Please note that just because a Jedi has the Force with them, does not mean what they sense is always correct. Because humans are bias by nature and see things from their own point of view, they may very well take the information that they get and apply it the wrong way, or understand the meaning of the information in the wrong light. This guide well teach the Force user how to get the information and some common misunderstandings, but there is always room for error, thus why a Jedi needs to be careful when basing their decisions and action on what they sense. There are three types of sensing. A Jedi can sense inanimate objects and their location, people and their location, and pick up warning, or signs, from the Force.

Sensing Objects
When talking about sensing objects, it means both alive and not, in a non-living sense. A Force user isn’t sensing for the person’s feeling of the Force, but more of the mass of that person. They could be sensing for a wall, a ball, or that person who is hiding behind the door to scare you. For the first part of this term, sensing, there is an argument about when you sense an object do you see it, feel it, or a combination of both. In this guide, the third option will be discussed.

When a Jedi senses an object, they almost physically feel and see the object. A good example of this is someone sticking their hand into a bag full of blocks without looking. As the hand grabs onto that object, the nerves in the fingers and palm send a message to the brain. The person will register the block is solid, made out of wood, is in a cube shape, the surface is somewhat smooth, but a bit rough and the cube is small. At the same time an image in formed in the person’s mind. They end up picturing what the cube looks like, based on what they feel. So in a sense, that person has felt and seen the cube without even looking with their eyes. With the Force, this is no different. Instead of reaching out with a hand, the Jedi will reach out with their mind, using the Force as the nerves in the mental fingers and palm.

There is no limit of what you can feel with the Force, nor a limit of how far, distance, you might call it. You can stretch out and feel a block that is across the room, the house, the neighborhood, or country if you train properly and long enough. A beginner Jedi is most likely going to have a short range of vague awareness of their surroundings, probably stopping to the extend of their room. This is will grow in length and clarity with time and practice.

Up until now you have been feeling the living Force inside of you. It feels pretty “powerful” as it were, but it does limit the range of strength and skill since there is only so much energy to draw on without hurting yourself. Since the Force exists all around you too, you need to extend your Force awareness to outside of your body. Think of the Force like a shield around your body. So far this shield has been skin tight, but you have control over this shield. Imagine this shield being stretched to an inch part from your skin. Remember what the Force feels like and then feel it in that one inch area beyond your skin. The Force is going to feel stronger and strange. It may feel like there is too much energy or that there is no end. It might seem like you are now staring out into an ever going ocean. This is normal and there is no need to worry. You will get use to the feeling in time. If you think about it, there is more Force in the room around you, than in you, so of course it is going to feel stronger.

To start off, you will want to extend this awareness in the Force more than an inch beyond your physical self. You will also want to narrow and focus your awareness. Envision your awareness like a laser or a beam of light. When focusing your awareness, you lengthen your sensing range and how much detail you will sense. Try seeing if you can push the area to the computer screen. Close your eyes and gather the Force in your chest. Envision the screen and push that shield to the screen. You should be able to feel the screen.

For practice, it is suggested that you take a simple object, one that does not have too many parts to it and one that you are familiar with. Close your eyes and open yourself up to the Force. Gather the Force around and inside of you. Think where the object is and then expand your awareness of the Force to that object. Wrap your Force awareness around and inside the object. It will feel as though you are holding, faintly seeing, and feeling the inside of the object all at once. You may notice what your sense will not be very distinct or that you can not feel the entire object at once. This is ok and will improve with practice.

Sensing a Presence
Most animals rely on scent and can detect another animal a long distance off. Jedi also have a similar ability. Everything that is alive, such as people and animals, and is not a plant, has some sort of Force scent or signature. It is usually referred to as an energy signature or energy sig for short. The scent or signature is the feeling you get when you are around someone or animal and can be felt through the Force, no matter where the person is, so long as the signature is not being hidden from you. This is because animals have brains and a soul of some sort. The personality allows the person to stand out in the flow of the Force and not be washed away in the huge ocean of life and not. When a Jedi feels this energy signature and link with their mind to the person or animal, they can tell where the person is in portion to where they are. They can then use a skilled called remote viewing to see the person and their surroundings.

Searching for a presence with the Force is very much like ultrasound. Certain animals, like dolphins, use ultrasound to locate things. They send out clicks of sound that go out into ocean. The clicking waves will hit something and bounce back to the dolphin, giving the dolphin a picture of the area around them. A Jedi can also do technique with the Force. The first thing you will need to do is gather the Force. You will want to gather the Force outside of your body, so draw sufficient amount of energy and ready your mind to go further away from your body. Now pick a person or animal that you do not know the exact location of, but someone you know well. Picture them in your head and thing about the feeling you get when you're around them. Think about what you personal feel about them, their emotions, their personality, your relationship to them and your own emotions when around them. When someone describes them, notice what words they use as this is an indication to what we naturally and unconscious feel about the person. Send the Force to that person. Feel the person and their Force signature. Feel their moods and thoughts. Sense the general direct of where they are. Sense how far they are from you.

What you are doing is creating a link with that person. This link can be used for empathy and telepathy sending as you will read later on. If you don’t know the person very well, you might find linking to sense their presence will be difficult. If you don’t know the person at all and have never seen them, there is the likely chance you will not be able to sense them at all. If the person knows that you are trying to link to them, they may be able to feel it, depending on their skill. This is useful when needing to find another Jedi or a hiding pet.

Force Warnings
This can be confused with suggestions of the future. If a Jedi walks into a dangerous situation and is open and listening to the Force, they can pick up a feeling of danger. This feeling is a feeling of the present. Usually, this danger is caused by a disturbance in the Force, which can be translated into an imbalance in the Force. Force warning can be very difficult to understand and can be misleading. Sometimes the warning is not for or about you, but about someone else. These warnings can also be on a bigger scale for a large group of people or a country. So, it is extremely important for a Jedi to always be aware of the Force, what the Force has to say and their surroundings, so to protect the people around them.

Empathy
To help people, a Jedi must be able to recognize different emotions of people or animals Jedi are dealing with. Being able to distinguish each emotions and reasons for this emotion, can help a Jedi understand a situation better. Understanding the nature of emotions, where they come from, how they can mask or heighten something else, how they are triggered, how they can change, and the effects on others is a powerful tool in understanding an individual, as well as a group or a large mass of people. Many emotions are complex, involving many factors and even other emotions. For an example, anger is often a way to cover up fear guilt, a feel of weakness or threaten.

Emotions have a strange property of being able to spread like a contagious disease, especial very strong and basic emotions. Although happiness, peace, and joy are emotions a Jedi wishes to spread and experience, more often it is the negative emotions that can grip people, towns, and nations. These emotions cause the Force to become unbalanced. A Jedi should be well aware of all the negative emotions or emotions that can cause a negative impact, the causes, and how to deal with each emotion for own peace and for the peace around them. A Jedi should be able to recognize their own personal emotions so to have a clear mind and a strong connection to the Force. This does not mean that Jedi are forbidden to have emotions or that their emotions are wrong. After all, we are human and to be human is to have emotions. It is simply control and awareness of one’s emotions that is required to be a Jedi. If a Jedi is unstable they will be unable to help fight and protect others

Emotions
Everyone feels emotions. All cultures, all races, and most, if not all animals feel and act on emotions. They all experience the same kind of emotions. Some emotions are instinctual or taught from early age, so ingrained into us that they might as well be instinctual. For an example, we tend to crave attention and love. When talking about love, not the gooey, kissy, marriage kind, but passion, caring, and meaningful love. We are herd people, group people and we must have some sort of attention, or we get depressed, angry, and harmful to ourselves and others. It is the kind of emotions that are so important to society and to the Force, as they play such a big role.

Anger has a strange way of spreading like a disease. A father comes home from work in a bad mood. He stomps in, slams the door close and announces angrily that he is home. The mother is thrown off (not physically) and can not finger out what is wrong with the father. The youngest kid has left some toys out and the father trips over them. He yells at the kid, who breaks out into tears. The mother gets angry at the father for unnecessary yelling. The older kid storms in and demands that everyone quiets down. The whole family is now yelling and screaming at each other. Remember, this all started because one person was angry.

Anger is a strange emotion when it comes to dealing with the Force. For most beginners, anger can either block the user completely from the Force, or make the user clumsy. When we are angry, we aren’t thinking as clearly. We have poor handwriting, or don’t think about the words coming out of our mouths. Some beginners may have noticed that objects fall in the next room or shake without explanation when they are angry. This happens because the person has natural or untaught talent with telekinesis, but when angry, that talent is triggered without control or awareness. To stop this, learn to emotional and energy ground and calm down. And yet anger is a tool for physical strength when focused. The key to the darkside is focusing the anger, but before you decide to go become a so called Sith, thinking about the damage anger does and think about is this the person you want to be.

Fear is another very important emotion to understand because of the effects it can have on people. There are all levels of fear. There is the fear when you realized you have forgotten about a test. There is the fear of death and the fear of god or some powerful presence you look up to. Fear paralyzes people. Fear will block you from your connection to the Force. Blocking yourself from fear just makes you feel ashamed and fearful that you may never feel the Force again. While fear does not spread like the same way that anger does, it will affect other people. If people do not share your fear, they are most likely going to distance themselves from you. It is generally a sign they can not do anymore for you and have given up.

Pure joy, hyper activity, excitement, and strong, positive emotions are not always the best for the Jedi’s mind and abilities. These emotions are highly distracting and often times addicting. A Jedi will find it hard to calm and focus their mind if they experience these emotions too much. It might sound strange to say, but too much hyperness can lead to the darkside because the person is trying to avoid or deny any negative emotions or problems. These suppressed emotions can then bite back at the worst times unexpectedly and cause major breaks downs and many other problems. This does not mean a Jedi can laugh and play around, but it should be done in moderation and one should be aware of all emotions, not just the good one or the bad ones.

Another danger of emotions, something all people do and often are not aware of the action, is suppressing emotions. It is important to note that each culture and country has a different idea about what emotions are acceptable, how to show and talk about emotions, and how to handle emotions. When two cultures have very different teachings about emotions, they collide in often violent matters because they aren’t aware of the other’s practices. Sometimes, one person may be aware, but refuse to accept, respect, or follow the rules of another culture. There are also the gender differences in expressing emotions. Women are more likely, although not always to show emotions in their words, face, and body language. This means women are more likely to be open with their emotions, knowledge them and dealing with them. In America and western societies, women are encouraged to be emotional and men are expected to hold back emotions so to be “the strong one”. When one holds back emotions, or even unconsciously suppress them, the person hurts themselves and will find it harder to calm the body, relax the mind, and open up to the Force.

Having an ego is good and healthy, but where the danger is having to big, too important one. Being a Jedi is a good, important thing. You are helping other people. You can get a lot of personal satisfaction out of helping someone, but a Jedi needs to be careful. Too much satisfaction can boost up your self esteem to the point that you become arrogant and blind. A Jedi who has too much pride will distance them from the Force. Also beware of what the Force can do to the ego of any Force User. The Force is powerful and always there. As Force users we can feel this and use the Force to accomplish seemingly miracles. Because we are different in what we can do, our ego is subject to grow and therefore once again give us the wrong impressions of who were are and how much we matter.

Empaths
There are many levels of empathy for different people. Some are completely clueless, even with training. Others can read faces, vocal cues, and body language. Some have a sense of feeling the emotions and others yet feel the full blast of emotions without training or conscious effort. It is the lateral that gets the name of natural empath.

Empaths are people who have a natural, usually very strong talent for literally experiencing other people’s emotions, consciously or not, without meaning or wanting to. For example, take a student, Jane, in a classroom or meeting. Bob is in the same room as her, but Jane doesn’t talk to Bob, or know him well. Jane suddenly feels an emotion she can not explain. She feels a strange feeling of annoyance and impatience. She doesn’t know why because she’s usually very calm and can wait forever without a problem. She certainly doesn’t mind the meeting/class as it’s interesting to her. She can’t get rid of the unwanted emotions no matter what she tries. What Jane doesn’t and can’t know without training, is she’s feeling Bob’s emotions. Bob is broadcasting his feelings so strongly that Jane, who is sitting a few seats away and isn’t even looking at him, can feel his emotions in a personal sense. Jane is a natural empathy.

While not all empaths are the same, there does seem to be some common signs you can find. Empaths can be rash, moody, and artsy. They have trouble with logic, problem solving and math. They succeed in sports and the arts. They may take anything worse than most people, like death or losing their job. Empaths can be easily excited. They are generally quiet and withdrawn a lot due to the overload factor. They attract a lot of talkers because they can listen. They also attract a lot of people seeking advice because empaths, by nature, have a good understand of emotions of different people and how to help people with their emotions. They can usually understand and explain other people’s emotions perfectly, but when it comes to their own, they are clueless and confused. Do understand that while these traits are common in empaths, non empaths can also have the same traits. Do not assume that you are an empath just because you want to be or you think it is cool to be one.

Being an empath is no easy life style. For one thing, there is no choice about it. A person is born an empath and will die an empath. They will for as long as they live feel everyone’s emotions and be open to the risk of empathy overloads, or feeling too many or too strong emotions at once. They will know if a person is lying about their emotions. They can dig through a person’s emotions to find the true one. They can, usually with some practice, help explain people’s emotions to others.

Most natural empaths see the world as an emotional, unwelcome city. Everyone radiates some level of emotion and unfortunate empaths feel all the levels. They radiate the emotion like a strong perfume floating through the air, coming to your Force nose. Empaths will find they naturally attract people, even total strangers, who want to share their emotions, seek help and comfort. If the empath is willing, and under no circumstance must the empath do this, they can learn how to help those who have trouble with their emotions. Empaths generally make good councilors, trained through school and theories, or self taught. The only “cure” for empaths is to learn about empathy, to learn how and why it works. Empaths can learn to shield, how to recognized, deal, and avoid overloads, and how to live with empathy.

The first thing that naturals and non natural empaths should know is empathy can be learned and can be controlled. Not everyone will read this article and know they are a natural. Some Force sensitives will find out when they first try empathy. Empathy is one of simpler abilities to learn, though remember no ability is very easy to learn, and some people never will be able to understand or practice empathy. All abilities require constant, consistent, hard practice. The second thing to learn about empathy is learn all you can about emotions and how they work.

Crowds like school dances or concerts, are somewhat dangerous for practicing empathy. There are so many people with so many emotions, which will build up on each other. This causes empaths to become overloaded with emotions. If you may happen to feel overloaded by the crowd and you can't leave the crowd, you should create a shield, ground the emotions, and to try to put distance between you and the crowd. If you can’t think of a good way to get out, try using the excuse for the bathroom. I have found that even five minutes of peace and being alone will do wonders to curing my overload. I can ground away the unwanted emotions, and then come back to the crowd, ready to face the emotions.

