Starting to Know the World from Deep Self-understanding : Focusing on the ‘Global Citizenship and Restorative Peace’ Liberal Arts Class at D University

Abstract

This paper examines how, in a course designed from a restorative peace perspective, learners connect with their inner self, experience a deep understanding of themselves, and further begin to expand their awareness by learning about the world around them. According to the analysis, through the activities of observing, expressing their feelings, knowing their desires, finding core values and making requests, learners were able to discover and express themselves and experience freedom from being bound by the cultural values and styles that had formed their characters so far. The activity of writing an auto-ethnography journal became an important turning point in carrying out this work. Group activities created a sense of empathy and solidarity among the students through their sharing of difficult moments in the process of gaining a deep understanding of their inner self, and provided an important foundation for carrying out the difficult task of better knowing the world. The focus of this subject's activities is for the students to experience deep self-understanding, which is a prerequisite for developing a greater awareness as global citizens. Afterwards, students asked themselves the following question: How can we as learners more actively engage in awareness and exploration to better understand the world, once we have achieved this internal competency? This study highlights the need for follow-up work to determine whether this is achievable.