Edited by Sue deVeer. Posted by permission of Murat Yagan and the Kebzeh Foundation.
This page is being updated today, September 7, 2013, in order to, more thoroughly, incorporate Murat’s original story as published in “Building Up A Kebzeh Community,” with what the New Horizons’ Small “Zones of Peace” Project has taken from it to expand its community development and violence prevention training model.
The journey New Horizons has been on since being introduced to this adventure is described in Murat’s
new book, Ahmsta Kebzeh: The Science of Universal Awe, Volume II,
page 494.
Travelers’
Warning:
Neither Murat's original story, as offered below, nor the community development and violence transformation work of the New Horizons Support Network, Inc. are quick fix approaches to anything other than
entertainment seeking. In fact, if entertainment is your goal, you might even find our endeavors rather boring. Our adventures, geared toward the attainment of "awe" in personal and collective human relations, are, instead, explorations requiring RISK, dedication and discipline. For the serious devotee, the rewards are immeasurable. Nonetheless, a Plan B, sincerely striving for "awe," is also acceptable.)
For further details on how New Horizons can
specially design the application of our community development approach for your personal
objectives and/or your group or organization, contact Anastasia at: 240.409.5347
or zonesofpeacenh@aol.com
Now our adventure, as Murat, originally, told it and Sue edited it, begins --Imagine you are taking a trip from New York City to Anchorage, Alaska, on a bus of 50 passengers. No one knows each other. You anticipate the trip will take seven days, sleeping in the bus overnight, a non-stop ride.
 |
| "We want to travel with you." |
Soon after the bus takes off, a passenger gets up, walks to the front of the bus, turns his face to the passengers and addresses them:
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for a moment. We are
engaged to a trip of seven days together. It is a small adventure. And, I want to
propose that we use this time together by experimenting with an interesting social
game. "
Passengers ask: “What kind of social game, can you clarify a bit?"
“Certainly. I am a community development educator and an author. And, I am proposing that we fifty people on this bus use our time by doing something transformative with it. If you will all agree to it, by the end of this adventure, we may reach, step by step, a higher consciousness, personally and collectively, that can enhance our human potential, and thus effect our families and our communities.
“We are a group of fifty people here. We do not know each other; it may seem at a superficial glance that we do not have anything in common. But if we extend our thinking a slight step further, we can see that we have at least one thing in common; we are travelling companions.
We can never know what will be the unforeseeable events on our way; any pleasant or unpleasant incident may draw us to a sharing from which some bonds may develop. These bonds may grow into friendship so close that with a deliberate effort, this group of fifty people may turn into a community.
“With this great potential at hand, I am suggesting that we apply a formula to our time together which comes from one of the most ancient teachings of mankind. The peoples of this ancient tradition, which goes back to before the time of Noah’s ark, learned to live together and with all of life, cooperatively in peace and harmony, by applying certain principles that still survive today though the peoples are now widely dispersed.
“I am proposing that by applying the formula I am offering we can turn this group of people, who even do not know each other, into a community by the end of this bus ride. Any group of people can be turned into community: a town, a city, a nation or all the inhabitants of a planet, using the proper formulae”
There are some voices from passengers saying: “Let’s try it.” Others are not quite so certain. Some discussion takes place between the passengers, and finally they say, ”Okay, okay, we all agree. "
The speaker says: “That is fine. Since everyone agrees, let's go ahead. We are heading for a splendid adventure. Along the way we will encounter great mysteries of human life and human nature. However, if we are intent on tolerating whatever challenges we meet, we will be duly rewarded by maturing into a community.
Now, the first condition for any group of people to become a community is to want it.
“The second step is to have a common object of interest. This common interest can be anything; a common hobby, a common goal to reach, an ideal, a belief. In our case here we are seeking to have a lovely time together and this is precisely the link which allows us to consent to our experiment here.
"The third step is that the participants should generate an experience of unity. This unity should engender a general sense of overall well-being in the group; a certain special kind of vibration. This vibration is the final element that will lead the group to becoming a community.
“Now we come to how to generate this prevailing vibration in our group. In the tradition I use as my system of education, there are 14 essential human traits that develop the character of community. (Enumerated they are: gratitude, compassion, patience, kindness, generosity, humbleness, courtesy, altruism, good temper, guilelessness, sincerity, endurance, courage and forgiveness.)
