There are people who actually follow the Jedi path. One lives in Wichita

Most Jedi reside in a fictional galaxy far, far away.

But some are closer to home. One lives in Wichita.

More than 250,000 people around the world claim to be real-life Jedi, according to an article in Pacific Standard. That surpasses satirical movements like the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as well as smaller religious movements such as Wicca and Scientology.

While claiming to be a Jedi on a national census is a joke for some, being a Jedi is a way of life for Michael Hannigan, a Wichita man who was one of three Jedi featured in a recent documentary, “American Jedi.”

Members of the Jedi community are fully aware the Star Wars movies depict a fictional universe. At the same time, they say, they can adapt philosophies behind the fictional Jedi for real world practices and beliefs.

Sometimes, they spar with plastic lightsabers.

At other times, they meditate on the Jedi Code: “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.”

American Jedi

When filmmaker Laurent Malaquais stumbled across people who called themselves Jedi, he thought it was a joke.

Now, after four years of conceptualizing, creating and producing “American Jedi,” he views it more seriously.

The documentary begins with snippets of interviews with people outside comic conventions. One man remarks that Darth Vader isn’t in the Bible.

That’s a misconception Hannigan sometimes addresses: No, today’s Jedi don’t worship Yoda or Luke Skywalker.

Followers of the Jedi Code have broken down into multiple sects. Hannigan says there are two main strains of thought: Jediism, a religion, and Jedi Realists, who sometimes reject the religion label and prefer to look at it as a life path. Many members of Jedi Realism also follow a religion such as Methodism, Shamanism or Buddhism.

Hannigan is a member of the Jedi Realism movement.

Malaquais says that whether they call it a religion or a philosophy, the Jedi path has taken the place of a religion for many of the people he met.

“That is their singular path that they walk,” Malaquais said. “That’s what makes the defining difference — does that person wake up every day and walk that path or at least attempt to walk that path?”

A Wichita Jedi

Hannigan is just one example of someone who lives and breathes being a Jedi, Malaquais said. The documentary follows the Wichita Jedi as he and two others seek to be knighted into the Jedi Federation, a group that has annual in-person meetings of Jedi.

“He’s just as passionate about that as a born again Christian can be about being born again,” Malaquais said.

The film portrays Hannigan as a controversial figure in the Jedi community. He’s a bit of an online troll, others say, with an aggressive personality that thrives on attention.

At the same time, Hannigan deeply loves the Jedi community and wants to be loved by them, Malaquais said. By the end of the documentary, the other Jedi have accepted Hannigan as one of their own — even if he still grates on some nerves.

“If the Jedi path is not about redemption and growth, then what the hell is it about?” Hannigan asks in the film.

Now, Hannigan is spending a few months in Louisville, helping to start up a new Jedi chapter. They meet once a week to have philosophical discussion, some meditation and lightsaber sparring.

Being a Jedi for Hannigan means training in martial arts and spending plenty of time at the gym as well as applying more abstract Jedi philosophies to his life. He also runs Jedi Realist Radio, where he talks about the doctrine and practices of real-life Jedi.

It also means seeking to make the world a better place. Jedi in Chicago dress in robes with lightsabers and visit libraries, getting children interested in reading, Hannigan says. Others do community projects at hospitals.

Hannigan thinks Star Wars has such a staying power partly because of the mysticism, with both Christian and Buddhist ideas influencing the Jedi.

“There’s something about Star Wars that’s not accidental,” Malaquais said. George Lucas, the Star Wars creator, “really leans on eastern mysticism and also his roots in being a Methodist, using east and west together, which I think makes a powerful combination.”

Hannigan was among the first people who adapted Jedi beliefs to their lives. He found a community of like-minded Star Wars fans using Yahoo Groups in the 1990s.

Different groups of Jedi abound and sometimes overlap. They include the Temple of the Jedi Order, the Institute for Jedi Realist Studies, the Jedi Federation, Temple of the Jedi Force, the Force Academy and more.

The Temple of the Jedi Order has received tax exempt status in the United States. Another group is affiliated with the nondenominational Universal Life Church, allowing its members to legally conduct marriage ceremonies.

“It is not role play by Star Wars fans, but a church of genuine religion,” a page on the Universal Life Church’s website reads. “These principles actually extend from Buddhism and Shaolin, and the Hermetic Traditions & Principles. Jedi beliefs also draw inspiration from Taoism.”

Overcoming the past

The Jedi Malaquais met often used their beliefs as a way to transform trauma into something positive, he said.

The Jedi featured in his documentary all have faced adversity.

One of the other Jedi followed by the documentary is Perris Cartwright, a 28-year-old from northern Virginia.

She learned about the Jedi community when she was 14 and said it resonated with her on a spiritual level.

The Jedi path aligned closely with some teachings of Mormonism, such as loving your neighbor, that she learned as a child, she said. Jedi Realism became the way she wanted to understand herself.

It also helped her overcome having been raped multiple times, she says in the documentary.

“When someone declares themselves a Jedi, it’s not because they’re suddenly enlightened,” Cartwright said. “Nine times out of ten they’re an incredibly damaged individual who has been so jaded and bullied by outside influences, that they seek a community of people that if nothing else are at peace.”

In Hannigan’s case, Jedi Realism played a role in helping him overcome drug addiction 14 years ago, when he first moved to Wichita.

He had been living in Las Vegas when he decided to put an end to his drug use. Almost on a whim, he moved to Wichita, where a friend and many trips to a YMCA sauna helped him get sober.

It’s the community aspect of the Jedi that draws so many people with difficult pasts, Hannigan said. If he sends a message out at 2 a.m. saying he needs help, someone will call within three minutes.

“We’re a little more spread out than we would like, but it’s the same concept. If one of us is going through difficulties, then one of us is there,” he said.

This story was originally published March 31, 2018 at 5:52 PM with the headline "There are people who actually follow the Jedi path. One lives in Wichita."