CIW at Summit Powder Mountain

Summit Powder Mountain, July 3-6, 2015 in Eden, Utah

Marc Gafni and Kate Maloney (CIW Executive Director) are attending Summit Powder Mountain, where Marc was invited to offer a special presentation at 2pm on July 5 on “Beyond Venus & Mars: The Next Step In Masculine & Feminine”.

This invitation only event quickly sold out. During the weekend attendees will see and hear a series of discussions on on a variety of topics – from maintaining a strong company culture to cyber security. We’re thrilled that the work of the Center will be a presence at this event, with Marc’s teachings on the evolutionary masculine and feminine adding an important voice to the mix. Among the speakers and contributors at Summit Powder Mountain will be Eric Ryan & Elliott Bisnow, Brian Vickers, Sarah Jones.

Summit‘s mission is to build community, catalyze entrepreneurship, address global issues, and support artistic achievement, in an effort to make our world a more joyful place. The mission of the Summit Series, Summit’s flagship event series, is to unite the leaders of today and tomorrow in surreal settings and immersive experiences designed to catalyze positive personal and collective growth.

Summit Powder Mountain is one of the events in the Summit Series. Summit Powder Mountain aims to rethink the great American mountain town around a community focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, arts, and altruism. Tucked on the southern side of Powder Mountain, in the town of Eden, Utah, it’s a new kind of neighborhood, where friends, family, and the change makers of today and tomorrow gather in an environment created to catalyze personal and collective growth.

CIW at Summit Powder Mountain2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

The Center for Integral Wisdom in the Media

The Center for Integral Wisdom and our core Dharma of Unique Self, Outrageous Love, and the Evolution of Love have been featured and reviewed in the media. Here are some examples:

Mackey and Marc Gafni on Outrageous Love and the Center Featured in Science of Mind

ScienceOfMind-May2015-coverMGDr. Marc Gafni & John Mackey shared their innovative views in the May issue of Science of Mind magazine, on sale now at Barnes & Noble!

Kudos to Science of Mind for putting together such a great collection! The article on Marc is well done, highlighting his important new work and teachings on the dharma of Outrageous Pain and Outrageous Love.

Electronic versions at the moment are only available to subscribers of Science of Mind.

The Entrepreneur Fitness Podcast with Brandon Epstein “Discovering Your Unique Self”

Physical Fitness l Mental Fitness l Emotional Fitness | Spiritual Fitness

Marc Gafni and podcast host Brandon Epstein explored “Discovering Your Unique Self.” The conversation was a deep dive into Unique Self & Outrageous Love.

Check out the podcast here>>>

Brandon Epstein also featured Marc’s work in his new eBook Zen Dude Fitness.

Stevo’s Book Recommendations: Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism (2014) – by Marc Gafni

Marc Gafni’s book Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism: Two Models and Why They Matter was recommended by Stevo’s Book Reviews on the Internet in the May 2015 list. Steve Brock has been well-known in the book industry for over 30 years, and his recommendations are read by over 200,000 people a month.

Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism: Two Models and Why They Matter by Marc Gafni

Buy SELF on Amazon!

Another Review of Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism: Two Models and Why They Matter

Paul R. Smith, author of Integral Christianity: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve, wrote the following review:

When I look at the ten thousand books on spirituality, mysticism, and evolutionary religion in my library, I can tell, at a glance, without looking at titles, which ones were most helpful to me. They are the ones with Post-it notes sticking out from the top, marking pages that I found quite valuable. Self in Integral Evolutionary Mysticism by Marc Gafni is one of those few dozens with numerous colorful sticky notes flaming out from its top edge. Gafni’s previous book, Unique Self, was a breakthrough opening in understanding the Self in relation to union with God. This book continues by focusing on an opposing popular postmodern view of self and pointing out the crucial differences. With laser-like insight Gafni lets his view remain the only one I can joyfully endorse as an integrally-informed Christian mystic and scholar. This book shines with radiant luminosity and spiritual depth.

Buy SELF on Amazon
The Center for Integral Wisdom in the Media2023-06-19T11:02:53-07:00

Unique Self Coaching Expands in Europe and US

The first participants in the Unique Self Coaching Collective have successfully completed the 9-month certification program that masterfully weaves Integral Coaching and Unique Self Realization into a new and beautiful program of deep Self-Inquiry practices that is very teachable to other coaches for use with their clients.

Unique Self Coaching was developed by Integral Master Coaches Barbara Alexander and Claire Molinard with the support of Dr. Marc Gafni. They have upcoming 9-month certification programs in Europe and the U.S., and you’ll find more information on their website.