No one likes seeing another person in pain, physically or emotionally. To watch an empath struggle with their gift is hardly fun and very confusing, as they are confused themselves. If you want to help an empath who is getting overload, you can do a few things to help relieve them. First learn as much as you can about empathy and how your friend personally experiences it. Then let the person know that you know about their ability and offer to help them. Hopefully, they will accept your help. If you find that your friend has been overloaded or currently is, get them out of the house or their normal environment. Get them away from the city, the noise, and energy. Take them into a park, a forest, the beach. Nature is quiet. Animals have simple emotions and thoughts. Plants produce a feeling of calm and a healing silence. Stay apart from the empath. Put at least a yard (meter) of distance between you two. This will create a sense of privacy. Lie down on the grass or sit under a tree. Peace can make a person quiet, tired, and sleepy. Let them take a nap. This is healing for them. If the person liked this peace and rest, make sure to do it again during another stressful time. Make sure to watch your own emotions as the empath is still sensitive. This would be a good time for you to work on letting go of your own emotions.

Another form of healing for empaths is to let them talk about their emotions. This may come off as being boring to you, but it is highly important for a natural empath. Empaths are always attracting people that want to talk about their emotions, but no one wants to hear an empath’s feelings and thoughts. So, endure one hour of listening to the empath and you will see a great change in them as they are lift from their burden. You, being a non natural, may not truly understand empathy, but at least you now have an idea of why this ability can be seen as a gift or curse.

Feeling Emotions
Now that a Jedi is aware of what emotions can do, a Jedi must be able to pick up these feelings through the Force. This way you can pick on any hidden emotions or the emotions of a crowd.

Clear your mind of feelings or thoughts. Make sure to let go of all stress in your body ad emotions stress your body as well as mind. If you are having trouble, you should meditate for a few minutes. Having emotions will make it hard to tell the difference between yours and someone else’s.

Pick the person you wish to know the feelings. To think of the person, you may try a few things. Visualize his or her name or if you can, visualize his/her face. Open and reach out with the Force, extend your awareness and sense the person or animal. Now take note of the feelings you receive or suddenly feel. If the feeling do not make any sense in that they do not fit to be yours at the moment, those emotions belong to the other person. To get rid of the emotions let go of Force. Breathe and relax. Use the grounding technique to send out any unwanted emotions.

Some Force users are naturally and specially aware to other living being emotions and can end up feeling too many. They feel everyone’s emotions at once or just feel one emotion too strongly. This is known as empathy overload. You might find yourself experiencing a lot of fear for no reason. Take a look around and you might notice a friend, a student, a near by person exhibiting this fear. The best way to keep this from happening is to avoid large, emotional crowds, or should you have to be around them, not to think about it. Also learn what your emotions are like and keep in touch with them. This is not just important in terms of empathy overload, but as a Jedi too, because you can’t be calm and at peace if you don’t know your own emotions and why you have them. If you find yourself getting overloaded, stay calm and try to get out and alone. Meditate and ground the emotions away. Try to get some rest afterwards. You can use the grounding method even if you aren’t overloaded and just need to calm down for any reason.

Telepathy
Along with empathy, a Jedi should learn the basics of telepathy. Telepathy is the thoughts translated by your mind, into meanings that represent words. For an example, when you see an apple there are two ways of thinking about it. One is the fact that it is round, shiny, red, and tastes good. The other is the word “apple”. This word has a concept that means food and may be near us. When this thought is sent through the Force the receiver should pick up suggestion of a red apple. For most Jedi, telepathy will not mean that you can read anyone’s mind like an open book. Telepathy is useful to a Jedi in negotiating or for silently planning out an attack during a fight.

To understand telepathy, one must understand how the mind works to degree. The mind can be thought of an onion because of its layers. The first layer is called by some as the surface layer. The surface layer consists of the thoughts that are the most on one’s mind. Thoughts like “I’m really hungry,” or “wow… he’s cute!” are considered surface thoughts. These are easy to pick up because they are generally simple, without any meaningful sub thoughts to filter.

The other layers do not have a name as far as I know because they are highly confusing and unique to everyone. The deeper you go into the mind, the more complex the thoughts get. Each thought will have more sub thoughts to go along with it and more emotions surrounding that thought. The deeper you go, the more heavily shielded the thoughts will be. This is a natural defense that the human mind has set up. When you have reached the back of the brain you have now found our most basic and primitive thoughts. These basic thoughts are instinctual and are closely related to strong primal feelings. You will find them in babies having mostly primary thoughts because babies have not developed enough to form complex thoughts.

Sending and Receiving
Telepathy is done by sending and receiving thoughts. This is not easily done. It will take time and a lot of practice. They consist of a shape or an idea being sent to one or more people. The people must receive them and understand what is being sent. This can be done on or offline with skill being the limiting factor. For an example, I will use the game of colors.

To send you need to pick a color, let’s say you picked red. Envision the color red and possibly, anything you associate with the color red. Look at the people you are sending the color to. If online, look at their screen name. Image this person to be only small distance away from you. Picture this representation of red and feeling that comes from the color, being sent to the receiver. Gather the Force around you and reach out with your Force sense to the other person. Attach this thought of red with your gathered Force and send this thought of red to that person. You will want to aim the thought to their head. Keep sending the thought until the person has told you they got. For more advanced players you can try to sense the brain activity and sense the thought being received.

To receive you will need to relax, clear, and open your mind up. Open yourself up to the Force. Some people may be able to pick up the thought or feeling being sent. Be attentive to any color that may suddenly pop into your head. If you receive nothing you may want to run through the colors in your head and look for the one that feels right. Always go with your gut feeling, for that is the unconscious part of you listening to the Force.

Linking
Linking is when two minds use the Force to connect each other. This is very important to Jedi because it is the bond that they share between themselves. Through this bond two or more Jedi can telepathically and empathically communicate. As two Jedi grow together in friendship, the link grows. This link is useful during anything that needs coordination. Though do note that linking does not work the same way that it does in the books. Because telepathy is very imprecise, it is not so easy to send and receive thoughts, no matter how strong the link is. That is why links should only be used to gain someone’s attention for something important and use a cell phone or internet for better communication.

If you don’t want to link to that person to establish a connection, but just get their attention, you can do something called pinging. Pinging is sending a burst of energy to that person, like an energy tap to get someone to notice you. Remember, just like linking or sensing a presence, distance doesn’t matter. You can literally ping someone across the world if you were talking to them online. To ping, gather the Force like normal. Imagine the person as clearly as possible. You will want to form a weak link or at least sense their presence. Imagine the energy you will be sending as a ball that you will “throw” and aim to “hit” the person fairly gently. You are not to hurt them, just make them aware of you.

Scanning
Scanning is not a recognized official Force skill, but is real and it is extremely useful. There are many definitions to scanning. In the movies and books, scanning was more used in the sense of remote viewing, using the Force to search out objects, people, and dangers. In this sense, scanning is used on people, to get a more in-depth first impression of someone or to dig for a better assessment of their personality. The best way to describe scanning is like assertively doing empathy, telepathy, and sensing, all at once. Scanning a person means you are looking at their character and their personality. This does not mean you will know every little detail about them, but you will get a much better idea of what they are like. Never base your actions to a person base on what you pick from a scan. If you are having trouble scanning, it might be because one of those three skills is not strong enough. If this is the case, go back and practice them. It could also be that the person you are scanning has set up mental shields, keeping you out.

I always tell the person to sit back and be themselves. I do not tell them to relax because then I know what they are feeling beforehand. As for myself, I relax and get rid of any emotions and thoughts. I do this because I do not want to confuse myself with what are my feelings and thoughts and what are the feeling and thoughts of the other person. I will either look at their name on the screen or close my eyes, depending on my mood. I reach out and touch the person I am scanning. I look for first impressions because they are usually the strongest. If for some reason I do not get anything I will ask if you have a shield. Also, note that it is not uncommon to have the same emotions as the other person. Here is a real, correct example of what to look for when scanning:

“Hmm..you are a tolerable guy...somewhat friendly, at least on the outside, though a bit wary of people. You are liked by others, but not truly popular, you put a distance around others, but sort of feel the need to bond, you're usual fairly calm, maybe a bit energetic or excitable, though once upset or anger you tend to go pretty far, though not too much like doing damage angry.”

Scanning can be used for healing when talking to someone on the phone or on the internet. You scan a person’s mind and body for damage or pain. You can then tell them what is wrong. You could call this indirect healing. Indirect healing is when you're not standing in front of a person, but heal at a distance. You can heal headaches, cold and a lot of other illnesses.

Foreseeing
“Through the Force, things you will see. Other places, the future, the past, old friends long gone.”

It is well known that with the Force you can see into in the future, often called promotions. This is a dangerous and unreliable ability that only a few people have. It is often seen as a curse, for people see the appalling roads of the future. An example of this would be 9-11. Many people felt, dreamed, and saw in their mind the planes crashing, the buildings on fire, or the people dying. There is no one way to see into the future, but there are people that tend to see the future in three different ways.

To understand promotions and why they are so dangerous, one needs to understand how time works. First off, this is rather a hard conception to accept at first, but please keep reading. Time does not exist. Time is a concept created by humans for two reasons. Time is a way to explain the passing of the sun, moon, and universe. We use years, hours, minutes to help us track progress of ourselves and to organize plans and our days. Because of this, time has no meaning because in the deep truth, what is a second? What is an hour? Who says that an hour really is sixty minutes? We could have easily created a sixty three minute hour instead. The second way time is used is to help us understand the order of events. For an example you see A) a person drop a ball. B) It bounces, C) rolls, D) falls down some stairs and F) finally stops. At least, that is how we see it. We have created our world with reason and rhyme to explain why this series of events happen the way they do, but there is nothing saying that the ball has to do that every time or even that the ball did that at all. You might have noticed how five people will end up with a different story about how the ball bounced, and rolled, and where it went. Why this is so is what makes predicting the future so strange and dangerous.

There are endless paths that the future can take. There are endless factors that affect the future, most we aren’t aware of or can’t be aware of due to the simple fact there are still many forces to the world we don’t understand or know exist. You could say that the Force is a river with tons of incoming streams and outgoing streams. Each incoming stream represents a factor. An outgoing branch of the river represents a possible future. But like rivers and streams, you can’t know what a body of water is going to do at any time. Sometimes it rains and causes a flood. Sometimes a tree falls and causes a damn. Sometime the river goes dry or the water is polluted. Rivers waxes and wanes, creates new paths while abandoning old ones. There is no way to know. And in the sense of the Force, the Force is just as wild and unpredictable as water.

Forms
Dream, visions, and feeling are all part of precognition. But one must be careful about these things. None of these forms should be trust. Dreaming is the least certain of the three. How do you know it was not just a dream? Visions tend to come to people rarely and never last long. They are generally very striking and cause a strong emotional reaction. Feelings come in a suggestion that comes quickly. Usually these feelings are things like knowing what a person will do it right before they do it. It was not dreamed, nor in a vision. It was just a strong feeling. These feelings are the most trustworthy. Jedi should learn to trust this sudden knowledge when in a fight.

The reason why a Jedi should be wary of foreseeing the future is because sometimes it is not the future you see, but what you wish to happen. You can think you foresaw something, but in reality it's what you want to happen. A Jedi should also be careful about sharing your experiences. Be careful who you tell about your dreams and visions. It is advised that you do not tell people about death. It can really scare people. If you are wrong you will never live it down.

There is another way to classify the different types of foreseeing the future. The two categories are long and short term. Long term is anything foreseen that will happen, or does happen in more than a day. This type of precognition usually is serious and dire. Dreaming and visions are the two most common forms long term takes. Short term is anything that is foreseen, in any method, in less than twenty-four hours. Usually feelings of the future come under short term.

Effects
The future has countless amounts of paths that could happen and is always in motion. It can change with the slightest action of someone. Some talented Jedi have the ability to see/feel/dream or just know the future by nature. No Jedi can see everything. The truth is that the best of the Force users only can see a few paths of out the millions. Those who can see the future must make the decision whether to tell people about the future or not. In a way you are acting like a god. You may have the power to change the future in a huge way just by a few words, and of course what you say may do nothing at all. So you need to think about what you are doing and what it can do if you tell or not tell.

Let’s say you were in math class with the teacher talking about something boring and confusing and you are not really listening, but daydreaming about something. Suddenly you have this vision of your best friend is going to attempt to cross a road and get hit by a speeding truck. True, the chances of this happening in real life are low indeed, but this is just an example.

Your first reaction would probably be to run out of the class room, down the stairs, to the science class room, screaming and begging, and generally going nuts at your friend. You friend, along with the rest of school, is looking at you weirdly, wondering what on earth is your problem. When your friend calms you down, repeating a million times that everything will be ok, the whole school will be making fun of you for weeks.
Ok, so let’s go back to the math class. You have decided to tell your friend, but just not yet. You wait until lunch to tell him. You are faced with how to tell him. Should you tell him in a quick and serious tone? Should you tell him in a calm, slow tone? Or maybe you should say it in a non serious, no big deal voice in the hopes of not scaring the living daylight of out of him.

So you decide for the calm, serious tone to tell him of his fate. A Jedi should think about how this person might react. He could laugh, ignore, listen with rapt attention, question, leaves, get angry, or suggest to you to see a doctor. He could react in one of those ways or several of them. A Jedi needs to think about the more likely paths that the future could take and decide if this is going to be a good idea. Should a Jedi get the idea that the person they are telling might take this the wrong way, the Jedi needs to prepare themselves for it.

Another possibility is he gets angry, leaves you to sit somewhere else and eventually forgets all about it. A day later he crosses that road and dies. For another example let's pick an outcome that is a bit better. He listens to you with total belief and avoids crossing the road to live a happy and long life.

There are literally a thousand ways your friend could cross or not cross that road. You simply can not predict all of them, but you can guess a few like as showed you. There is no safe, right answer. I am not saying you should not tell him, but you need to consider this carefully. To tell or not to tell is only a question you can answer. I, nor anyone, can not decide for you.

How the Force effects Society
The Force affects the masses on large scale and the masses can affect the Force without evening knowing it. You probably could not name an example off the topic of your head, but when given one, you will find yourself going “ohhh”. For example, if you recall the famous and tragic 9-11, you might have head the endless amounts of predictions people called into the FBI. Now of course, the FBI receives thousands of warnings by so called fortune tellers, but that day was special in the amount of calls that were received. This is just one little example of the power of the Force on the masses.

The subconscious mind is very much in tune with the Force and picks up far more than we know. That is why you are best going with your first answer when taking a test and why second guess yourself is a really bad idea. Humans, on a big scale, can sense something, like danger. It is believed there is an undercurrent to the Force, a silent wave as it were that flows around us, influencing us. It is this current that allows crowds to be rallied up into anger or go into a trampling panic, even if half the people don’t know why. We broadcast these feelings to each other very quickly and then we act like the crowd, even if we really wouldn’t if taken aside. An easy example of this is to step into a classroom or store. Open yourself up to the Force within the building and sense the mood. You will see that the mood affects everyone to a certain extend.

Many of us have watched the Lion King and are aware of the story about the circle of life. For those who were too old when it came out or don’t have a child or grandchild to watch with, the Lion King teaches children about the balance of life and how even the smallest ant is just as important as the leaping antelope. You may have learned in school or through some discovery show how important each species plays into the food web and what happens when humans try to control the balance themselves. For a Jedi, this balance of life plays into the Force.

