Amilthi Camlenn
Meditation Junkie
Amilthi Camlenn's Holocron
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To make Amilthi's status as a Jedi mystic with a theory more tangible.
- Image Source: [x]
- Canon Link: N/A
- Primary Source: Holocron
- Holocron Name: Amilthi Camlenn's Holocron
- Alignment: Light Side
- Origin: The holocron was created by Jedi Master Amilthi Camlenn to put her discoveries and views in teachable form.
- Affiliation: Silver Jedi Order and Jedi Praxeum/[member=Amilthi Camlenn]
- Gatekeeper: The holocron's gatekeeper is modelled after Master Camlenn herself in appearance and personality. The projection depicts her wearing austere, black Jedi robes. The gatekeeper keeps close tabs on the student's progress and makes content only available accordings. Further details below.
- Description: The holocron contains the insights and theories of Jedi Master Amilthi Camlenn, developed over many years of intensive reflection and meditation. It is technologically and aesthetically unremarkable, following the standard cubic design of a Jedi holocron.
Master Camlenn created two specimens of this holocron so that this knowledge could be stored in two places and would be less likely to be lost.
- Accessibility: The holocron can be activated by anyone, including, unusually, non-Force-sensitive beings. Master Camlenn's view is that the knowledge contained in the holocron cannot be used for ill and that adherence to its instructions will necessarily turn the practitioner into a wholesome being. However, the gatekeeper can be close-lipped and only divulges the contents gradually and after verifying that lessons have been properly absorbed by asking pointed questions about the learner's experiences, especially experiences that are a direct result of the practice and hence cannot be easily faked.
- Security: None
All the contents of the holocron are not accessible to the student at once. The treatises of Part 1 are immediately available in any order, with the exception of the section "The Force in Eternity". However, the holocron contains an advanced gatekeeper AI modelled after Amilthi herself which pries deeply into the motivations of the student and, when it approves, carefully guides them through stages of advancement in the practical Part 2 and confirms that these have been attained before presenting knowledge and further instruction that requires such preparation. Only in the very end are the contents of "The Force in Eternity" revealed to the student as well.
PART 1: Theoretical Treatises
THE FORCE
This essay expounds the view that despite common ways of speaking, the Force is not an object, place, substance, material, or entity. It is simply the way things are.
It is a misleading figure of speech to refer to the Will of the Force as if it were a thinking, feeling being, or to speak of the Dark Side as if it were a substance that could be used and abused.
"The Force works in mysterious ways. But it uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers."
What is called the Dark Side is as much part of the way things are as anything else, one of the ways in which it is possible to be for the minds of sentient beings and the lives of beings with such minds - but it is unwholesome for things to be like that and to the detriment of the practitioner himself, who is caught up in an unstable state and suffers even if he does not recognise it.
If, on the other hand, one makes the right effort to be in a wholesome way, the fruit will automatically follow for the benefit of oneself and others. This is not a reward for virtue - it is not a matter to be phrased in such intentional terms. It is simply a matter of how things are - just like an object inevitably falls down when released into the grasp of gravity.
FORCE SENSITIVITY
This section contains Master Camlenn's reflections on the nature of Force sensitivity and its status and the relation between sensitives and non-sensitives. She comes to the conclusion that there is no such thing as insensitivity to the Force, that every living being is sensitive to it or it would not be alive, but that degrees of Force sensitivity are distributed in such a fashion that most being's sensitivity is simply too weak to have noticeable effects.
However, this has an important consequence: there is no deep qualitative, metaphysically impactful distinction between Force sensitives and non-sensitives, and while non-sensitives have less power in perceiving and influencing the universe around them, the same practices and techniques that apply to the Jedi's path of self-perfection are beneficial for them as well. As such, it makes perfect sense for them to practice meditation techniques and develop virtues with the same motivations as a Jedi would, and the Jedi should be open about this and strive not to set themselves too far apart from other sentient beings.