“We believe that everyone has a unique purpose and that joy arises naturally when one lives in the reality of their unique calling as a gift to the world. This is what it is means to be living as a Unique Self. Our vision and greatest hope is that Unique Self Coaching may serve as a skillful means to facilitate the emergence of the Unique Self in men and women of all ages so they may live happier, more successful and purposeful lives in service to the world.”

Integral Master Coaches and Founders of the Unique Self Coaching Collective, Barbara Alexander and Claire Molinard

Unique Self Coaching Expands in Europe and US2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

The Summer Festival of LOVE 2015: Lines and Circles – The Inner Marriage of Masculine and Feminine

We are delighted to invite YOU to

The Summer Festival of LOVE

The second annual European Integral Wisdom Conference on

Love, Eros and Enlightenment

Lines and Circles

The Inner Marriage/The Alchemy

The power in Your Unique combination of Masculine and Feminine

Each morning we’ll study and practice with Dr. Marc Gafni the unique way in wich you are a Masculine/Feminine bi-gender being.

In the afternoon a stunning group of teachers and leaders are geared to deepen and integrate. You can choose: ‘Intimacy and Eros’, ‘Evolutionary Leadership’, ‘Unique Self and Outrageous Love’, ‘Circling’ (integral relating), breath work, Art & Expression and much more. You can also opt for an individual session, a massage, a dip in the hot tub or a walk on our beautiful estate.

In the evening there is music, dance and some ‘special gatherings’. For our younger guests there is a special program, so you can bring your kids.

“All forms of reality that don’t have in them
the marriage of masculine and Feminine
are no reality at all.
There is no higher form.
They have no potency and no blessing in them.”

“Blessing only flows when the Masculine and the Feminine dance in their Higher One.”

– The Zohar

Lines and Circles

The Inner Marriage of Masculine and Feminine

In some sense, lines are masculine and circles are feminine…

The reason we use these words is to get more away from the man and woman. It is very helpfull to recognize the different qualities.

You cannot acces your Eros without accessing your Unique Self. You cannot experience your full aliveness other than through the portal of your irreducibly Unique Expression of the Intelligence of the Cosmos that lives in you, as you and through you.

What is your Unique Self? One of the most powerful expressions of your Unique Self is unique balance, the unique integration, the unique interplay and dance of your man and woman that live inside you.

The unique combination of your masculine and feminine core qualities live in you, unlike they do in any other singel human being. To awaken into your enlightenment, to awaken as an outrageous lover, to awaken to you full aliveness, is therefore to awaken to the precise unique combination of the masculine and the feminine caracteristics that live in you as you and through you.

Read more…

The Summer Festival of LOVE 2015: Lines and Circles – The Inner Marriage of Masculine and Feminine2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Barbara Marx Hubbard and Marc Gafni at Agape International Spiritual Center: Loving Your Way to Enlightenment

The Center for Integral Wisdom and the Agape International Spiritual Center are proud to announce:

Barbara Marx Hubbard and Marc Gafni: Loving Your Way to Enlightenment

New Source Code Teachings On the Evolution of Love

Sunday, March 15th 2:30 – 5:30pm

$40 in advance – $45 at the door

at the Agape Sanctuary

Click here to register now.

Barbara Marx Hubbard has been called “the voice for conscious evolution of our time” by Deepak Chopra and is the subject of Neale Donald Walsch’s book “The Mother of Invention.” A prolific author of 7 books, visionary, social innovator, evolutionary thinker and educator, she is co-founder and president of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. She is the producer and narrator of the award-winning documentary series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together. As a global ambassador for the conscious evolution movement she partnered with The Shift Network and formed a team to co-produce the world-wide multi-media event entitled, “Birth 2012: Co-Creating a Planetary Shift in Time” on Dec. 22, 2012 – a historic turning-point event; awakening the social, spiritual, scientific, and technological potential of humanity.

Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, wisdom teacher, and author of ten books, including the award-winning Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment, the two-volume Radical Kabbalah, and the recently published Tears: Reclaiming Ritual, Integral Religion, and Rosh Hashana. He holds his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, rabbinic certification from the chief rabbinate in Israel, as well private rabbinic ordination. He teaches on the cutting edge of philosophy in the West, helping to evolve a new ‘dharma,’ or meta-theory of Integral meaning that is helping to re-shape key pivoting points in consciousness and culture.