Unfortunately among many today these characteristics often remain undeveloped or underdeveloped. This is why there are so few real communities now, at least as I would define “community.” Only as these innate characteristics are genuinely practiced in human relationships can communities truly develop and be sustained,
“However, as you will see as we embark on our experiment, human beings are like the pebbles on the beach; if we collect them into a pouch and carry them with us, they will rub against each other, polishing one by the other. In many ways our bus is like that pouch and we, sitting here on it, are like the pebbles.
On our journey from New York City to Anchorage, we will polish one another when we apply the formula I am offering. This formula, when applied to humans engenders a community with the proper vibration for social unity and personal transformation.
“Using our formula, our main task will be to strive to put these 14 human attributes to use in all that we do with one another each and every day. And to willingly, self-assess our day-to-day commitment and actions as we direct these attributes to our interactions with one another.
“The benefits of this experiment will become clear as we proceed. We shall grasp these benefits and their significance as we move along, practicing the greater expression of each of these natural human traits in our conversations and daily interactions together. For at first we will need to make the effort to consciously practice these human virtues, until they become a new habit, no longer requiring conscious effort to apply, making it one’s natural and spontaneous way of behaving.”
At this point the speaker offers each of the bus riders a sheet listing the 14 attributes and guidelines in order to take a daily personal inventory for the adventure on this bus ride.
Here Sue’s edited version of Murat’s original story ends. And New Horizons, in real time training settings, picks up to guide the next steps that aid us, individually and collectively, to create the magnificient outcome of a loving community that concludes Murat's version of the story.
We stress the real time interactive as without guidance in reading and applying the remaining portions of Murat's story, as he originally presented it, there is a critical phase left out.
This portion of the Bus Ride Story Adventure has to do with the application of the "fourteen essential human attributes" throughout the traveling days of the adventure -- and most importantly -- how life on the bus is managed when the travelers are out of alignment with themselves and/or one another/in conflict on their imaginery trip.
The missing lessons have to do with how we manage discord. New Horizons has been recognized for over forty years for its expertise in teaching skills that empower people to manage simple and not so easily handled differences and conflict.
To succeed with your personal Bus Ride Story Adventure application, becoming adept at managing this last phase is likely to be your biggest challenge.
New Horizons' staff and volunteers are available to assist you with this. We can be reached at: zonesofpeacenh@aol.com for consultations and guidance.
You may also find stories that hint at or vaguely suggest the tone of our Bus Ride Story Adventure by reading these articles. These cannot give you the Bus Ride Story Adventure experience but they may inspire you to want to make the effort to do so through New Horizons.
Next steps for a New Horizons' application begin as follows:Passengers ask: “What kind of social game, can you clarify a bit?"
“Certainly. I am a community development educator and an author. And, I am proposing that we fifty people on this bus use our time by doing something transformative with it. If you will all agree to it, by the end of this adventure, we may reach, step by step, a higher consciousness, personally and collectively, that can enhance our human potential, and thus effect our families and our communities.
“We are a group of fifty people here. We do not know each other; it may seem at a superficial glance that we do not have anything in common. But if we extend our thinking a slight step further, we can see that we have at least one thing in common; we are travelling companions.
We can never know what will be the unforeseeable events on our way; any pleasant or unpleasant incident may draw us to a sharing from which some bonds may develop. These bonds may grow into friendship so close that with a deliberate effort, this group of fifty people may turn into a community.
“With this great potential at hand, I am suggesting that we apply a formula to our time together which comes from one of the most ancient teachings of mankind. The peoples of this ancient tradition, which goes back to before the time of Noah’s ark, learned to live together and with all of life, cooperatively in peace and harmony, by applying certain principles that still survive today though the peoples are now widely dispersed.
“I am proposing that by applying the formula I am offering we can turn this group of people, who even do not know each other, into a community by the end of this bus ride. Any group of people can be turned into community: a town, a city, a nation or all the inhabitants of a planet, using the proper formulae”
There are some voices from passengers saying: “Let’s try it.” Others are not quite so certain. Some discussion takes place between the passengers, and finally they say, ”Okay, okay, we all agree. "
The speaker says: “That is fine. Since everyone agrees, let's go ahead. We are heading for a splendid adventure. Along the way we will encounter great mysteries of human life and human nature. However, if we are intent on tolerating whatever challenges we meet, we will be duly rewarded by maturing into a community.
Now, the first condition for any group of people to become a community is to want it.
“The second step is to have a common object of interest. This common interest can be anything; a common hobby, a common goal to reach, an ideal, a belief. In our case here we are seeking to have a lovely time together and this is precisely the link which allows us to consent to our experiment here.
