Rivan’s Code of the Jedi Way,

There is emotion, there is peace,
there is passion that can be felt in the midst of peace,
peace is not a lie but it is rare.

There is indeed ignorance but there is knowledge in the midst of ignorance and ignorance in the midst of knowledge.

Through Passion I can gain strength
and yet in that strength I do not see as clearly how to use it
and, perhaps more importantly, how not to.

In the midst of strong passion
I seek Serenity that does not slay passion,
strength that does not obscure truth, and
Power that does not crush questions
but removes the barriers to truth.

There is apparent chaos, there is apparent harmony,
there is true harmony in the midst of chaos,
There is a pattern for true order
hidden deep in the apparent chaos in which we are embroiled
and it is in this that I plant the seeds of victory
that others may harvest.

There is no death, there is the Force.

Victory without harmony is not,
harmony without truth is not,
justice without love is tyranny,
harmony and humility is victory.

What can be taken from he who has nothing?
What can be given to him who needs nothing?
What is true victory but harmony with the eternal?
It is through understanding and action
that my chains of desire and disappointment are broken.

It is said in modern myth that the original version was:

Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.


This mythical version was said to have been established by the Jedi Master Odan-Urr and is probably the best known:

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.

—The Jedi Code (Based on the meditations of Odan-Urr)

[Some versions omit the fourth line but I tend to always include it – Rivan]


In the stories, when Grand Master Luke Skywalker re-established the Jedi Order after the fall of the Empire he was said to have rewritten the code as follows:

Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.
Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.
Jedi respect all life, in any form.
Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.
Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.

While all but the first code by Rivan Elan were written for fictional stories they still have some value in defining the mythical path of the Jedi. When we take these all together they form an anchor for the Jedi Order and, in truth, it may be the only thing that ties the diverse groups together. In the 21st Century there is no Order, there is a myriad of diversity and the Jedi Code.

I invite you to write what the code means to you in the forum devoted to this topic. Because all faiths should be a dynamic and growing faith you will, no doubt, come to understand the codes differently in the future than you do now. This is fine and it is a good thing because it means that you are growing spiritually.