Hopefully when the page is "complete enough," it will serve as some form of guidance to help those who: 1. are interested in developing an expanded perspective on higher personal and community consciousness and enhancement in the U.S.A. and 2. are, possibly, interested in learning how to climb the "Mountain of Awe" with New Horizons and its volunteer team as guides.
If the task of providing this piece, excerpted from Murat Yagan's monograph, “Transformation And The Seven Ways To Knowledge,” is successful it will, perhaps, invite readers to discover a few principles and practical applications for peace action that New Horizons has been privileged to learn under the tutelage of Murat Yagan, the acknowledged last living Elder of the native and ancient traditions of the Caucasus Mountains called Kebzeh.
New Horizons gratefully acknowledges that it is through Murat and his dedication to communal and global peace, as well as his generosity in guiding us, that we have the audacity to undertake New Horizons’ two main initiatives; the Small “Zones of Peace” Project and the Possible Human, Possible Society Study.
While we are well aware that reaching the peak of our imaginary Mountain of Awe, may be more in the realm of the ideal rather than the real, it is to the credit of Murat and those most closely involved with him that we are able to even seriously consider awe as within the range of the possible.
It is through this support and guidance and our still evolving knowledge and wisdom, accrued to date, that Anastasia and Sue humbly invite would be travelers to our Bus Ride Story Adventure to join with us in our efforts to make our dreams for peace and unity a more achievable reality. That is our intention.
(Books by Murat Yagan and his monograph series available for purchase through New Horizons Support Network, Inc. as well as through Kebzeh Puiblications.)
The path New Horizons has choosen for our work is evident, hopefully, through our two main initiatives; the Small "Zones of Peace" Project and our Possible Human, Possible Society Study and reflected by all that this blog site provides. The former initiative derrives its name from the words of Mahatma Gandhi -
“We do best to begin by carving out territories or zones of peace in our personal relations where violence and deceit won’t be used.”More to come.
Anastasia
July 5, 2012
(From “Transformation And The Seven Ways To Knowledge” by Murat Yagan)
Murat identifies these as “ways” in his monograph. I am interpreting them, here, as “levels” as they are presented as a progression, one building upon the other, often overlapping in practice.
(I will inquire about this further. Sorry, at the time of this posting I/we are having trouble with direct connection with Murat (through his assistant, Sharron, is the usual way) as we are only able to be in contact by email. And, all are gathered an annual Gathering this week. We will pursue remedying this gap asap.)
Okay now, excerpting from Murat, we are presenting, here, the seven ways/levels of acquiring knowledge to reach the peak of personal and collective transformation that is the real destination of our Bus Ride Story Adventure.
Levels One and Two; the levels at which Sue and I are currently presenting our Bus Ride Story Adventure, follow here.
Level One: Telling. Murat states: “The first way to knowledge is by being told. There are certain things one can know only by being told.”
Level Two: Showing. Murat states that “The second way to knowledge is by physical contact.” Gaining knowledge through our five senses, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting.
“Show and Tell,” thus, seems an apt label, we think, for what Sue and I are presently offering as tour guides on our Bus Ride Story Adventure. We are the tellers of Murat’s original Bus Ride Story and our personal and shared stories that, collaboratively, created the Small “Zones of Peace” Project model.
And we are, also, the show-ers of the visible depictions of what these have accomplished, thus far, over the past six years of developing our beautiful (so we think) community peace building model. This is what brings us, now, to our roles as tour guides for New Horizons’ Bus Ride Story Adventure.We hope you will travel with us.
Question: Can and will our adventure participants go beyond this introductory “show and tell” level with us?
Answer: This remains to be seen. The willingness of our participatory bus tour riders to reach for increased knowledge about the mission of our Bus Ride Story Adventure at Level Three and beyond will separate the travelers from the drop offs.
Level Three: Study: Murat offers this example, “…if you want to know what kind of city it is, how big an area it has, its population, the specific characteristics of the climate, average precipitation a year, then you need to study in order to know these things.”
For our Bus Ride Story Adventure to reach the intended destination, some study is essential. Riders need a cursory introduction to the philosophies underlying the adventure so that they, at least, have a basis for translating and talking about the things each of us knows, personally, about our destination, the peak of the Mountain of Awe.
The time has come when we must learn the languages and principles of one another to reach beyond our personal limitations and build the collective peace and unity for which we yearn. Here is where our informal storytelling becomes of critical importance in traveling the route we have selected.
A brilliant teaching message from Murat (at least from my, perhaps, biased perspective):
“If you want to go further and say, “I want to “know it,” then the way of knowing must be different. In order to “know it” you have to be there, not just read about it, or see a picture, or a movie, or a travel agency brochure.How challenged we are to know the "it" of one another's heart; to bring one another to the seeing of our minds and our hearts. Storytelling, thus, sometimes becomes the best bridge we can build to reach one another's "it" The living "uh" of one another.
This is the essence of what is meant by experiential education, Sue’s area of expertise. And what is meant by our invitation, “We want to travel with you.”
The remaining four levels of acquiring knowledge, according to Murat’s offering are:
Knowledge gained at:
Level Four: By understanding;
Level Five: By doing;
Level Six: By feeling;
Level Seven: By being.
Beyond Levels One through Three Sue and I are, in some ways, as much students as teachers/tour guides.
At these levels our Bus Ride Story Adventure while having a distinct destination in mind; the Mountain of Awe, which has certain special characteristics, procedures, rituals and practices, is more and more, each step of the way the work of co-creation. This is how a bus ride can become a labyrinth.
“If you want to go further and say, “I want to “know it,” then the way of knowing must be different. In order to “know it” you have to be there, not just read about it, or see a picture, or a movie, or a travel agency brochure. Murat Yagan
