Chopping wood, shoveling snow: high ideals and practical applications
Last Sunday was a beautiful day out here in the mountains where
New Horizons is slowly but surely revitalizing its training and retreat center.
Our concern that day was, however, not much about the ideal. Rather it was the
ordinary demanding our attention. We had
only two sticks of wood left from our former abundant supply, courtesy of Bobby
Lowery, sawmill owner. And, a severe snowstorm with another period of freezing
temperatures was on its way.
Saturday night I looked at the dwindling remnants of firewood,
knowing that wood gathering was top priority. OMG! On the one hand, we might be
just fine. And, on the other we might be at risk; without electricity etc. for
days. You just never know how things will fall out here, especially in these
days of extreme weather conditions.
We had a good plan, however, based, for sure, on the
principle of “leaning in.” By early afternoon we were well on our way; “doing” that
which New Horizons represents; not merely talking community-unity, but doing and
being it.
The trio at hand-- Sue, chairperson of our remodeling
committee with her truck, Chris, our handy man with his heavy-duty chainsaw,
and me, the best-intentioned gofer when it comes to practical endeavors such as
wood gathering -- was well-aligned with our intentions to care for our small zone
of peace; first things first; high
ideals -- and -- practical applications.
(I can,
still, barely change a light bulb. So you know success, other than organizing
projects and bringing people together would, for sure, not rest on me. It takes
a village, even a teeny, tiny one, right?)
Long story short:
Off we went to the wooded areas of our retreat center property to assure winter
storm survival out here.
Within a brief few hours, we had cut (that’s Chris),
gathered, hauled, loaded and unloaded the truck (Chris, Sue and I) and stacked enough
wood, two and one-half truckloads, indoors to last for a time. We would
definitely make it through the cold, snowy days to come; all done with optimum,
harmonious pulling together. Synergy, ummm, good!
Laughing and refreshed by the rare, above fifty degree
weather and sunshine, Sue marveled at how well we had all worked together.
I tell you this story to bring home one important, but relatively small point:
High ideals and
practical applications are what is behind New Horizons’ devotion to Murat
Yagan and the prototypical Kebzeh community he built around him in Vernon, B.C..
Synergy, ummm, good!
Working well together, that’s how we all should/could be; "one for all and all for one"; averting crises. Certainly not passively allowing them
to infiltrate our lives or, worse, propagating and perpetuating them.
New Horizons, unlike those who have, for many years, lived
near Murat as have his students in Vernon, B.C., is not a spiritually-based
community development effort. No,
indeed!
Humane and ethical principles, spiritual or not, are
not dependent, however, upon one like-minded ideology as practiced by those in Vernon in their very exceptional
community. The community traditions of ancient Abkhazia, as Murat has passed
them on, can be interpreted and applied to all kinds and colors of people – and
– collective endeavors. Any community, group or organization that wishes to and
puts forth the effort, as New Horizons has done, can develop, over time, into
an exceptional community.
New Horizons, as it is today, teaches community development skills and mentors individuals,
groups, organizations and small communities to overcome polarization. Our methodology;
much of it derived from Murat (and
my earlier mentor, Martin G. Groder, M.D.), thus, helps people develop into exceptional community participants. Be they
leaders or followers.
Teaching people the fine art of building bridges across the
rivers of diversity that separate us from one another in modern, mainstream
America is our aim. If this is what you
are after, you learn to keep whatever has the potential to divide to the side
and go for the common ground at its highest. Be it spiritual, cultural,
gender-based and/or political.
Thus, last Sunday, one hard-core hermit, Chris, one former anti-Semitic, recovering Jewish American princess (me) and dear Quaker Sue, had a
grand time working happily together to assure warmth for a possibly endangered
mountain side dwelling; the New Horizons training and retreat center.
As happy as the birds outside my window, now, feasting at
the bird feeder, Sue and I put the show and tell steps of Murat’s Seven Ways to Knowledge aside and simply got into the doing, the feeling (oh so happy) and the
being. Which is, of course, how real deal peace buddies do it!