DUTY AND VIRTUE
This part discusses the status of virtue in the life of a Jedi. It defends the view that there is no such thing as ethical truths and moral duty. To develop virtue is simply an instrumental part in the practice of a Jedi that is helpful, indeed necessary, for the development of perfection and the extinction of suffering. Evil is ignorance - not of moral truths, which don't exist, but of the way thing are, born from a failure to recognise the nature and source of suffering in the universe. Harmony is possible - as such, those who are virtuous are benefitting themselves and yet are not being egoistic in their pursuit, while those who believe their own good to lie in harm to others are failing to help themselves.
In particular, a virtuous life is a necessary prerequisite for achieving the peace of mind that enables one to walk further on the path towards the final goal.
Curiously, the essay does not reveal what this final goal consists in.
THE JEDI CODE
This treatise concerns the Jedi Code and its interpretation. It argues that the original version of the Code is the purest and truest, adhering to the format "X, yet Y", where X is always the apparent reality, but Y is the underlying truth. This form, however, acknowledges that merely apparent reality is also reality.
The revised version of the form "There is no X, there is Y" has a more practical bent, designed to encourage its adherents to recognise the underlying truth rather than getting lost in apparent reality. However, because of this instrumental focus, it is less complete than the original version.
The line-by-line interpretation of both versions, however, is the same.
Emotion & Peace - A seemingly easy lesson that the beginning student often learns very soon through meditation is that it is possible to experience emotions and yet be detached from them so as to be at peace. There is a pitfall here, however, - specifically in the later version of the Code: it may be mistaken to espouse a suppression, deletion, or replacement of emotions. This is not helped by the fact that many meditation techniques are apt to manipulate one's own emotions in a very positive direction, and Master Camlenn openly states that she spent a long time in the associated state of ignorance before she understood the true meaning, for whose recognition other techniques are appropriate.
Ignorance & Knowledge - This line is at great risk of misinterpretation, and Master Camlenn cautions against taking it to encourage overconfidence. Rather, the truth that it expresses is that even ignorance can be the object of knowledge - in other words, think and judge in probabilities, in gradients, not in absolutes!
Passion & Serenity - This line states that one can let go of cravings and aversions and rid oneself of suffering without in the slightest losing any drive or motivation, and without losing recognition of the suffering of others.
Chaos & Harmony - This line is said to have two interpretations, a superficial one and a profound one, both of them equally true, but one less obvious than the other. The superficial interpretation is that while there is an appearance of Chaos in the phenomena of the universe and life is full of vicissitudes, everything proceeds according to not intention or foresight, but determinate regularity and law. The second, deeper interpretation is that things which appear at odds are not actually so, and true harmony is possible once an intention-based narrative of the world is escaped.
Death & Force - Master Camlenn argues that, while true, this line is, in essence, not meant to be understood, and it cannot be understood by the unprepared mind. She claims that those who diligently and persistently apply themselves and walk the path outlined in the practical section of this holocron to the very end will come to fully comprehend this line.
Master Camlenn does not appear to have found the later, more practically and moralistically formulated codes, to be worthy of any comment.
THE FORCE IN ETERNITY
This part becomes available only after the gatekeeper has adequately convinced itself that the student has walked the path laid out in Part 2 to the very end.
Master Camlenn asserts that through proper meditation and the Unity experience, the practitioner can realise the true nature of the self and, in a sense, dissolve it: the self is merely an abstract pattern of events, just like the Force is, and as such can be forever preserved as a part of the Force. Thus, the realisation that the self does not, in a substantive sense, exist is simultaneously the key to the secret of transcending the death of the physical body.
Those, to perfect oneself into a being that is happy, at peace, and benevolent and then imprint oneself on the Force in this way is the best thing a Force-sensitive can do with their life, as it makes the universe a better place literally forever. Compared the the possibility of a universe filled forever with such eternal benevolent entities that support those who are still bound to corporeal life, all the vagaries of history are inconsequential and mere distractions. She believes that this is, in traditional terms, a purely light-sided activity and no-one who embraces the dark side can achieve this form of permanent existence. At best they remain a feeble Force ghost bound to a location and barely able to perceive and affect the universe.