Humans control, damage and supposedly save our environment is all reflected in the living Force, which as you remember is all around us, plain as the nose on your face. Humans want, desperately, to control the Force, when the reality is we never had and never will control the Force. It is our ego that says we can and denies the bigger picture of our actions. When we hurt the environment, we hurt the Force, which in turn hurts us on a massive, unnoticed scale. When we try to control the cycle of earth, whether it be the sunlight, the water fall, or ground movement, we keep failing and hurting our planet and ourselves because we cannot control the Force. The Force can’t stop us from our actions, but it will reveal, very prominently what we are really doing. If a Jedi wants to help, understand that they can’t change the world, but they can help educate themselves and point out what we are doing. You don’t have to go through years and years of schooling to see and recognize what is in front of you.

Conduct
All Jedi should be well aware of morals and ethnics when using the Force. Morals are the teachings of right and wrong. Ethnics are the rules of conduct. For the Jedi, these very important concepts to understand when it comes to using Force. As you can see the Living Force is very important to a Jedi’s life. There are many aspects of the living Force and what a Jedi can do with it. There is one very important facet of the Force, yet to be mentioned in detail and that is the dark side.

As Jedi is it our duty to protect the innocent and helpless around us. We can do this with the help of the Force. It is also our duty to use know when, why, and how to use the Force correctly. When a Jedi uses the Force for the wrong reasons they are letting the dark side command their actions. Some of the wrong reasons are using the Force to harm someone, to kill, to take control or them, or corner and bully.

A Jedi is supposed to bring peace and order into the world, not fear and distrust. When a Force user uses their abilities to harm or threaten another being, the Force users causes the person to fear them. People grow weary of anyone with any unusual skill that could cause harm. Should Jedi start using their abilities in a way that the public disagrees with, it can start a bad reputation. Having a bad reputation makes the Jedi’s job much more difficult when trying to protect or help people.

The Force gives you the option of knowing information in ways that other people can’t. You can cheat on a test by remote viewing the answer if the answer sheet is in the room. You could use telepathy to get an idea of an answer, should you have that much training. You can know people’s emotions that they are hiding and thus have control over a person. These abilities are there, for you, but it does not mean you should use them. Finally there is the aspect of showing off. Cheating truly hurts you in the long run as you didn’t know the answer, you didn’t go through the effort of finding the answer, and you may not understand the answer or fully as others who spent time studying. As for knowing people’s thoughts and emotions, it may seem cool to you and a few people, but not everyone likes it. Americans are very fussy about their need for privacy and picking up thoughts and emotions is a violation of that privacy. It is very important when you decide to use the Force, even when your actions are purely innocent.

It is a common mistake for people to think and view the dark side as a living, breathing, thinking creature. The dark side is simply the negative emotions within someone. The anger, the fear, the guilt, the depression, the pain and how each one of these emotions is used is all part of the dark side. The Force tends to magnify the dark emotions and actions, giving the person more physical and mental strength. The dark side, like anger often makes the Force user much clumsier and without fine control.

It is said that one should know one’s enemies and the opposite of the Jedi are the Sith. We, by the star war movies, have been taught to hate and fight the Sith, but that is really not the Jedi way. A Jedi never goes looking for a fight, even to fight the dark side. So it is highly advised that Jedi do not go to the Sith sites and start stirring up feelings. A more notable threat would be the Force users that naturally and sometimes unconscious drain energy from other Force Users. Some of them do this to gain more energy; some do it to purposely weaken someone. Either way, a Jedi should be aware of it and should get away from the room that is happening in.

There are a few things a Jedi can do to keep from going to the dark side and harming others. First off learn about the Force and what you can do with it. Learn how to use it and how it works. Learn your emotions. Always know what you are feelings and why you feel this way. This way, you will be mentally stable and in shape to help others. By being calm, you can control your abilities. Remember, these abilities are only as powerful as you make them and if you practice them.

Always be aware not everyone wants your help or wants you to read their thoughts and emotions. Do not make the mistake thinking no one will notice. A simple glazed look or eyes closed will bring attention to a Jedi. Some people may not be trained, but they will notice the Force if used on them. So when in doubt if to use your abilities, go back to the golden rule: treats others the way you wish to be treated. May the Force be with you.
_________________
Bring Light Into Darkness

[JediKaren]

The Force User Guide
Part 3
Manipulating the Force

Review
Being a Jedi is being a person who serves the Force. Because the Force and life go hand in hand, a Jedi serves life. To serve life, a Jedi should look at the bigger picture and serve societies. A Jedi protects the innocent and the good within society. A Jedi does not start a fight with evil, but merely puts down the dark side when confronted. Sometimes, the best way to serve and protect society is through the government, which is why Jedi work closely with governments. This does not mean the Jedi solely serves one or any government.

In order to serve the Force, a Jedi must be able to recognize and feel the Force inside them. Once a Jedi has learned to gather and ground away the Force, they can move on to feeling the Force all around them and anything living. A Jedi knows this fact and is aware that they can and should be able to feel all living creatures and plants. The Jedi can feel how all life works with and against each other. With the help of empathy, telepathy, and scanning, a Jedi can see the truth of reality and therefore be able to perform their duty even better.

A Jedi is also aware of the dark side of life. He or she knows the dark side is present in everyone and visibly brought out through negative, harmful to all emotions and actions. Jedi are aware of what the dark side can do to their health, life, and people around them. The darkside, in terms of dark emotions like fear and anger, can even block out the Force from a person if the person does not watch their emotions. Through meditation and a thorough understand of how emotions work, a Jedi can avoid and can even cast out the dark side in themselves and others.

A Jedi understands there is a certain code of conduct which must be strictly followed if they wish to maintain their reputation as good doers. One should never gain power for the sake of greed, nor never use power over others, or should Jedi abuse the Force. Once a Jedi understands all of this and have practiced the pervious skills, they are ready to learn about the next set of skills which come under manipulation of the Force.

Manipulation
“Jedi skills in the Force are rooted in three areas. Control is internal. It is the Jedi’s ability to recognize the Force in himself and to use it to his benefit. Sense involves the next step, in which the Jedi recognize the Force in the universe outside herself. Here she feels the Force and is able to draw upon it for information about the rest of universe. Alter is the third and most difficult area to master, for it involves the student’s ability to modify the Force and redistributes its energies. Through these skills, the Jedi can influence the universe, making changes as needed to accomplish its goals.”

Gate Keeper Bodo Baas, from the book I, Jedi

For most Force users, manipulating the Force is the hardest of the various skills to learn and study. Manipulating the Force, or alter from the passage above, requires mastery of the basic skills. It is highly recommended that the student studies the living Force before starting to work on manipulation. Manipulation also includes understanding the Force. The reason for learning the basics is simple; there is no other way around it. It is understood that a baby can not learn to walk until it has learned to stand and a Jedi must learn their basics before moving on to new, advance skills. To be able to use the Force, one should respect and be aware of how the Force flows; otherwise one will find them struggling.

The Force is like a river in that it tends to flow one way. When it hits a rock or fallen tree, the river must move around, slowing and disturbing the current of the river. The Force is no different from the river in this sense. There are certain rocks that exist naturally in the Force. We, as people, are not considered rocks as long as we do not resist or disturb the current. But like the rock, we do not naturally allow the Force to flow into and through us, nor are we aware of the “water” around us. We resist the current of the Force by trying to ignore the feeling of the flow. We do this when ignoring our gut feelings and shut off any connection to all aspects of the Force, including the all important living Force that is intertwined with life. When we resist the Force, we end up causing harm to ourselves, as the Force must push through or redirect its path around us.

Understand there is another rock, or problem, which can block out the Force, is our emotions. When we feel pride, anger, doubt, fear, or guilt we close ourselves off from the Force which compounds the problem. When we close ourselves shut from the Force, we lose our touch with living things and a sense of reality. By not listening to the force we put ourselves and everyone associated with us, at risk. Should there be a warning from the Force; a shut mind cannot hear it and therefore not warning anyone. Whatever is causing these harming emotions can only get better when we open ourselves up to the Force.

Aside from resisting or shutting off our access to the Force, there is another reason why manipulation is hard. Through the history of mankind, people have never had a reason to control the Force. Humans, along with most animals, are naturally semi aware and directly connected to the Force. It is natural because it is a survival trait. Controlling the Force has never been necessary to survival, so it is not practiced much. Manipulation can be learned, but it is done the hard way for most people.

Some people will have an easier time than others with bending the Force to their will. These people often think and do things in a logical manner. These people tend to be interested in computers, cars, science, and math. Because of these talents, the Force users can grasp the idea of “programming” very well. These Force users find themselves struggling more with empathy, telepathy, scanning, and other perception skills, because these skills do not follow logic very well and are done in an imprecise fashion.

One more note with manipulation is the Force is not used to being redirected from the main current, or path it naturally flows. We humans have to use our will and awareness to access the Force and this invisible flow of energy, and direct it ourselves through years of training and study. To redirect the Force will take more effort than to simple access and gather information that the Force provides naturally. This extra effort makes manipulation harder, but possible.

The type of Force that is used in manipulation is the cosmic force. This differs with the living Force in that opposite of the living Force. The source comes from anything that is not living. This source can be wood that is dead, pure dirt, metal, plastic, light, fire, air, or water. None of these sources are living and yet they exist and have energy. Therefore, they exist in the Force.

Sending
The first skill of manipulating the Force was creating a ball in your hand made out of energy. This skill is a basic skill that teaches the essences of manipulation. The second skill of manipulation is sending the Force to people, animals, and objects. This may seem a simple, pointless skill, but it will build the control and knowledge needed for more challenging abilities.

For sending the Force to something, a Jedi should open their body and mind to the Force and gather the energy around them. Then, extend your awareness so a nearby object like a pencil or computer mouse can be sensed. Spend a minute thoroughly feeling the object and studying the object with your eyes. Imagine the Force as a visible mist that a person can control. Envision that you are willing or creating a breeze so the mist flows over to the object. Make sure the shortest, most direct route is taken when envisioning the mist flowing to the object. Now, take the Force that is around you and direct your will of the Force, to the object. You should be able to feel the object as something hard and solid (should the object be a hard and solid). You should start feeling details about it just like you did when practicing “sensing”.

When you send the Force to an object nothing should happen, but when sending the Force to a person, something will happen. When sending energy to a person, they may or may not be aware of it. They generally will feel a bit more energetic feeling charge and may notice an electric charge around and in them. We call this charging a person. A person can send the Force to another Jedi to start a link, or an energy connection created by a Force user.

A Jedi should never send too much energy, in fear of overloading the person. The person does not know what an overload is and will not know how to ground or even tell you that they are overloaded. Always ask how the person is feeling and if you think you are over doing it, then stop immediately. Sending energy to another Force sensitive who has been trained will pick it up and send the Force back. This is called pinging. With a good, well known Force sensitive friend this can become a game and sometimes even get annoying.

Because animals by nature, are less intelligent in thoughts and live primarily on emotions, sending the Force to them will cause a slightly different reaction. Animals are much less aware of the Force, but will react to the Force and any disturbance that is caused in the Force. If a Jedi sends the Force to an animal, the animal is most likely going to react in a negative way such as fear or annoyance, causing them to run away. Since animals react this way, a Jedi should not send the force to the animal unless to warn, protect or heal. Another other reason is wrong and part of the dark side.

Kinesis
Kinesis, most commonly known as telekinesis or pyschokinesis (Greek for mind movement) is possible the most popular of the skills and the hardest for reason to be explained later. Kinesis refers to the movement of mass caused by a stimulus. For Force users, the Force, as energy, is the stimulant. For all its popularity in books and movies, so few authors ever get close to the reality of telekinesis. They distort the effects, methods, logic, and results of the skill. YouTube is a perfect example of how people falsify telekinesis by creating thousands of homemade cheating videos, using hidden magnets and strings. One famous video known to psions look so real and passes all the obvious tests, but it’s still faked. You can watch here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5NwRfMJgOQ. If you are wondering how, know that there were tubes in the legs of the chair. This video was done on purpose to teach its viewers to be cautious when watching any video.

One of the best weapons toward foolery is reason and logic. There is so much out there, outside of the Force that is false and a Jedi should be on the lookout for them. Always question everything and never take anything for face value. As someone once said “Keep an open mind, but don’t let it fall out.” The same applies to telekinesis. There are beliefs, some real and others not, centered on telekinesis. One of the beliefs is the different names of “kinds” of telekinesis such as “pyro” “aero” “hydro” and even “necro”. The truth is all of these names are unnecessary as they mean the same thing: move different kinds of mass with one’s mind. You use your mind to effect water, wind, water using the same method that you would for a psi wheel. Some of the different names are just plain silly and do not make sense, like the ability to effect death, time, and shadows. So when reading an article mention these terms be alert and make sure the article is logical.

The hardest part about any kinesis is the belief factor. The actual doing of kinesis is rather easy, but convincing the mind that one can do this is decidedly difficult. Many starters wish to see proof of this feat. Unfortunately, movies, homemade or professional, can be easily counterfeited or misleading in how easy it is to do the feat. Seeing someone do it through a web cam, in real time, is much more truthful, but even so the mind may not be convinced enough to succeed. Whether big or small the object you are trying to move, both can be moved equally with the same amount of will power and energy. Do not let the size faze you. Weight does not play a factor in this skill as well. Only gravity and your own strength will be your hinder.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that a Jedi move or lift something or start a fire just by thought and will power. This is not so. A Jedi manipulates the Force so the Force causes the object at hand to do something. So in order to do any type of kinesis, a Jedi should use their mind to access the Force and let the Force do the moving for the Force user.

We all wish we could levitate the remote control to our hand and save ourselves the energy of getting up, but most of us have a far ways to go. Even once a Jedi gets past the doubt aspect, he or she is going to only be able to nudge something or cause a flicker in a flame. All kinesis require mental strength and control. This strength must be built up with lots of practice, but beware of doing too much practicing at once. Short, thirty minutes or less practices, twice a day will enough. Should you find yourself feeling drained of mental or physical energy or with a headache take a break for that day. Then shorten the practice for the next few times until you are not getting so worn out. Check to see how hard you are trying.

Telekinesis
This skill is the most famous one in movies and in books, often only half described on how to do it. In the present world, telekinesis is not a mandatory skill to learn for a Jedi, but one that is interesting and will teach the Jedi more about the properties of the Force. Telekinesis is best known as the ability to move objects with your mind. A Jedi should know that it is the Force that moves the objects, not strong thoughts.

A few times an untrained Jedi will open them to the Force while thinking or staring at an object and cause that object to fall. This is not bad and can be used for the belief problem by remembering that telekinesis can be done. In fact, one really good trick that a site describes is fooling your mind into believing that you just barely moved the psi wheel, knowing you really did not. Once your mind is convinced this can really happen, all you have to figure out is how to ask the wheel to move, not force, beg, or will it to move. Then, you learn how to be aware of the part of your mind that is moving the Force around the wheel and start learning control.

Remember, once you do something, you can also do it again. Occasionally an angry, emotional, untrained Force user can cause nearby objects to break. This event is sometimes known as a poltergeist, but do not confuse it with the fictional ghost. Teenagers are often the ones to happen them the most as they enter a very emotional stage. This sudden and strong telekinesis movement occurs because the Force user has a lack of emotional and Force control. It is suggested that the person grounds daily and watches their anger or fear if these events happen. Emotional control and concentration is essential to telekinesis.