Click here for further information>>>

Barbara Marx Hubbard and Marc Gafni at Agape International Spiritual Center: Loving Your Way to Enlightenment2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

“Loosening the Grip of of Your False Self”: Unique Self Coaching Program Begins Feb 28

Master Integral Coaches Barbara Alexander and Claire Molinard are offering a 12-week online Unique Self coaching program beginning February 28, 2015. This is a 6-session live-call program designed to help you learn practices that loosen the grip of False Self distortions and beliefs, and give you a strong introduction into Unique Self teachings. The program is limited to ten participants.

During the period between each bi-weekly session, you will be engaged in daily practices that progress throughout the 12-weeks. Participants from the Unique Self Coaching Collective have been very enthused about these practices for bringing a stabilized focus, clarity, awakened heart and connectedness to the higher dimensions of Being.

Fotolia_1556503_L-225x300“We believe that everyone has a unique purpose and that joy arises naturally when one lives in the reality of their unique calling as a gift to the world. This is what it means to be living as your Unique Self. Learning practices to loosen the grip of False Self will serve you throughout your life.”

Detailed Information and Registration here
“Loosening the Grip of of Your False Self”: Unique Self Coaching Program Begins Feb 282022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Intimacy 3.0 and Finding Blocks to Committed Relationships

Come join us for an intimate morning and afternoon at Pacific Coast Church 1/18/15 with Dr. Marc Gafni, Dr. Mark Schwartz, and Lori Galperin.

View the Flyer by clicking on the image for more information:

Click on the image to view the flyer or right-click and save as to download the pdf.
Intimacy 3.0 and Finding Blocks to Committed Relationships2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Virtual Community of Practitioners

Are You Ready to Step Fully into Living Your Life’s Purpose? Would you like to find out how? The next stage of human awakening is within our grasp if we make ourselves ready to be all we can be. But such evolution only happens when we invest in our growth and open ourselves to continual learning. Join our community of outrageous lovers.
There are many ways to participate and become involved with the Center for Integral Wisdom.
There are many Events throughout the year where you can become part of our Live Community.
You can Get Involved on so many levels, as a Scholar, Project Leader, or Board Member.
The easiest way to get started is through our Virtual Community of Practitioners–both through our Online Courses as well as our different Membership Levels.
Many participants of our Online Courses have reported on their intense experience of genuine community through participating in the Live Calls and the Online Forums that accompany most of our Live Online Courses as well as the recorded Evergreen Courses that we offer.

Welcome to our Virtual Community of Outrageous Lovers

We want you to become involved with the Center and our awesome Community of Outrageous Lovers. That’s why we offer a series of pathways that give you access to increasingly deeper and deeper material and enable you to actively participate in this exciting Sangha for a longer period of time.

Join Our Weekly Virtual Evolutionary Church

Join Us for Evolutionary Church

Free Content

A lot of our content is simply open for you to enjoy and dive in right away. This material gives you a good picture of who we are and what the Center is all about, so you can make up your mind and decide whether you want to get a little closer.
We offer you access to literally thousands of Media & Publications in all our different portals and sites including hundreds of Thought Leader Dialogues, phantastic Audios and Videos, as well as longer in-depths Articles, White Papers, and Book Excerpts.

Online Courses

We at the Center for Integral Wisdom offer cutting-edge courses designed to meet this moment by leading you forward on your journey. Our courses, workshops, and seminars have been designed to advance the evolution of Love in you, as you, and through you. This is the place for learning how to actualize your Unique Self, bring a World Spirituality online, and become an Outrageous Lover.

2015-12-14_Read

 

Some Testimonials of Participants of our Past Courses

Marc’ s teaching on Unique Self is radically transformative. As a long time spiritual seeker and integral practitioner, it has opened a whole new dimension of practice and learning for me. I feel empowered with a new level of commitment and inspiration to being and becoming who I am uniquely here to be and become, and – in Gafni’ s words – “to loving and healing that unique facet of the universe that only me can love and heal”. Thank you Marc for your direct transmission of this radically important teaching that feels alive and evolving in me, at the deepest of my heart of hearts.

Claire Molinard

This is a warning (albeit joyful) for anyone considering this course in the future. I confess that, as a designer and presenter of courses myself, I started with a plan to be a casual observer and with low expectations for a “by phone”, large group course. To my surprise and delight, the oh-so-rich content and artful presentation touched me and drew me in. The Wednesday calls soon became a priority. The phone technology even smoothly allowed us to work in dyads and triads with students all over the world. The weekly “extra” material on the portal was gold–it let me catch up on any missed sessions and guided my weekly practicing. A profound thanks for such excellence.