Master Camlenn also discusses the notion that balance between the light and dark side of the Force is necessary or desirable. She believes that ancient warnings that the world would cease to exist were one side to ever become fully dominant are a way of couching in mysticism certain facts which are true, but have, on account of this presentation, been sorely misinterpreted.
In an ideal world, all beings would eventually be absorbed into the Force in this manner and no new organic life would come into being to struggle. Thus, complete extinction of the dark side is indeed tantamount to the dissolution of life - and that is a good thing.
This raises a conundrum in that it entails that Force-sensitivity is a gift to cherish and spread, which is at odds with monastic notions of celibacy. Master Camlenn notes quite frankly that this conclusion goes against her inclinations and that she sees romantic, sexual and reproductive activities as a grave hindrance on the path she has laid out. She admits ignorance as to how, if at all, these factors can eventually be reconciled or whether this is simply one of the imperfections or ordinary life and one must carefully chose what one judges to be the lesser evil for oneself.
Master Camlenn is very clear that to become eternal is not in any way an act of selfishness, as it is done in the spirit of service to all living beings. In fact, not to embrace the restfulness of death but to remain an active presence is to be considered a sacrifice.
PART 2: Practical Instructions
This part begins by explicating the virtues of a Jedi in a fairly standard, if somewhat quietist fashion, cautioning the student not to get caught up in the swirl of galactic events. It states that cultivation of these virtues is not an externally imposed duty and should also not be taken in pursuit of praise or reverence, but is in the student's own best interest as a foundational mindset for deeper developments in meditation. It is emphasised that virtue does not consist in scrupulously obeying a code of conduct in content, but is rather a matter of the intention, mindset, and goal with which actions are performed, and that any external code of conduct is merely a guideline that points at actions that are normally conducted with unwholesome motives and difficult to conduct with wholesome motives, so that it is instrumentally useful to avoid them. They are also a simple tool to evaluate oneself, as when one finds oneself conducting proscribed actions a lot, they are probably being done with unwholesome intentions, and one must not be overconfident in self-evaluating.
Master Camlenn further asserts that while the Jedi go the furthest in the striving to embody these virtues, the very same principles apply to non-Force-sensitives as well. Throughout, the meditation instructions contained in the holocron make frequent reference to which techniques should and should not be taught to non-Force-sensitive beings.
The rest of this part is taken up by detailed instructions for meditation which change and adapt as the student has certain experiences and insights and goes through various distinct stages during which his relation to his body, the Force, and himself transforms.
"At the end of this long and arduous path, you will experience something that is beyond mind and matter, beyond anything you have known. We shall call this event Unity. It cannot be described - only experienced. Much will become clear then."
At no point does the gatekeeper speak of the instructions as a path to any kind of immortality in order to prevent students from pursuing it with a selfish mindset, as such effort would be in vain - the kind of immortality that is so attainable is not a selfish one. Rather, it is presumed that anyone who achieves the experience of Unity will automatically and immediately realise its implication, including the transcendence of physical death. What the gatekeeper presents to the students as part of the point of the exercise is to overcome pain, fear, and suffering to root them unmoveably in the Light Side of the Force.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
After many years of prolonged retreats from the world spent in meditation, Master Camlenn reached an experience which she claims cannot be described in words and terms Unity (with the Force), which she thinks triggered permanent changes in the workings of her mind and gave her certain insights into the nature of the universe, among them realisations about the nature of the self and its continued existence, of a sort, after the death of the physical body.
Over time, Master Camlenn reviewed the territory leading up to this event in great detail and attempted to codify an efficient path towards this goal, which she laid out in this holocron together with her wider view of the Force and the role of a Jedi to give it proper context. In her view, it is essential for as many capable people as possible to walk this path as it will lead to a permanent improvement of the universe, which is why she wished for these teachings to be accessible and encoded them in this holocron.