Some beginners think that trying very hard to move an object will do the trick. This is hardly correct way of thinking. No Force user should try to "will" anything to move, you have to "ask" and let the object move on its own. In reality it takes very little effect to move a piece of paper. Do not try to command the force to move something, always respectfully request the Force to do it. Understand that this is not the movies, we are not powerful Jedi, and we are far from able to lift entire houses without much training. There are no masters in the Force to teach you these “secrets” you might think exist. If you think are you going to be that all powerful, TV remote lifter in a month of a few practice sessions, you would be best to try another skill. Telekinesis is a slow process involving lots of hard, steady, frustrating work that cannot be rushed with no shortcuts to be found, and little baby steps to take.

Psi Wheel
A psi wheel, or sometimes known as a pin wheel, is a small, handmade tool that is perfect for learning telekinesis. It is called a psi wheel because the psions, a type of Force users, invented the wheel. To make a psi wheel you will need a sewing needle or pin, a small, one inch squared piece of paper and a cork. Stand the cork on a flat surface and then insert the needle or pin in so the pointy side is facing up. Fold the piece of paper twice and unfold it. The crease should divide the square into four smaller squares. Balance the paper on the point of the needle or pin. You can find pictures of psi wheels on various sites. Some people will take the folded paper and balance it on a flat hard surface, like a table, and move it around that way, rather than balance it on a pin. Notice how easily the paper will stir. There is very little friction for you to have to deal with. Let this fact enforce the idea you can move this paper.

To start off, sit in front of the wheel with on the floor, or near a table. Get comfortable because you are going to be there for a while, but do not get so comfortable that you become bored or fall asleep. Have the wheel at a distance so if you breathe hard you will not move it, but try to get fairly close to the wheel. Wait a minute to check for breezes. If there is a breeze, try to track the breeze down, such as a fan, a window, or a heat vent. You might have to move around the room or to new room because if there is any breeze, there is no way to tell if you or the breeze moved the wheel at any time. You will also want to check to see if you sigh or breathe a bit harder than normal will affect the paper. Third, put your hand near the wheel. You will naturally cause a bit of disturbance in the air, so wait for the wheel to stop moving before you continue. Some researchers argue that the heat from your hand is enough to cause the wheel to move on its own, but this is merely an opinion with no research or solid logic to prove this. It is in my experience and the experience of thousands of others, this theory is incorrect, but you can test it out for yourself if that is a concern of yours. Once you have done these tests, you can be sure that whatever movement happens next, will come from your efforts.

Breathe and relax your mind and body to open your mind to the Force. You will want to let go of any emotions, good or bad, that you carry with you as they are a huge distraction. Fear or anger will stop the flow of the Force off from a Jedi and make telekinesis hard or impossible. You will want your mind to stop it’s usually racing and focus on just one goal; move the wheel. Allow Force to flow through you and become aware of your surroundings. Extend your awareness to the wheel. Feel the paper, sense the paper, and know everything you can about it. Sense the paper so thoroughly that you become part of the paper. It is going to feel as though you are both the paper and yourself. It is like you are seeing and feeling it with your hands, but in an all-in-one feeling.

Think of a direction that you would like the wheel to move in, right or left. The next step is very important, even if it doesn’t make sense, it is the utter most importance that it is followed, or you will make the mistake that so many beginners do. Do not try to move the wheel. Do not try to mentally push or shove the wheel. Do not try to force the wheel to move. It will not work and it will give you a headache and tire you out. In my own practices, I have discovered there is something in the back of your mind that does the moving of the psi wheel. You will have to find this part of the brain through experimenting. In order for the wheel to move, that part of your mind needs connect to the wheel with the Force and to the wheel at the same time. This will be hard at first and is usually a trial by error practice, much like learning many sports. You have to keep the skill until one time you get it and can understand what you did in order to reproduce it.

This is hard to put into words as it must be discovered by the student. You have to have this connection, ask the wheel to spin. At first the wheel might only shake or wobble. This is a good sign and happens because your focus is not very strong. Continue to think of a direction for the wheel to move, but do not think about it too hard, as in do not try to force the wheel to move. Keep calm and focused. Check your mental state. For telekinese, you really need to get pass the doubt factor. Any disbelief will distract you and make this all but impossible. It is crucial to believe that this can be done even if you have not done it yet. If you are still getting nowhere, take a break and come back when you are fresh and calm. Try breathing on the wheel just enough to see it move or try tapping it with your finger. Take a moment to really notice how little effort is needed to make it move. Keep this in mind when you go back to practice.

After a couple of practices, the wheel should start moving. Do not be surprised when you find that you are tired when you really just stared at a piece of paper and “asked” the wheel to move for a few minutes. This is quite normal. It takes a lot of energy to move a piece a paper simply because you never have. It’s like trying to run a mile when you have never run before. With time, practice, and experimenting, your control and endurance will grow.

This is just one method. Everyone ends up having a different way of explaining how telekinesis works for them. You would do well to research other explanations if this one does not help you. Though, beware, not all methods are valid as some are bogus or so poorly written, that the guide helps no one. Keep this in mind when reading another article. If you wish to take the wheel to the next step, find a glass jar to put over it and move it. You will find that the mental block is the hardest part to get over. Note that the glass has no effect on your skills, other than make it seems harder. If you find that the wheel is too hard or boring, you can try a pendulum, a string tied to something so it hangs and can be made through telekinesis to swing in any direction you wish. You can also play around with rolling round and smooth pencils.

Pyrokinesis
Pyrokinesis, just to use the more known term, the ability to start, control or end fire, is next popular kinesis to learn. It is also an easy to access and keep to yourself skill. For beginners, all they will need is a small candle and a lighter. Needless to say, a bit of common sense about not getting burned and making sure the parents won’t get upset about the candle would be good too.

Sit in front of the candle and light it with the lighter. Make sure that if you breathe heavily, you will not disturb the flame. Put your hand by the candle and wait for the flame to stop moving. Check to see if there are any breezes, problems with the candle, or other factors that could ruin the purity of the result

Remember the properties of fire. Fire needs three things to exist: air, fuel, and heat. If you take one away, the fire will end. If you increase one of the elements, the fire will grow, unless you add too much air or put the wrong kind of fuel and then the fire will go out. But for a simple candle, it’s too little that needs to be worried about. In this exercise, you will manipulate the amount of heat in the flame of the candle. The goal will be to make the flame bigger by adding heat to the flame.

To control the flame you will need to open yourself to the Force and sense the flame. Use the “becoming one” method to become the flame. Sense the heat the flame gives. Sense the middle of the flame. Now forget about the flame for a minute. Extend your Force sense to the nearby area around you. Feel the energy in the room. Where there is energy there is heat in the room. Gather the heat in your body and then direct the heat to the flame, using the Force to create a link to the fire. You should see and sense the flame getting hotter.

Shielding
The chances of getting attack from out of nowhere on Earth are very rare indeed. More times than not the person being attacked did something to deserve it or even wanted it. There are people that use their abilities to battle each other for fun, competition, or for revenge. Sometimes, people will ask other Force users to purposely attack their shield so the shield’s strength can be tested. Shielding requires a fine control over manipulation of the Force, which may give some Force perspective people trouble.

It seems though the media we are surround by greedy evil and dangerous psychics who are out to get us poor innocent people and we need to rush to defend ourselves. But the truth is and so often is in every other kind of danger, few people, if any would want to take over your mind or hurt you. There are not that many people out there with the training and control needed to commit such acts and there is an extremely good chance they will never even meet you. You can also learn to take measures aside from shielding to avoid such situations such as don’t pick fights with people who could attack you, don’t hang out with the wrong crowd of people, and don’t get yourself into sparring or combat groups and there will be no reason for people to attack you.

People like to panic and overact over the slightest bit of unrealistic danger. If you remember 2000 Y2K, you will recall that people thought the world would end because the computers couldn’t handle the date change. Their logic it didn’t make sense nor did it even check out when tested. The same kind of blind and stupid panic is often found in those who think they are going to be mentally attacked. You are far more in risk every time you get into a car and yet you don’t seem to worry about that, despite the well studied statistics. But since the danger exists on some level and some teens think it’s cool to invade your most scared privacy, the mind, here are some observations about attacks and shielding.

You don’t need the most complex shield ever unless you are testing shield or practicing sparring. Sparring in the Force sense is the friendly and willing practice of shields. It works that one person put up their shields and another person tries to break the shield, but not to do anything more. The difference between this and combat is that someone is trying to not only break the shield without warning, but to do damage to their victim. Sparring is not something for beginners to practice as they usually do not have the experience or skill needed. They do not know the strength of the other person and generally do not know what the other person in terms of personality. If the beginner insists in learning to spar, it is suggested that they watch for some time, reading up on shields and practice having their shields very gently broken. Otherwise serious damage could happen.

There is a fear for those who have done some, but not enough research on a type of “psychic” attacker called psychic vampires. The term may seem scary and occultish, but do step back from the world of fantasy. They are not blood sucking, evil monsters, but humans that are real as you and me. Psychic vampires, consciously or not, draw energy from other people in an attempt to “feed” themselves, as they lack energy themselves. They will drain a person of their energy, making the person feel tired. Some psi vampires will drain a person of their emotional energy, rather than their Force signature. Psi Vampires have a bad reputation of being evil and hungry, but only a few are like this. They can be stopped with shields. Most psi vampires, who are aware of what they are, make an effort not to harm others and are normal and kind as anyone else. They, for the most part, are not a threat that needs to be worried over.

Mirror Shield
There are many kinds of shields, as many as the imagination and the skill of the shielder can make. But there are a few shields that are popular and common enough that has earned a permanent name. Some of these shields are bubble shield, force bubble shield, cloaking shield, and mirror shield which will be explained in detail. There are many articles out there under “psionics” that can teach you how to do each kind of shield.

Empathy overload is a very real and serious problem that many naturally talented Force users face. There is a way to avoid the on slaughter of emotions and that is done by a shield. The common shield used to deflect overloads is called a mirror shield. To create a mirror shield, you should gather the Force around you, about two inches away from your body. Image an invisible mirror that is the thickness of paper. Envision this mirror to be so strong that nothing can get through it. Take the gather Force and have the Force copy this image in your mind. Ask the Force to have this shield not only block any emotions or thoughts, but to send them away from you. If you want to be able to feel only one emotion, ask the Force to program the shield so only that emotion is allowed in.

Mental attacks
The brain has a large amount of control over the body. The body may naturally heal itself; the brain can sometimes purposely keep the body from healing, or heal in a certain way. Sometimes this happens because the brain itself is hurt or fooled into thinking there is something wrong and needs to be straight before the body can be healed. There are chemicals in the brain that when are imbalanced can cause certain mental and physical reactions. There is also emotional health in that too much stress, anger, or fear can literally affect the mind and body. A Jedi should be aware of this and check the mind out before looking at the body.

Physical attacks
For those who are worried about Force users Force lifting, choking, slamming, or harming you physically, there is no need to worry. The threat only exists in movies. The skill needed for that kind of attack is beyond us mere mortal souls and even those who could do it, would not pick a fight with you, unless you were at their level of skill and a threat to them. The likelihood of that is far less than being struck by lightning.

Healing
There is a kind of Jedi that serve other Jedi by being healers. They have a special talent for finding injuries and illness and using the Force to heal the problem. Jedi healers also know how to use herbs and medicines. They gather the Force and link to the patient, searching for a problem. Many healers can see the aura of the person and the damaged part of the person. Using the Force and medical knowledge the healer can fix the damage and heal the person. A Jedi should not that the Force cannot heal or completely fix all problems. Should a person be very close to death, it may be too late for a Jedi or anyone to be to save them. Some extremely illness or diseases are extremely hard to cure or incurable like many types of cancer. The Force cannot solve all problems, especially if no one knows how to use the Force to do so.

The Three States of Healing
We all heal ourselves naturally. We heal ourselves in our sleep, as well as we are awake. Sleep is always the best thing to do when sick or hurt because it gives the body a chance to rest, to not spend energy on running, walking, thinking, or the millions of other things we do when awake. And when we dream, so long as it’s not nightmares, we can focus on mind on healing through the dream indirectly or directly. Dreaming is a way to distract the mind, like using television to distract a kid. If we do not dream, we are not healing or not doing any serious healing.

There are three states a Jedi or any energy user can be in self healing. The first and the most natural, healing state is called sleep. It is a state where the body and mind come to a rest, a halt. Notice that when you are sick, you sleep a lot, allowing the body to solely focus on fighting the germs within you. The Force will slowly flow through the person and in small amount. The level of the Force is low and not being directed, promoting and help natural body healing. If you want to increase the amount of healing, during sleep, you should mediate, or at least go to sleep in a peaceful, happy mindset. That way you are not being restlessly due to dreams or a tense body.

The second state for healing is called meditation. Meditation is when the body goes to sleep and will start healing, but the mind remain half active and alert. There are many types of meditation, each with a different goal, but all meditations are helpful to the mind and body. The Force flows greater and can be controlled. The amount of control depends on the user’s skill level.

The last state is the least natural and is known as trancing. Trancing is when the body goes to sleep, but the mind is fully alert. The Force is fully controlled. What makes this start different from all others is the mind is totally focused on its self. It is like sleep in that the person is not aware of anything around them. This state allows the Force user to focus completely on healing the body, while getting the sleep needed.

Connection of the Force
The natural connect to the Force is something all humans have. This connection is critical to their health. Should a person ever try to cut themselves off from the Force, even if they are not Force sensitive, their health will rapidly disintegrate. Sometimes the body and mind will develop energy blocks which block the Force from flowing naturally. It is important that a Jedi healer looks not just at the body of the patient, but also the mind, checking to see if there is a disconnection.

Mental healing
The brain has a large amount of control over the body. The body may naturally heal itself; the brain can sometimes purposely keep the body from healing, or heal in a certain way. Sometimes this happens because the brain itself is hurt or fooled into thinking there is something wrong and needs to be straight before the body can be healed. There are chemicals in the brain that when are imbalanced can cause certain mental and physical reactions. A Jedi should be aware of this and check the mind out before looking at the body.

Headaches
Everyone naturally guards and fusses with any wound they might have. We all know that if you put a band-aid or get some help the wound will heal faster. A headache is no different. If you could force your mind to stop guarding the pain, your body will naturally heal the mental wound. This is a hard skill to do. For some others, it is easier to heal someone else than to heal themselves. Please note there is very little difference in healing someone and healing yourself.

The first step is to find out the exact location of the pain. You will have to scan the person's mind and study the pain. Why is the pain there? How bad is the pain? Is there something else wrong or weird in the area? Do not be afraid to question the person about the headache and its history, especially if the information you get isn't enough or you can not scan correctly.

Have the person relax. The less brain activity, the easier it is to heal them. Once they are truly relaxed you can then "touch" the pain. This skill is done in telepathy, empathy, and sensing. Now slowly, but firmly push their mind away from the mental wound. The person you are healing may find it painful if you are not too gentle, so be careful.

The person should feel detached. This is a good sign. Build a shield or that can be thought as a "band-aid" between the mind and the pain. This shield should last for a few hours at least. Make sure the person clearly understand that they need to rest. If they can, sleep. The worse thing they could try is to do something hard, like math homework, because then the mind is forced to work. It is as if you were trying to do too much exercise when you are tired it will end up not only getting more tired and less effective, but the muscles might get cramps and cause you pain. Even when Force can heal living beings, it is far from being a miracle in almost all cases.