"The third step is that the participants should generate an experience of unity. This unity should engender a general sense of overall well-being in the group; a certain special kind of vibration. This vibration is the final element that will lead the group to becoming a community.
“Now we come to how to generate this prevailing vibration in our group. In the tradition I use as my system of education, there are 14 essential human traits that develop the character of community. (Enumerated they are: gratitude, compassion, patience, kindness, generosity, humbleness, courtesy, altruism, good temper, guilelessness, sincerity, endurance, courage and forgiveness.)
Unfortunately among many today these characteristics often remain undeveloped or underdeveloped. This is why there are so few real communities now, at least as I would define “community.” Only as these innate characteristics are genuinely practiced in human relationships can communities truly develop and be sustained,
“However, as you will see as we embark on our experiment, human beings are like the pebbles on the beach; if we collect them into a pouch and carry them with us, they will rub against each other, polishing one by the other. In many ways our bus is like that pouch and we, sitting here on it, are like the pebbles.
On our journey from New York City to Anchorage, we will polish one another when we apply the formula I am offering. This formula, when applied to humans engenders a community with the proper vibration for social unity and personal transformation.
“Using our formula, our main task will be to strive to put these 14 human attributes to use in all that we do with one another each and every day. And to willingly, self-assess our day-to-day commitment and actions as we direct these attributes to our interactions with one another.
“The benefits of this experiment will become clear as we proceed. We shall grasp these benefits and their significance as we move along, practicing the greater expression of each of these natural human traits in our conversations and daily interactions together. For at first we will need to make the effort to consciously practice these human virtues, until they become a new habit, no longer requiring conscious effort to apply, making it one’s natural and spontaneous way of behaving.”
At this point the speaker offers each of the bus riders a sheet listing the 14 attributes and guidelines in order to take a daily personal inventory for the adventure on this bus ride.
Here Sue’s edited version of Murat’s original story ends. And New Horizons, in real time training settings, picks up to guide the next steps that aid us, individually and collectively, to create the magnificient outcome of a loving community that concludes Murat's version of the story.
We stress the real time interactive as without guidance in reading and applying the remaining portions of Murat's story, as he originally presented it, there is a critical phase left out.
This portion of the Bus Ride Story Adventure has to do with the application of the "fourteen essential human attributes" throughout the traveling days of the adventure -- and most importantly -- how life on the bus is managed when the travelers are out of alignment with themselves and/or one another/in conflict on their imaginery trip.
The missing lessons have to do with how we manage discord. New Horizons has been recognized for over forty years for its expertise in teaching skills that empower people to manage simple and not so easily handled differences and conflict.
To succeed with your personal Bus Ride Story Adventure application, becoming adept at managing this last phase is likely to be your biggest challenge.
New Horizons' staff and volunteers are available to assist you with this. We can be reached at: zonesofpeacenh@aol.com for consultations and guidance.
You may also find stories that hint at or vaguely suggest the tone of our Bus Ride Story Adventure by reading these articles. These cannot give you the Bus Ride Story Adventure experience but they may inspire you to want to make the effort to do so through New Horizons.
If you wish to accrue the
benefits of our Bus Ride Story Adventure, you must decide if:
1. You are willing to
travel with us (or some other committed group of people); and
2. Either, with us, or in
some other unique fashion design of your own you are willing to live the way
this story suggests, each and every day of your life from here forth.
If you are a willing
participant for this adventure of a lifetime, here are further critical steps:
1.
Pledge to do your best, each and every day, paying close
attention, especially, to being transparent and accountable.
(i.e. as in the Twelve
Step approach to non-addict living: 1. Take a daily inventory; and 2. Where
needed make amends to your Higher Power, other living beings and yourself.)
2.
Lean in toward all living entities, each and every day, to your
fullest capacity.
You can find an inventory listing of our 14 attributes at this link and stories about New Horizons’ Small “Zones of Peace” Project approach for the daily living of this adventure throughout this blog site. For stories related to these 14 attributes and their application, simply explore the blog site at this link for an abundance of adventure clues, like a treasure hunt.
Hint: Daily inventory, amends and leaning in with kindness and compassion activities with others are the keys to success for this adventure.
Happy traveling, Anastasia and Sue
You can find an inventory listing of our 14 attributes at this link and stories about New Horizons’ Small “Zones of Peace” Project approach for the daily living of this adventure throughout this blog site. For stories related to these 14 attributes and their application, simply explore the blog site at this link for an abundance of adventure clues, like a treasure hunt.
Hint: Daily inventory, amends and leaning in with kindness and compassion activities with others are the keys to success for this adventure.
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