Numbing
When you numb you are literally doing what the doctors do with the needles. Have you ever gone to the dentist and been given a shot of Novocain? Have you ever broken a bone and been given a painkiller? Remember that feeling of nothingness. The feeling was like that broken foot did not exist. What was happening was that the painkiller was blocking your foot nerve’s signals from reaching your brain. You will be doing this blocking of the nerves yourself.

Let's say your cat scratched you a minute ago and you would go after the beast, but your bleeding leg hurts too much. First off, stop the bleeding. Relax your mind and body. Forget about the fact you want to kill the cat. Now close your eyes. You do not have to, but it makes it easier to focus. With you mind, go straight to where the pain is in the leg. Focus on the pain. Accept the pain and do not try to fight it. Mentally wipe out all the pain. You should feel the pain suddenly disappear. Remember, you are getting rid of the pain, not the leg. Do not try to numb the leg, just the pain. If the pain returns just do it again. For injuries like broken bones and sprains, you are going to have to hold this numbing method for a few more seconds to get a lasting result. Leave the wound alone. Once you touch the leg or have something brush up on the leg, the pain will come back and you will have to start all over again. So sit or lie down for a while.

You can use this method for any type of pain or itching. It can be used for mosquito bites. The hardest thing about healing is that you have to calm down when doing it, or else it will not work. Also, keep in mind that it may not always work, especially if the pain is way too big. Injuries like bad sprains, broken bones, bad tears in muscles, cramps, and sore throats might not be able to be entirely worked with, but it even still does help somewhat.

Infections
Whether it is an infected cut, a cold, or an illness, it generally can be healed. If cause cannot be cured, the symptoms can be healed. Here is a technique that can work on yourself. For bad colds or an upper respiratory infection the first step is to open yourself up to the Force and look inward. Mentally go to each area of your body that is bothering you. Use the Force and sense where the germs are located in each area. You will know what the germs are because they will feel wrong and alien. Let’s say you were sensing your lungs because you had a bad cold. Imagine the germs traveling out of the lungs, up your throat and out your mouth.

Gather the Force and center it in your lungs. Use the Force to grab on to the germs. Send the Force and the germs up and out of your throat. You will want to do this when breathing out. Do not inhale until a second or two after the germs are out of your mouth, or you will end up breathing them in again. Go back to sensing your lungs and check to see if you got all of the germs or not. It is likely you have not and that is ok. Just repeat the steps above for a few more minutes.

Animals
Healing an animal is similar to healing a person, but there are differences that need to be noted. Most animals have a better defense and healing system than humans. This is because most animals do not heal their kind, nor have the understanding to. A Jedi should also note that animal bodies can work much differently than a human’s body. Techniques that work on people may not always work on animals. Be careful about overloading an animal with too much energy. Do not send more energy than that species is use to. Often times the best and first step to helping an animal is to earn its trust in you and to calm the animal down. To do this, gather the Force, create a link to the animal and sense the mind of the animal. Create a very strong feeling of calm and peace in yourself and transfer the feeling to the mind of the animal. The animal should respond, but it may fight you. One technique that works is to visualize the injury and visualize it getting better while sending energy to that spot.

Other Forms of Healing
There are other kinds of healing; many of them are questionable about the realistic statistics of their healing powers. Many of these forms have little to no science or studies to back them up and often charge fees, some very over priced for their services. This is not to say that they are completely false, but more that they are not understood well and there is very little promise that they will work, every time, for you. But there is an argument that hospitals are not the best place to be when sick and the fees are ridiculous and sometimes just not an option with the way medical insurance is set up. It is suggested that you spend time research whatever method you chose for healing and look closely at all aspects before turning to it.

Other groups such as religious groups, the new age types, and what not have their own practices of healing. Some of these techniques work to a degree and others are useless in terms of science and modern science. If you believe in faith healing, understand there is no science to back that practice up other than hearsay. These Force guides do not suggest or support those practices. If you put so called faith in the Force to heal your sister while doing nothing medical, then you might as well call the Force, God. If you actively send the Force through the body of the person while in the same room of the person with some experience and knowledge of what you are doing, you stand a small chance. The Force can not achieve miracles and it is foolish to think so.

The other popular kind of healing is reiki, the sending of energy through a person. It is a wide spread practice that is practiced even in some hospitals and in new age groups. The method consists of the patient receiving attunements, which are suppose to help correct the energy in the body and have an effect on the person’s health. Reiki is more known to feel good, which can help combat depression, distract you from pain and worry, and can help a person turn around their emotions to start healing themselves. Some nurses have been captured through the media to practice reiki on patients, usually before or after surgery. There have been studies, but no solid evidence that reiki help cures illnesses. This guide will not teach the technique. It is advised not to solely rely on reiki to cure an illness. Reiki is not cheap either, costing a hundred dollars or more for one session. To learn reiki costs money as well. If you so chose this path make sure the person you go to is not a scam artist.

Another kind of healing is questionable is online healing. First off there is the patient and the healer to question. The healer can’t see the patient; even through the web cam they aren’t getting the full picture. The healer can’t physical touch or perform any tests. Second the patient may not be telling everything or be slightly off just through ignorance or embarrassment or strong, but wrong opinions. The healer is probably not a doctor, has no medical training and is probable going on what they heard or read. If the patient really wants online healing, they should get to know their healer very well and explain all parts of the problem as well as any history, relevant or not. This method should not be the primary option and there is no promise that the healing will work.

Biofeedback is kind of self checking of temperature, blood pressure, and other functions of the human body. It is not so much of a healing method, but an alarm system to help remind you to calm down, cool off, and take care of yourself. It should be used as a preventative method, not a healing solution. While you do not need to use the Force when doing so, you can gather the Force and do a thorough scan of your body, sensing for anything that might seem off. Please note that you are not a doctor and that you may interpret something as wrong when not. Always check with your doctor.

Warnings
No matter how good a healer you or another healer is, healing should not be used to substitute going to the doctor or hospital, if needed. Even if the Force helps with a nasty flu, you should still have your pills. Never heal anyone for more than half an hour at most, or you will hurt yourself, by draining yourself of energy. It is advised that never heal yourself for more than twenty or more minutes. It is better to do short healing sessions than long ones. Short sessions, followed by rest, eating, and drinking gives the body a change to do some healing for you and recover from any stress the healing caused the body. Also beware of having your empathy when healing people. It is very easy for your mind and body to feel the other person’s sickness and feel and to convince your body you are sick. This can fool the mind into being unable to feel and gather the Force. Remember; when you are sick you lack energy and will find it hard to feel, gather and use the Force so take it slow and easy.

Force Suggestions
This ability is well known and used quite a bit in star wars movies, but the level of control displayed is extremely high and unrealistic. If you think you are going to learn to convince your teacher that you did your homework, with a wave of your hand, think again. For one thing, the hand gesture has nothing to do with planting a suggestion into someone’s mind. To be able to do this ability requires knowledge of telepathy, the mind, and good manipulation of the Force. It was said that in the movies the stronger the mind, the harder to control, but even weak minds are not easy to confuse, fool, or control.

A Jedi should be aware of the consequences that follow mind control. This ability can be easily abused. When you abuse any skill, you bring a bad name to the skill, to yourself, and to others like you, as well as the practice. It is too easy use the Force to suggest something that is minor, but wrong. Always respect a person’s need for free will, even if the person is stupid or going to get themselves hurt. Some people just have to learn for themselves and do it the hard way. It will become easier to keep abusing the Force on people. So it is highly advised one practices any type of mind control with caution.

Mind control
Mind control is an aggressive and harmful telepathic skill. Mind control involves a Force user going into the mind of a person and gaining control of the mind. With this control, the Force user can control many movements or anything said by the victim. This is not an ability that a Jedi should learn, but a Jedi does need to be aware of it and be able to block it. It is a skill that can easily tempt one into using the dark side, even for so called “just” reasons. Not only are Force users are at risk, but so is everyone else. The only good news is this is a hard skill and so few people have the ability, that there is a very low risk of mind control being used on anyone. So do not start viewing the world as full of mind control freaks like the movies might make reality seem like. Just understand the ability does exist, can be practiced by any moderate to advance practiced and is just another tad bit to the ways of the Force. This attack can be avoided with strong mental shields and experience with the Force.

Force suggestions
Force suggestions are similar to mind control, but it is done in a more passive, less controlling way. The idea behind Force suggestions is to telepathic suggest an idea or strong urge into a person’s mind, but not to take over the person’s control. The idea or urge is strong enough that weak minded people will obey without question and stronger people will be affected, but may not obey. The chance of Force suggestions working depends on the concentration and strength of the Force user. Should a Jedi use this ability, it should be done to help. To do a Force suggestion, create a link with the person. Make sure you have a strong connection with them. Focus on their mind and the part of their mind that deals with emotions and planning. Think about a feeling on something to do, or say something extremely hard, and send this thought to the part of the brain you sensed in the other person. The person may not respond at first. Keep sending this thought as hard as you can to ensure the person takes the thought into account of what possible thoughts and actions to consider.

Invisibility
While it is impossible to make yourself disappear from plain view, it is possible to fool a non Force user into believing you do not exist. A real example of this is going back to the days of school and remembering those who you could never name, but saw. It seemed like no one noticed them. These people seemed to just about disappear on their own and could even be forgotten in a small group if they remained quiet. At the same time, if they spoke up suddenly, all attention was drawn to them and everyone seemed to respect their call for attention. This control of attention is usually done by those who have popularity and leadership skills on their side, and not by the unknown. This strange phenomenon is done with Force suggestion. These people, knowingly or not, managed to use the Force to create a feeling emptiness, or not importance around them, sending the Force to someone(s) else, so to draw attention away from them. When they wish to be noticed again, they only have draw the Force to them, skidding past the usual rules of social gathering and popularity. Essentially, they can become invisible in broad day light.

To practice this skill, it is best to pick a time and place where people won’t freak or if it goes wrong, you won’t get into trouble. This skill requires both skill in the Force and your ability to act, though you will not need drama classes. Reach out to the Force and feel the people around you. Create a weak connection with them. Gather the Force and send this suggestion to their minds. Plant the idea that you are not important and are not worth noticing. They do not need to see you. Should this suggestion work, no one will look at you. The teacher will not call you. The police will ignore you. It will become easier to worm through crowds. Of course, you will still have to keep a low profile. You need to keep quiet, head down; body language needs to be submissive and belittling, so not to impose a threat to the people around you. If you break your concentration, this suggestion can be washed away and backfire on you. The people you fooled will suddenly find you interesting, if not suspicious.

There is also another way to fool anyone. A Jedi who is calm, who is at peace and is not making any emotional “noise” will seem nonsexist to other Force users who are searching from the Jedi. This emotional quiet will keep non Force users from paying any attentions to the Jedi.

Disconnection from the Force
Another way to fool or to hide from other Force users that might possible save your life is consciously disconnecting yourself from the Force. This is only recommended for throwing off other Force users. Disconnecting yourself from the Force leaves you very blind and venerable to attacks. A Jedi will fail to sense any dangers or people around you. Some Force users may unconsciously disconnect themselves from the Force. They do this because they get such a strong emotional or energy overload their mind cannot handle the energy and cuts the Force connection. One can think of this as restarting their connection the same way one would restart a computer that is acting up. The longer and hard one trains in the Force, the harder it is to disconnect and stay away from the Force, as the Force becomes a habit. Although it can also serve as a test to learn how to not always rely or depend on the Force for everything and find different, creative methods for everyday life.

To cut one’s connection to the Force, one should first open to the Force. Become conscious of the connection you and what part of you connects the most to the Force. Create a mental shield around that area and ask the shield to block the Force out. For experienced Force users, this shield can be hard to maintain because they will find themselves unconsciously reaching out to the Force.

When not to use the Force
So far you have been taught how and why to use the Force. You have learned that one can do damage to oneself and to others if one is not careful or one plans on using the Force to harm. You have learned to keep your negative emotions and thoughts out of your practice, but you have not learned another important lesson that any Force user needs to learn. That is, when to use the Force and where and why not to use the Force.

The Ego
Once a Jedi has a basic grasp on the Force, to the point they feel comfortable with their control and comprehension they rick the dangers of their own egos. Although I do not like quoting the movies, there is one line that few, if anyone, have bothered to explain. This lack of discussion seems to come from that fact we think the line has only one meaning when there is another. “This is a dangerous time for you. You will be tempted by the dark side”

Not only was he referring to the emperor and his apprentice offer, but there is another warning: watch your ego.

We each have an ego. Each one of our egos is hungry for praises, for justifications, for growth. Yet each ego gets people every so often by friends, teachers, or life itself. A “healthy” ego would have the perfect balance of pride and humility, so it never grows and never gets popped. For certainly most of us, find this impossible to find and hold on for long. For one reason some of us have a bigger and hungry ego. Some of us don’t a big enough or stable ego. To be a Jedi doesn’t mean you can’t have an ego or have one that goes from one extreme to the other, but it does mean to keep tract of the ego so to help keep it balanced as much as possible.

One should also look out for the temptation to play hero with the Force. We all want to use the Force to help others, but one has to keep in mind that fact not everyone knows about the Force, even under a different name, and wants to experience it. Some people will not thank you for knowing their hidden emotions. Others will be scared by the thought of you being able to read their mind, know their future, or the simple fact that you can do weird and socially unacceptable things. It is important to keep in mind that the supernatural is not accepted or tolerated by most people and a display could anger or scare people, even your parents. Those who do practice the Force have found they have to be careful of who they show, why, how, and those they help. Showing your parents telekinesis might seem like a good idea until their religious views come out in the worst way and you end up in military or catholic school, which is a story I have heard from real teens. It is best to keep your practices at home to yourself, but if you need to talk to people, there are people on the web who are serious as this guide and would love to talk to you. Just be aware of the ego wanting to show itself at the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.

The Force is food for the ego, which is what makes it dangerous to Force users. The Force is powerful, limitless, and strong. The Force, dark or light, makes you feel good. It feels right. It makes you feel special. You can do amazing feats with the Fore. With decades of training, you can even have the control over people’s lives. Just knowing this fact can feed your ego. Yet the ego is the enemy to the Force. The ego can blind us, distort our perception of reality, and blocks the full flow of the Force from us. In other words, our egos can “make us” turn to the dark side if we are not careful. As a Jedi, you should keep an eye for these things to happen to you. Do not think that you are immune to this danger, as that is just your ego speaking. Meditate, look within yourself, watch your words and what you write, and see how others treat and think about you.

Conclusion
Control of the Force is not easy. There is so much to learn, so much to understand and to practice. These skills can simply not be rushed. The user must practice every day, being aware of the methods they are trying. It can seem overwhelming and for some, they will find that learning to use and understand the Force is not for them and that’s ok. Others will struggle with different skills or methods. Should the method in this guide not work for you, feel free to go looking for a new one. There are plenty out there, but because this guide is just a sample of what can be done, it does not include everything known. Beware of the dangers of the Force and the moral side. Control is a great and scary thing for Force users and none alike. Practice, try different things, go slow, and enjoy yourself. This is just a study, a hobby, not work and certainty not life and death. May the Force be with you.
_________________
Bring Light Into Darkness

[JediKaren]

The Force User Guide
Part 4
Unifying the Force

Review
This may come as good or bad news, but this is the last review and the last section of the four part Force guide. Although part four will cover the last of the major abilities, exercises, and theories, there is still much to be known about the Force. There is plenty of information that is considered spiritual that has been left out on purpose. Remember, you will can stop learning and discovering the secrets of the Force. Your study of the Force should not stop here, but hopefully expand pass what I humbly know.

In the last three sections, there was information on basic skills, the living Force, and the cosmic Force. The cosmic Force consists of all matter that is dead or never was alive such as rocks or plastic. Using this energy source, it was found that all types of manipulation were possible. Manipulation includes skills like sending, programming, shielding, kinesis, mind control, and healing.

There is one more type of the Force that needs to be understood and studied. It is called the unifying Force and it is the hardest type to understand and control. It is perhaps the most abstract concept of the Force. In this guide, students will learn not only about the Unifying Force, but also some very strange skills that have to do with the mind. It is highly recommended that students read the first three sections, in order, before reading and practicing these skills or else much of what is being referenced will not make sense. And as always, it is asked that the reader takes their time with the material and practice and not rush through the guide. This guide is going nowhere, and neither is the student’s abilities, should they rush.

Unifying the Force
The Unifying Force is what binds everything together and interconnects all other aspects of the Force, such as the living Force and the cosmic Force. Although the Force is energy and everything we see, feel, hear, and know about exists because it moves, thus all aspects of the Force are made out of same energy; the unifying Force can be seen as the step back to look at the big picture. The unifying Force is the balance of the light and dark side, which are our intend use of the Force, and all of the Force skills. The unifying Force is what connects living and non living things together and bring balance to the universe.

To become aware of the unifying Force, one must learn to become aware the Force and the effect the energy have on the mind. Each Jedi has a soul, the spirit within. The spirit is what makes you, you. The spirit is our character, our charm, our insights, and our personality. The body and spirit are two separate things and can be separated without harm to either for a period of time. It is important that a Jedi has the awareness of their spirit, because when they become of their spirit, they open the door to many a strange, but life changing skills. There are certain, seemingly odd, skills that have yet to be discussed that help a Jedi find this awareness of the spirit. These skills center on an area that has yet to be talked about in detailed, the inner awareness of yourself. It is important that the Jedi looks inward to find the Force, their beliefs, and the truth. The force exists in us and the first step a student learns to feel the Force within themselves and then move out. When a student meditates to answer a question, they turn inward to their spirit, where truth about the world lies. And it is the different states of mind, such as sleep, that can show us so much more than when awake. Without this inner awareness, a Jedi cannot even begin to understand the minds of others. The inner awareness of a Jedi through the Force is necessary for a Jedi to perform their duty.

There is so much to the Force we don’t know or understand very clearly. As of now, you have read and hopefully understood some of the basic and most known abilities of the Force. There are some people out there that know more. Some of these people can be found online and may be even willing to talk to you, should you be able to find them. Others you might meet in real life. I personally have had no luck finding “real” people, but other friends I know have.

Dreaming
Dreaming has never been understood very well by mankind, although there are many theories and a strong fascination for it. There have been countless studies done on dreaming, some of them have proved insightful in terms of the Force and I strongly encourage you to research them. Despite all the research we have done on dreams, it is all theory, including much of what is said in this article. Though this article draws on different kinds of sources, some scientific and others from the common experience of many Force users. It is said that a Jedi should rarely dream, but in the modern world Jedi do end up dreaming a lot. Note that some people rarely dream, some dream some nights of the week and others dream every night, if not having more than one dream. Many dreams mean nothing and scientists today belief that dreaming is simply our mind trying to make sense of recent events, feelings, or fears. Some dreams are purely nonsense with no connection to anything However, some dreams are special and should not be ignored. Dreams can be controlled, altered, having personal meaning behind them, and be shared with other dreamers. Some dreams can hint of the future or the past. Other dreams can lend insight into what is bothering you, consciously or not. Learning about dreams can increase self awareness and awareness in the Force, deepening the meaning being a Jedi.

Nightmares
While nightmares have nothing to do with the Force, they do affect Jedi a great deal. Nightmares can show a lot about person’s feelings. Nightmares general show or reflect a fear that is being suppressed. Nightmares are not a common state for the human mind and are signals to something being wrong with the person. Nightmares, those repeat or happen frequently, are a sign that the person is emotional unstable and that fear needs to be dealt with. Being unstable for a Jedi or any Force user can mean the person is using their darkness within them. These dreams can help a Jedi understand the feelings and motives behind someone. Jedi can look at their own nightmares to help understand their own fears. First the student needs to acknowledge they are having nightmares and that this is not normal or a good thing. Fear is not a normal state for a Jedi and blocks one’s connection to the Force, as well as lead to other problems. It is suggestion that the person meditates on the fear, as this sort of fear can block or make it difficult to feel the Force. A Jedi should try to understand why they have this fear, what they can do to help alleviate the fear, and perhaps try dream control to help them face the fear in their dream. One technique that was done in a study was positive thinking before the dream. This study that people who suffered from nightmares picture them facing the thing in the dream down and therefore battling their fear. The study proved a success for most people.

Dream recall
It is normal for people not to remember their dreams, but in order to understand dreams the first fact to remember is we all dream every single night. You may not remember the dream, but studies have shown time and time again, we dream every night. You might remember that sometimes you have a dream and by the morning, you can’t remember what it was about, but only that you did have one. There are several reasons why we do not remember our dreams. Society has taught us to not pay attention to our dreams because we are suppose to focus on the solid and so called real. People are taught that dreams mean nothing and are a waste of time to worry or wonder over and to worry about our work, family, and a million other things. Many dreams do not make sense to us, so we forget them quickly, or the next dream takes over priority of your memory. And finally, sometimes we just don’t have time or the attention span to remember what we dreamed about several hours ago.

Remembering one’s dreams is a good way to strengthen one’s memory. A Jedi’s memory needs to be clear, detailed, and accurate as possible because it helps remember fast acting events and pay attention to curial, life saving details. Although the Force can help a Jedi do this, the Jedi still needs the basic skills mastered without the Force. To do dream recall, you should first make sure you are getting plenty of sleep when dreaming. Relax, and get rid of all your stress before and after you go to sleep and wake up. Keep a journal or paper near your bed so when you wake up, you can write down the dream. Write down everything you remember, even if it does not make sense. See how fine detailed you can get. Include anything that you can remember and write down any reflections or conclusions you have about the dream. Sometimes, when you look at an old dream you will suddenly understand the meaning behind it or why you dreamed that dream. You may also be able to recall more about the dream throughout the day or make more sense out of the dream and that should be written down too. There is a possibility that the dream was precognitive and you will be able to confirm it. By keeping a dream journal, a Jedi can look for important clues in their feelings, help jog their memory of a certain event or look for patterns within the dream.

Learning dream recall does not just help with general memory, but also with remembering out of body experiences, which will be explained in detail. Dream recall can help with lucid dreaming and dreamwalking. Dream recall will force you to focus, increasing your concentrate, and will make you remember small details.

Dreamwalking
Dreamwalking is when another Force users enters your mind and with your permission shares control over the dream. This skill requires the walker to be lucid and in control of their own dreams in order to enter someone else’s. When you dreamwalk, both of you have to share the view. Meaning, in the dream, you can only look at a certain direction. The walker, or the person who enters the dream, uses telepathy to be able to understand the dialog in the dream so different languages do not matter. The walker can turn the dream into a nightmare or use the dream to help someone. The dreamer can be forced to confront a fear, solve a problem, or learn how to be healed. The same is true with the walker. Dreamwalking is a difficult and dangerous skill. It should only be attempted by someone who has a lot of experience and knowledge about dreams, the mind and the other person. You also must get the person’s permission because if not, it is a violation of the mind as you will be taking control of them, a great offense to you, and a possible step towards the darkside

Force Dreams
Dreams are generally rare for Jedi to have. Force dreams are dreams in which the dreamer feels and or uses the Force in the dream. Sometimes the dream is not a dream, but a Force vision that comes when the dreamer is asleep or when the Force user has projected out of their body. The dream may or may not have any significance importance or truth. With that being said, Force dreams tend to be more connected to reality than fantasy. Sometimes a Jedi will be gathering the Force while dreaming to heal their body, thought not intentionally. A Jedi should be sure to write the dream down and replay the dream. Two Jedi can share, though not dreamwalk, a certain dream. This happens because both Jedi are on similar threads of the Force. This is extremely rare. Should the Force dream mean something, a Jedi should be caution about acting on the dream.

Lucid Dream
Lucid dreaming is the realization you are dreaming while you are dreaming. It is commonly confused with dream control. Dream control is when in a dream you are able control the dream. Most people, even non Force sensitive people have had lucid dreams. People can be lucid, meaning aware of the dream, but not in control of a dream. In fact, many people lucid dream some point in their life. Some people are better at it and have never received training or aware of the term. Other people have no or little talent at it no matter what they try. A Force user can know how the dream is turning out and be able to change on the spot the direction of a dream, or replay the event so it happens a different way. A person can wake up, go right back to sleep, or dream a certain part a different way or continue the dream. It is even possible for the lucid dreamer to astral project.

To control the dream, you first need realize you are dreaming. There are little things in everyone’s dream that can indicate to that person they are dreaming, called dream signs. Each dream sign is different to everyone. Sometimes people notice that gravity isn’t working right, or making something should hurt and it doesn’t, or that someone says something that is completely out of character. Once that is done, then you need to want to firmly control the dream. Believing that dreams can be controlled is very important. It is best to start with simple changes like where you are, what you are aware, what other people are wearing. You can later work up with changing actions. You can go back to a scene and change a scene. You can control people in your dream so they say what you want them to say. Of course, do not fight to get control of the dream. If you are trying too hard you will end up waking yourself up.

OOBE
OOBE stands for out of body experience. Many people get confused with the difference between OOBEs and astral projection. There is no real difference between OOBE and AP. OOBE is considered to be the more scientific term, although science had barely touched the subject. Some scientists fully support the idea of OOBEs being real and others say they are fake. There are studies that can support either view. Astral projection is thought to be the more spiritual term, but both terms mean the same thing. Under the category of out of body experiences there is near death experiences, astral projection, bi, and tri location. OOBEs do not entertain the idea of “planes” or spirits and focus only on the real world.

Although most OOBE happens when the person is asleep, or close to sleep, OOBEs can be done when awake. Some people will argue that every dream we have is an actual OOBE OOBES can be done consciously or unconsciously. People do not need training to do an OOBE, but Force users are likely to have an easier time doing an OOBE on command. For people who unconsciously, but are awake, have an OOBE, they describe the experience as seeing the room or environment with an unusual clarity and a different point of view, other than their own. The people say that they feel like they have stepped out of their body for a minute and can see the world around them.

Astral Projection
Astral projection, also known as ap, is the ability to mentally and spiritually wise leave, or project your body and travel the world around you. When you astral project, you enter into a plane. A plane is a very abstract concept for the existence of a location outside of time and space. This definition may not make sense until the reader has projected. The most commonly known and visited plane is what is known as the astral plane. This name “astral plane” has been misnamed because the astral plane is really a term that sums up all the planes that exist and not just one plane. There is no set number of planes. These planes show us Earth and all of space. Everything you see on Earth you will see with you when astral project. There are many other planes that you can go to. Force users are constantly discovering a new plane. There is one plane that is most visited because this is the plane everyone starts projecting to. It is called the Real Time Zone plane, due to the fact that the plane is an exact copy of the world you see, breathe, and live in, including time and live events.

Astral projecting and telekinesis are the two hardest skills for most energy users. While some people may never learn telekinesis due to mental blocks that was explained in the last guide, astral projection is even harder. The success rate is sadly rather low. It is not that the methods are bad, the teachers are not good, or there are mental blocks like doubt. It is actually something deeper and harder for most people to over come. The problem is people cannot let go of the world, their body, and what they call reality in order to experience something completely new, different, and frightening.

Projecting requires a person to leave their body. They must leave their room, their house, their neighbor, and world. They have to detach themselves for everything and let go of all they know. They must be willing to accept anything that comes no matter what if they want to project. While most people say that they are ready, when the time comes, they find themselves unable to project because a part of them is not ready. Never have we, in society, been introduced to the idea of learning about of spirit and putting aside attention to the body, and separating the two. Society cares about what we look like, how thin we are, our hair color, and curves, but inside is completely ignored. We are taught only the outside is important and will get you ahead to success. If you wish to improve yourself and become that Jedi you want to be, you must look inward. If you wish to advance in Force training, you will find yourself against a wall that you must face down. If you do not, you will be stuck.

To project, one truly has to become one with their inner self. So many people are not ready to look deep inside and not run. They are ashamed of who they are because they are not perfect. People often will not be happy with their natural flaws and bad habits, but are not willing to work on them. Understand that this might sound stupid; so many people do not get it when I say no one is perfect and you never will be. Though that does not mean you cannot improve yourself to a point that you can be happy and content with who and what you are. When those who attempt and find nothing happening are not looking in, not accepting who they are, and clinging to what they call reality.

Astral Projecting
Astral projecting is like nothing you have every experienced. Every rule you can think of gets broken. Everything you take for granted gets changed. Even gravity, the idea that things fall and you cannot just float away is changed. It is a bit disturbing at first, but once you get to use to it, it is a lot of fun. This change includes many new and different “rules”. There is no limit of how far you can go and you can always return to your body whenever you wish. You can meet people in the astral plane with careful planning beforehand. They can be either aping themselves or just noticing you. If second person is not projecting, they must be strong enough in the Force to be able to sense your presences. This will not work with your friend who is also new at astral projecting. You can return to your body anytime by either opening your eyes and break the link or by returning to your body. You can not be hurt while aping, but you can be mentally attacked. Astral projecting should have no physical effect on you because you are using energy indirectly.

For sitting or lying down when starting a projection, this step is a must. Clear your mind of all thoughts and emotions. You mind must be empty and still. You will need full concentration for this skill. If you sneeze or stop yourself for any reason you will have to start all over again. Relax and get rid of any fears you have about astral projecting. You will have to really want to do this in order for this to work. Any fear you have about the astral plane or leaving your body will keep you from being successful. You want your body to fall asleep, but keep your mind awake. If you find you can not do this, drink something that is sugary.

In order to astral project you will have to feel and control your spirit. Your spirit is your soul, personality, what makes you, you. To do this, feel yourself. I do not mean physically. Close your eyes and think about yourself.

What you are going to do is project your astral body, also known as your spirit, out of you. Imagine a ghost of yourself. Picture the ghost like a see through view of you. Now imagine a fan below you, blowing air through your body. Visualize the fan blowing the ghost gently and slowly out of your body.

Now, picture what it would look like to be floating a few inches above your live body from a first person point of view. You will be looking at the ceiling if you are lying down. With that picture of the floating ghost and feeling your spirit and become the ghost and float slowly up. Have your spirit float to that spot in the air, looking at the ceiling. It is the closest feeling to levitating without actually doing it. You may feel like you are in two places at once. It will feel like you can feel your living body and your astral projection body at the same time. Place your focus on aping.

Although floating in the air is fun, it will get old quickly. To get your feet on the ground, just float downward and at an angle to straighten your body up so you will be standing. Take a moment to stop and look around. Notice the details around you. In the room is dark, what you should see is a dark room. Some details may be less noticeable than when you are in your room awake. Some details will stand out more.

In people’s written experiences and articles one has to teach themselves how to walk. When we walk to the kitchen we do not think about picking up our feet and then placing it ahead of the other foot. We just move with no conscious thought to it unless we trip or our balance is off. Most of the time we are hardly aware of the movement involved with walking. When we walk in our astral body we just think of where we want to go and just go there. So for practice, look for the door to your room and walk over to the door. Practice walking around the house. No one will see you or know that you are “out” of bed.

There are several different ways of getting out of your mind. Lucid dreaming is one way to achieve your goal. When you lucid dream you become aware of yourself, but your body is asleep and your mind is at the right state to astral project. So you have to astral project as you lucid dream. It is possible to have someone project and pull you out of your body with your permission, but it is best to go with the natural way.

Properties
Projecting yourself and walking seems pretty fun and wild, but there is much more that can be done in the astral plane. There are many properties of the astral plane and what be done while astral projecting. There first rule to remember is a hard one to remember. The rule is anything is possible in the astral plane. Only your mind will stop you.

On earth, we are bound to the laws of gravity. In the astral plane, there is no gravity. You can jump as far was you want. You can throw a ball as far as you want. You can be light or heavy as you want. You can be as strong as you want. You can run faster than you ever have and not get tired. Many people find joy in flying around their home. You can walk through anything you. You can walk through wood, stone, fire, ice and so on. Your astral body can not die and can not receive any long lasting damage. You will not feel any pain to your astral body, but that does not stop your earth body to feel pain, heat or cold.

There is an interesting ability that can be done in the astral plane and it is called manifestation. On earth, manifestation is possible, but hard to do. Manifestation is the ability, through hard and constant concentration, to make certain events happen. In the astral plane, manifestation takes a more literal meaning. You can just think of an object and it will appear. If you want a cup of water, just think of the exact cup of water you want and it will appear. You can create anything you want through thought.

The astral plane also contains the Force and all abilities that exist in the “real world.” In fact, since there is no technical limit to what one can do on the astral plane, they can train beyond what they can do awake and practice skills that would be not safe or easy to practice alone. For a Jedi in training, this means you can safely and privately practice anything from lightsaber skills to telekinesis. It is said that transferring skills from what you learned in the astral plane to real life is not as hard as one would think. A Jedi can also affect their body in a positive way in the astral plane. You can practice healing your body in the astral plane, or have someone, project and heal your astral body, which will heal your physical body.

While it is possible to aping to Antarctica, it will be very difficult. It is hard because you do not know what Antarctica looks like in real life. It is not enough to look at the television, books, and web cams. Everything always looks different, once you are there. Make sure you know where you are going to project yourself before you start doing it. It is a good idea to research the spot you are going to go to. The more you know about the area and the exact spot you are going to astral project to, the easier it will be.

NDE
Near death experiences or NDE, happen when someone is very close to death or are medically dead and are brought back to life, experience a strange vision or sensation. NDE is a type of OOBE that is done unconscious, unknowingly and without control. Scientists are mixed about if NDEs really happens or not, since they can’t be reproduced without endangering the person. So we can only go on bias accounts of what the person experience. Yet, so many people have experienced similar stories that it is worth studying.

Often, when a person has a NDE, their incidence goes something like this. The person gets into an accident, generally being through hard into something else, knocking the person unconsciously, or medically died on the operating table, if they have not died right then. The person finds themselves “back” into the material world, only they can see their body and themselves. The person finds that they are tapped out of their body and are unable to enter their dying or dead body. They are unable to communicate with anyone or affect anything. This scares the person. The only way for the NDE to end, is for the mind to regain consciousness and to open the eyes, allowing the spirit and body become one again.

There is no official known reason why NDE happen, but here is one theory. Why a NDE happens is for mental safety. The mind will throw the spirit of the person out of the body. This is done so the spirit does not have to deal with the shock and pain to come from the accident or trauma from the operation. The mind keeps the spirit out until the body is stable and will not harm the mind. When this happens the mind lets the spirit back in.

Some people that have a NDE experience different signs. Some say that they saw a light, felt like they were traveling upwards, feel a strong sense of peace or calm, have a counter with a being of light, are growing lighter, or feel like they are returning to the body with reluctance. These signs indicate that they person had an OOBE.

Bi Locating and Tri
There are two ideas of what bi location is. The first idea is bi location means you are projecting in two places at once. This type of bi location is the documented witness of a teacher’s double, though not a twin, being spotted in a school. Students would spot an exact version of her in another part of the school. It turns out that the teacher was astral projecting herself in a way that could be seen. She was kicked out of many schools because of this ability.

The second idea of what bi location is the idea of being aware of your astral body being in the astral plane, and being aware of your physical body. This ability serves no purpose other than to increase your awareness, learning to strengthen your projecting skills, and to increase focus and concentration skills. This will help you astral project fully. Both methods are hard to achieve and take practice.

Tri location is a bit more complex an idea, taking off from the second bi location definition. You can have more than one astral body in the astral plane, but it is hard to see through two different points of view at once. This skill allows you to be able to view your astral body or what is behind you. Tri location is when you are aware of your physical body, you astral body and then another astral body than you project near you. This is extremely hard to do and your focus on each part of you will not be crystal clear.

Subconscious
When you think of the subconscious, think of a very well done and complex computer program. The subconscious is the inner, half silent mind. Like a computer program, you do not notice the subconscious working until you look for it, give it a command, or see a result from it.

Your subconscious can and is doing a variety of tasks that you may not be aware of. It is because of society we have forgotten or ignored the subconscious. Because we are not aware of the subconscious, we lose a lot of self awareness. If we are not aware of ourselves, we are not very sensitive to small, important details around us. To understand the world and the Force, we should start with understand ourselves, which is why a Jedi learns to meditate first and then learn to feel, and use the Force.

The subconscious can be programmed to remind you to wake up at a certain hour. To do this, repeat out loud to yourself before you go to sleep, to wake up at that hour. Visualize the time on the clock in your mind, to reinforce the idea. If you do not wake up, do not get discouraged. This does take practice, like all other skills. After a while your subconscious will automatically wake you up at the hour, unless it is told otherwise.

Another useful task that your subconscious can do is analyzes and solve problems without you evening knowing it. When you get stuck on a math problem or how to write a paper or even what to say to a friend is it always best to put the problem aside and take a break, to later come back to it. During your break, the subconscious is working on the problem for you. This is why often times the answer will come to you suddenly, when you are not thinking about the problem during your break.

When trying to remember an event that you were present for, it is best to communicate with the subconscious. The subconscious is especially good at noting small details like smells, temperature, little movements, faces, and colors. This is important for a Jedi’s memory. Ask your subconscious to help provide the essential details about the event or person you are trying to remember. Quiet the mind of all thoughts and emotions to be able to pick up on the details being giving. The answer will not be a voice, but it will seem something human like.

The subconscious can be programmed to do many other things like be in charge of your body. The subconscious can be another way to do self healing. It can monitor, notify you, and control the body functions. You can ask your subconscious to check and keep your heart rate down, or bring you attention to the problem. Your subconscious can check for any harmful germs in your body to warn you of an upcoming cold. It is important for a Jedi, and or anyone, to be in their best health, so it is worth while programming your subconscious to do this. It may be hard to get in touch with your subconscious and teach the outer and inner mind to talk to each other. Practice and time will solve this.

Unconscious abilities
Unconscious abilities are skills, done through the Force, which is done unconsciously or subconsciously. There are two types of Force users that fall under this definition.

The first groups to come to mind are the untrained Force users. These people will naturally do certain skills without meaning to and have a lack of control and grace. This unconscious control happens because these untrained individuals have a stronger connection to the Force than most people. As you read this guide, you probably noted that you were able to do at least one or more skills without even knowing it or knowing what it was called. Once they force users begin training, the unconscious abilities will disappear for some time.

The second group is the well trained Force users. These people have worked with the Force so much they perform different abilities without noticing it. This is because they have trained for so long and so intensely it comes from instincts. They can gather the Force and send it to another person without thought. The Force user might be able to sense emotions from someone and not even be aware of the effort it should have taken or the steps needed.

The Unifying Force
The student has now learned about life and non-life. They have learned to look inward and beyond themselves. They have learned about how using the Force with good or bad intentions can be considered the light and dark side. They have learned to be aware of those who do not feel or use the Force and those who do. They have learned to see how the Force affects all of us and every part of the world. There is a balance in all things concerning the universe. The Force itself must maintain a kind of balance with life and death, good and evil. The universe cannot exist without both sides. Students have learned to see a tiny, highly detailed picture or the much larger, big picture of the Force. To fully understand the Force and become a master of the energy, one must be able to identity, understand, and use all parts of the Force and how each one compliments the others. Combine all parts of the Force and the student has learned the Unifying Force.

Advance Force Exercises
These are theories and further instruction for skills touched on in the other guides. These skills are not meant for a beginner to attempt. Foundation of basic skills is a must. A beginner will not be able to complete the following skills. Please take this warning seriously.

Sensing
In the dark
By now, most students have read that it is important for them to be aware of their surroundings at all the time; many students do not believe this until the test. This test is not brought on by any teacher, other than the student. If a Jedi really wishes to learn to trust the Force, they will practice this exercise. They should learn not only sense their surroundings, but realize their eyes do not see all or the eyes can be deceived. Sometimes, as human nature goes, people to tend to focus on the brightest, loudest, most interesting thing, ignoring the smaller details. Learning to sense everything around you, no matter what state of mind you are in, will train your mind and eyes to notice the smaller, seemingly less significant details.

For one day, if possible, refrain from cleaning your room. Let there be clothes, books, and junk on the floor. Make sure there is a fair amount of floor space, so you can walk around and not have to hop from space to space. Turn off the lights and try to darken any light coming from windows or other light sources.

Stand at one end of the room, furthest away from the light. Close your eyes relax and open yourself up to the Force. Let your Force awareness grow until you can sense the Force in the whole room. Narrow your awareness to just a foot of floor around you. Sense, not try to remember, any objects around you. Now take a step where you think it is safe, meaning you will not step on anything. Sense your area again for new objects. Repeat this until you have made it to the light and turn the light on. Look back on the path you took. If you messed up several times, do not feel bad. Over time your skill will improve and soon you will find yourself doing this when half asleep, trying to make your way to the bathroom.

Finding Lost Stuff
Many of us misplace important bills, constantly lose the remote to the television, or have kids that like to barrow or hide things from you. You can search the house, turning it into a total mess and never find the object. You can search and search your memory, if you have not thought about asking your subconscious, for the missing paper. You can even try the time old “where did I last place it” question, but that often leads you back to frantically searching and getting nowhere. If one stops in the middle of their destruction of the house and listen to the Force, they can find the keys. It will require you to close your eyes, relax, stop guessing, feel the Force, visualize the keys, and listen to where the Force is hinting they are. One might just get a general feeling or “vision” of where the object is, or they may get a very detailed picture. You can always tighten your focus and try again should you get little information or none at all. If you go to the spot and not find them, it means you misinterpreted the Force. You will to calm down and truly focus on the keys and not try to guess where they are.

Moving objects
Sensing stable, fixed objects, or people, it is easy to do, compared to sensing moving cars, cats, kids, and other fast, changing objects. An example is a running toddler or racing, determined to trip you cat. What makes moving objects is the fact that they are unpredictable and the faster they get, the more erratic they become. One cannot depend on logic or guessing if they want to catch the cat or miss a car. One skill that will help you learn to track them is the flowing meditation. You learn how energy flows, the speed and direction the Force can flow.

Sensing moving objects requires a stronger skill level in the Force. For newbies, who want to learn this skill, it is suggested to practice with something harmless to you like sensing where a pet or far away person is moving. Do not set yourself against something like a hard ball being thrown at you. You are not a Jedi yet and you can and will get hurt. When you get more dependable with your skill, you can up the danger level. You must be able to connect and keep tract of that object and not get distracted. You also should not try to predict where the object will be through logic, but trust the Force to tell you. The other part to making sensing objects that move is reacting to what you sense. If you sense that cat run towards you, you should get out of the way, but that is harder than it sounds. You are not use to receiving such information and may not think to react on that information. You have to train your mind to not just be aware of your surroundings, but understand how and why to react. Sometimes you should not react or not in the instinctual way. Sometimes the Force will tell you if you stay where you are, you will avoid being tripped by the cat. When you touch the Force and expand your awareness to that moving object, focus on the object and where it’s moving, other objects it passes, and keep tracking it no matter what.

As you get better, you will be able to do this half consciously and be able to do something else like hold a conversation or drive. This skill is very useful when driving, though it requires being able to keep track of many fast moving cars that are unpredictable. In order to sense a moving object and do something else like hold a conversation, you have to keep your awareness open. You divide your mind and attention in half. Tell yourself should the object get too close, you stop the conversation or pay less attention to what is being said and focus on avoid the moving object. If this seems hard, think about the last time you drove or played a sport. You already divide your attention and decide when and what to pay more attention to. For this feat, please keep your eyes open for driving is dangerous enough. One should first practice this at slow speeds with few cars on the road. As you get better, you can up the difficulty. The Force can tell you how to react to what you sense, if you listen and trust the Force.

Finally there is one more sensing skill to learn that is very useful. A Jedi should always be aware of their surroundings for any type of danger, such as a person sneaking up on them. Sometimes you know the person is nearby, but you will want to track down their exact location. Sometimes you will have to scan the whole room constantly for a presence. Be mindful they may know you are doing this.

Minesweeper
Most window operated computers have this game. Minesweeper for all that do not play it is a game where you find bombs, using the numbers for clues. It is suppose to be a game of logic, but it is a great game for learning to trust your feelings in the Force. The Jedi version of this game is not to depend so much on the numbers for clues, but to use the Force to sense the bombs and avoid them. This game will also teach Jedi to pay attention to warnings in the Force.

In the MSN instant messaging version of the game, you left click on the bombs instead of flag them. Force users should imagine what the bomb looks like in their head and also the screen. Gather the Force and send the Force to the screen looking for the bombs. It is suppose to feel for the bombs, which usually feels "right". Some Jedi can see where the bomb is, rather than feel the bomb or warning of the bomb. As you get better you do this with your eyes open.

Internet Games
There are two sites that are good for learning to sensing objects you can not see. GotPsi (http://www.gotpsi.org/bi/gotpsi.htm) have 5 good games to learn to sense where the card, image, or target is. You will learn how to remote view or precognition if you try to guess what the card or target will be before clicking on one. It is a good way to learn how to train yourself and experiment with different techniques. The second site that hosts games for sensing objects is called Psi Arcade (http://www.psiarcade.com/index2.html). The games are similar, but different in an amusing sense to GotPsi. ShiftedPerspectives.net has a guess the number game that you can download for free. But beware of the “are you psychic” tests. They are fake, made up, and the results you get are easily programmed and generated. You might a number of video and computer games make for good practice and fun.

Seeing into the future
Precognition is a dangerous skill to practice, if the reasons for looking forward in time are wrong. This warning was explained in the second guide, but it is worth stating again and looking into the skill for more detail. Finding something you did not want to learn, like your own death, it could ruin your present life. You can not be sure ever if you are right or not. If you make a mistake you could cause more trouble then you ever wish for. Understand that there is little know about the skill and few have much control over the power. Even with any control and practice, the skill remains illusive and undependable. Therefore, it is highly advised that you use caution when playing around with time.

Since looking into the future is a tricky and unreliable skill, it is best to start foreseeing with something simple and meaningless, like the weather. Knowing tomorrow’s weather will not change anything or anyone. As you look further and further into the future, the less reliable what you see is, no matter how good your skill is. The first step is making sure you have idea what the weather is going to be so you cannot guess. Then, relax, to open your connection to the Force. You will want to let go of all barriers and emerge yourself fully into the Force. Let go of your conscious self and only exist. This way you leave little room for personal interference with biases like emotions, wants, and thoughts.

If you can, look out a window, at the sky. Get a good picture of the sky so you can see the sky in your mind. Close your eyes and let your thoughts wonder about the weather. After a minute or two, focus on concentrating on the future, especially the thought of tomorrow. Make sure you are not trying to predict anything. If you start this process with preconceived notions, you will not have an accurate picture of what will happen. Focus on the idea of tomorrow’s weather, while keeping the Force flowing through you. The answer may come through a feeling or a vision. If you get two or more answers, do not worry. It means the future may not be very clear. See if you can narrow down the answers to one by feeling for the stronger, righter answer. You will want to carefully weigh each answer separately and see which one feels right.

Other simple, meaningless things to foresee are yes or no questions, what the next card will be in a stack of face down cards, or who will call you. If you find yourself having trouble, or unable to get a clear answer see what the problem is. You should be calm and without feelings or thoughts. Your environment should quiet and calm. Dark emotions that have resided in a house or building for years can cloud or block the future. It you were wrong in your prediction, do no get mad at yourself. Seeing the future is a tricky skill. Practice and natural skill is only half of the game. Some people have no skill at the ability.

For those who want to see bigger, grander things like who might die, a war coming, the next five years, or your own past, understand this is hard to see and hard to know if you are right or not. Events may seem very vague with more questions brought up then answers given. And of course, one then is burdened with the question: what to do with this information? Does one warn others or wait for the event to happen? There is no correct answer, though in life, it is generally a good idea to wait and see before blindly and recklessly reacting with no thought about the consequences of your actions.

Sensing the past
This is not a very well known ability, for few have done it. There are few articles and many energy users may even argue this is not a real skill. This article is only mentioning it because in theory, it could be done and it brings a different point of view on how time may work. Sensing the past is called retrocognition or also known as postcognition. There are two types of sensing the past: sensing your own past and the past of others. Sensing your past is more than searching your memory and old baby pictures. It is the emerging yourself into the Force and looking behind rather than forward, picking up feelings and hints from the Force, searching key points and meanings in your life.

The second type is the sensing the past through objects. When we touch anything we leave fingerprints, a scent and DNA, which can be tracked back to us. Also we leave a Force impression, a Force scent or signature. It is said that plants can hold the “memory” of a war or other highly dramatic and horrible events. A Jedi using the Force can track a person by sensing this Force signature. This is done by learning what the person feels like and looking around a room through the Force, for the person’s feel. You can sense every object they touched, every footstep they took and sweat of that person. This can also be done on you by yourself and is useful when trying to find misplaced or lost objects.

Force Theories
Theories: “A set of ideas formulated to explain something; the principles on which an activity is based on.” - Oxford Dictionary

There is so much we don’t know or can’t prove. The Force is a very abstract concept and entity. It exists and yet many things prove that it can’t exist. It seems to be alive, but yet at the same time it isn’t. Perhaps it is the way we think, or different cultures think and experience the Force. It is because the strangeness of the force that there are many theories about the Force. Here are some theories I have come up with and shared with others who agree. You may not, but do no reject any right away. Take time to read, look, and reflection on them before making up your mind. If you have your own theories do please feel free to share them with me. I have no written about all of them I know, but those I think are the strongest and most likely to be true.

Currents of the Force
As we all know the Force is huge, vast and powerful beyond the human mind. The Force can be thought as an ocean with currents, tides, and rivers flowing in and out of this ocean. For most part, people exist in the largest, deepest part of this ocean. They are hardly aware of where they are, like they do in real life. There are other Force users that are naturally attracted by the pull of the current and we call them Force sensitive.

When a new student gathers energy they are facing the flow of energy. It would be like if you stood still in a river and gathered water by letting the water flow into the bucket. Come of the water goes into the bucket, but most of the water has to go around you and your bucket. This creates a disturbance in the river. A beginner can not gather much energy and therefore can not create much of a disturbance which is why they do not feel any dizziness. The stronger you are, the more of disturbance you make.

The funny part is as we get stronger we realize how big the Force is. As we get stronger we travel along the ocean. As the ocean grows more narrow and at some point it will start to break off into river and streams. You can travel these streams. You can, if advance enough, create and control where these rivers go to.

The Force and Society
Society needs the Force as the Force needs society. The Force effects society in everyway. When a country has been through hundreds and hundreds of years of war and other problems it’s because there are dark energies there effecting it. Now when a country has been through something more recent it’s because a negative stream of energy has been running through the country.

The Force affects society in the way it is run, what they speak, cultures, and other aspects. When there are good energies and strong, leaders with a healthy population you will find a democracy. When you have bad energies, and one very strong, but dark leader you get dictatorship. Different languages are the result of the Force being used in different ways. Religion and traditions are directly related to the energy present and how the people view it.

The Force does just affect people, but the physical world. Some people feel that the Force is stronger in some areas than others. Some ancient places are suppose to hold great amounts of power and often attract certain kind of people, some are true Force users and others are fakes, taking advantage of the rumor and mystical feeling that surrounds the area. While there is no proof, there is theory that when the world is going through a geological active period, it is Force that is responsible. When world wide human tension is high and on the brink of something huge (good or bad), the earth is forced to release the tension through earthquakes, eruptions, tidal waves, and other events. Again, while science will not support this theory, it is one way of viewing the world and past and current planet problems.

The Forest and the Pond
The Force is directly connected to life. Life reacts to the Force. It is the way of the living Force. Life can and does influence of the Force moves and acts and the Force influences how life develops. Different places have different speeds of the flow of the Force. In a forest with a fast moving stream, all life is dependent on that stream. The Force flows parallel to the stream. The animals in the forest are made for speed and quick movement. The forest may seem peaceful, but that is only because humans do not look through the lenses of the Force. Everything competes against each for survival. You can see this through the Force.

In a pond everything is slow and opposite of a forest. There is little competition. Things grow slowly, but do well. Animals do not fight for food as much and plants do not crowd to get closer to the light. The Force does not even flow, but ripple along. The Force feels more peaceful because the lack of competition.

More Flowing
As you may have well known energy is everywhere. It exists through and in us, animals, plants and non living mass like rocks. It not only just exists, but flows through everything. Energy flows in currents like the ocean does. The currents tend to slow down and build up in areas of the world. These build ups are in placed like the southwest of America and other places. You can tell it is a build up because there will be lots of Jedi and a history of weird, unexplainable things that have happened there. These areas attract Force Users and are a nursery for beginning Jedi.

Energy even flows through rocks, water of all forms, dirt, even mountains where there is no life. There is no visible effect to be seen, but the flow can be felt. Force currents work in local, personal levels as well as world wide. You see this happening all over and generally it’s taken for granted. The best Force connections known are with pants and animals.

We have all heard of people having green thumbs and sweet talking to their plants. People that can grow anything are naturally consciously or unconsciously sending energy to the plants. Because plants can not talk, move or make sound, a Jedi must be able to feel what the pant needs. In other words a Jedi will use empathy to communicate. The link between the plant and person has a very positive effect. You will note these people are kind, caring, and gentle to all.

Large areas of woods, parks or jungles also have currents of energy running through them. You can tell the type of energy running through by noting the health of the plants and animals. Energy and nature work together to keep all the animals and plants well balanced. If there is too much or too little of type of energy, life will respond according. Nature will get work with energy, so to help the mistake in the balance of life. An example of this is the deer population here in America. There is something wrong with the energy that is making the deer multiply too fast. A different type of energy has come and made the deer attracted to cars and getting run over. The deer do not even know this is happening. It sounds horrible, but it’s nature’s answer. The other option is for the deer to starve to death. Nature does not like this answer, but for millions of years this was the only way of dealing with the population increase. It is a slow method that is rather harmful than good.

Those who use their good energy on plants work similarly animals. Animals are much more complex, especially the more developed the mind is. A Jedi has a calm aura, a relaxed body and a soft voice. Most animals want you to properly introduce yourself to them. An animal will pick this up right away and will be more inclined to trust you. If you ever break character your trust will be lost and it will be hard to regain.

Some animals are known to be more psychic than others. Cats and dogs are the best known. You hear and watch on television their miracles. Animals seem to be able to known when something is wrong. They can sense danger in a house, such as a fire. The pets will try their hardest to warn you and try to lead your out of the house. Pets can tell when you are sick or in pain and will curl up on your bed with you to bring comfort. Some pets have such intense links with their owner they know when their owner is not well at a great distance.

Next time you are in the woods, on a road trip, over at a friend’s house or just playing with your pets take the time to study the energy around them and see if what this is true.

The Next Step
Now that you have read the entire four series guide, done the practicing for a number of months that is that the minimum you can spent and expect real results, you may be saying “now what”? Needless to say, you journey hardly stops here. There are many more things for you to learn and do and this guide will end with a few suggestions.

There is plenty more to learn about all abilities mentioned throughout the guides. These guides only taught you one method and the very basics of the skill. For example, you can take telepathy much farther by learning to deepen telepathic bonds, work on pinging people, friends and strangers, or learn to “read” minds by learning how people think and process information. You can work on precognition, learning some greater degree of control. Then there is telekinesis. There is plenty of new ground waiting to be broken. Find your specialty, work on it, explore it, come up with new theories, and keep moving on. One can never know all about the Force. One can spent a lifetime practicing and still have more to learn.

Some other advice on training is to train with groups and different partners. Train with total strangers so you cannot predict what they will do. Train with newbies and advance people like. Keep a journal of some sort of everything you are doing, with results, methods, and notes. Record both success and failure as one can learn from both. Failure is never fun to write about, but it does help show a pattern and what not to do and possibly why. Use every resource around you. Use the internet, your family, the park, the city, the mall, everything and everyone. Different environments can evoke different results and reactions from you. Different situations can teach you flexibility, speed, and confidence within you. Never limit yourself or you will end up limiting your progress, both in the Force and in character development.

One seemingly strange, but really great trick is self-reflection. Take a day, a week, a month to stop practicing and researching and just look back. Look back from the day you started to now. Read your logs, your posts online. Read this guide over. Look at your old articles you started with. Look at who you were and who you are now. Note the path that you took. Note your less than proud moments as well as the glorious shining ones. Note what really matters. By doing a reality check you will help expand yourself. The Force, with all its flashy, cool skills, is really a journey of the self. These skills really just help identity who you are and who you want to be and why. If you do not know the answer to those questions, you will not progress. If you try to lie to yourself or hide from yourself, then you will block out the Force and never get anywhere. Keep yourself honest and aware of what you are doing and what you have done, and you will do fine.

I got into teaching because I went through a rough four years training myself without guides, friends, or any help. It was scary, hard, and though I did not know it at the time, dangerous. Since then, I have committed myself to teaching, which is a collection of skills in itself. I will strongly recommend teaching to others, though there are a few points that need to be made.

I have a favorite quote when it comes to teaching and learn. “In learning you will teach and in teaching you will learn.” This is so true. If you really want to see if you know a subject, like math or writing, try teaching the subject to someone who is struggling. You don’t have to be the best, natural teacher to be able to teach the skill to someone else, but you have to be able to make yourself clear. Teaching the Force to others is a great feeling and a wonderful experience, if you get good students and you think about what you are doing. Through teaching, you will come to realize how others view the energy and how different mindsets, backgrounds, and environments can effect how one uses the Force. It’s very eye opening. Though first you need to make sure you can and are ready to teach.

If you do not have a good grip on the skill, then you will find it hard to teach it. What is meant by a good grip is not only performing the skill, but also understand the logic behind the skill. Understand why telepathy works the way it does. Know what sort of problems a beginner can face. Learn some tricks on how to deal with common misunderstandings. Have good resources ready because the student will probably want something more to read. Be ready to deal with a ton of questions, some better thought out than others. And most importantly, be patient. You may get frustrated with someone who cannot understand a seemingly simple fact, but breathe and let of your anger. Newbies are new after all. They do not know anything. You were once new and once asked “stupid” questions. It is part of learning. Hopefully the student will begin to catch on and research for themselves. If the newbie is really bad, then set up some rules about asking questions like “read these articles and if you still have questions, then you may ask them.”

By now, you may be wondering why you should continue training in the Force. After all, you have learned about all the skills and have a basic understanding of the Force. Why go on when you have all that you ever wanted? What more could there be? The truth is there is so much more to the Force that this guide cannot go into. Fancy skills are not all that makes up the Force. There is a spiritual, deep-rooted meaning to the Force, something that cannot be taught and is different for each person. I personally call it being one with the Force. This series of guides has hinted about this amazing connection to the Force, but it really is not for the average beginner. This connect is incredible deep and profound, but hard to achieve if the mind has not been trained to be completely silent and calm. To make this link happen, one must completely and utterly open oneself to the Force in a meditative mode, letting go of one’s image and personality. It is hard to give up one’s identity after society has drilled into us that are all we have, but is necessary. Then one must be willing to float away through the currents of the Force. Nothing will be solid or clear, but the meaning to what you will experience will be greater than anything you have felt or known. It can take years to achieve the link, but it is more than worth it.

Conclusion
There is endless information about the Force. This collection of articles simply cannot cover all there is to know about the Force. At some point, one has to stop reading and learn for themselves. Use the guides to help you explore the Force. Remember, you are not the only one reading this guide, practicing the skills, and asking questions. Since the beginning of human existence, humans have discovered and relearned again the mystery of this great energy. Do not think of your work as unless. Your focus will determine who you are and who you will be, as well influence the rest of the world around you. I can only wish you good luck and may the Force be with you.
_________________
Bring Light Into Darkness

[arcane]

Thanks for posting this! What can I say, I'm a huge fan of Star Wars.

Hopefully some folks will get some benefit from your write-up.

[Dlos]

Wow that's a lot to read ... which is a good thing.

Thank you for your post, JK. I look forward to reading it and using it along with what I already know.

D'Los

[Akesouku]

im ususaly not one to bash something that has valid information in it but the only problem I have with this is that while yes id does describe good ways go get people into energy working it only hands sceptics more ammunition and makes us look more similer to role players saying its the "force" and talking about jedi ether way it has good information I just feel that that is a bad idea

[arcane]

Well it can be seen as a "world view" or system. Everyone has their own perception of how the universe works, and none are more valid than others, providing they work.

And this one is far less fluffy than some others I've seen.

[Dlos]

I rather like it.

As far as looking like geeks using the word "Force" ... which seems more like the problem of Star Wars geeks than ours ... you could use this information and call 'Force' something else, though it is the same thing.

[ancientsoul]

Dlos: Being that I am a major Star Wars Fan....I looved reading this guide...but yeah the "Force" is more of a term that George Lucas devised for his movies.
_________________
Nothing ventured, Nothing gained