Terry Nelson

Thank you for your gift of outrageous love the past 10 weeks. Your teachings opened up my heart and empowered me to see and be my Unique gift and contribution to the world — I always thought myself as non-conformant with a twinge of guilt, but did things my way proudly anyway. It will take me many, many times to listen again and again to fully understand and apply everything you have covered. But what I absorbed, helped me understand the process of evolution and liberated me to be my Unique Self and to love outrageously. Thank you for everything.

Tess Vergara

Thank you Marc, for the passion, enthusiasm and generosity shared during your teaching. I feel seen and embraced by this community like I haven’t been for a long time. My heart is slowly melting, opening up a space for my Unique Self to shine. It is the beginning of a journey, and the most exciting one…Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Olivier Bockenmeyer

Awakening Your Unique Self has been a powerfully transformative course. Being reminded that I had forgotten feels like the first step on the road to remembering. While I still do not remember, at least now I remember that I forgot. Also there were so many powerful practices and processes that we learned that help to shed light into the darkness that surround that memory that wanting to be alive is beginning to feel like a more real possibility. Thank you Dr. Gafni and the whole wonderful Awakening Your Unique Self course community.

Judith Ain

I obey the deep yearning to express my heart-felt gratitude for the transformations in consciousness that occurred during the ten week course “Awakening to your Uniques Self” of the great master of Kabbala, Marc Gafni. A process has started in which the Uniqueness of my deepest Self revealed itself in awe and wonder, in a holding environment of an evolving community of like-minded individuals. Evolutionary growth and wisdom is what we shared, in great joy, with one another.rnI studied with many teachers before, but I never met anyone who more skillfully addressed both the psychological and spiritual nature of our being. It has been an honor and a privilege to study with Marc Gafni. In order to fully digest the richness of what has been given to us, I intend to expose myself to these teachings again! In deep gratitude I bow to our beloved teacher!

Harry de Bont

Everything about Unique Self is Unique. The teaching, the portal and the community of support and love. Often “Courses” on-line or in person fade after the conclusion, but with Awakening Your Unique Self it grows day after day. The wonder in the manner of your delivery is exquisite.
Your complete gift of story telling enriches every learning. I adore how you weave your transformative Hassidic teachings from the Baal Shem Tov into your teachings without making this a journey of religion but a journey of true spiritual enlightenment. rnrnrnI have witnessed my growth over the last ten weeks in a very profound manner.
The understanding of Unique Obligation has transformed my thinking, ethics, beliefs and behavior. It is beyond profound! The content you so generously share with the community is powerful in the reinforcement of your teachings, The videos and audios perfectly complement the journey. I feel a profound love for you Marc and a gratitude that will stay with me for the remainder of this lifetime.

Sidney Mendelson

The superb content and rendering of the weekly lectures offered by Dr. Marc Gafni also were delightfully entertaining because concepts became alive through masterful storytelling. Though at times I found myself somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume and intricacy of the material at the same time I was utterly intrigued. From week to week the core practices and assignments effectively guided us into the inner work needed to obtain greater effectiveness in the outer world. The proof really is in the pudding because now that the ten week course is coming to the end, I see and feel so clearly how I can more powerfully serve the world around me — family, community, and also the world at large. Thank you Marc and staff!

Bineke Oort

My life long search has finally found its full sense, sense that I now can and do fully and comfortably embrace. My “I” and “we” are together. My “I” includes “we” inside of me. I can look at the whole world, the whole world can look at me. One Kiss.

Brahmani Maestracci

The online Web-Community was one of the best parts of the course, and a great joy to see others like me, others who thought like me and who were commited to the spiritual path. I used this resource, sure, and gained great Soul strength from interacting and sharing with others, but I could’ve used it even more. For, as Marc Gafni likes to point out, self-help is about what I can get out of something, but Transformation is about what I can put in. The Unique Self course and teaching is helping me not just with the motivation to put in all I can, but has given me the clarity and precision to see just where I can.

Mike Dorman

Dr. Marc Gafni’s Unique Self teachings are the most profound, all embracing and powerfully transforming that I have encountered in a lifetime of intellectual and spiritual exploration East and West! Their evolutionary potency is awesome. I see them as being nothing less than a Divine transmission, a gift of Grace, emerging in our time to assist in the radical transformation of consciousness so urgently needed if we are to avert planetary catastrophe. As for Marc himself, his humour, his intellect, his scholarship, his spiritual authenticity and, above all, his fulsome embodiment of the love that is the driving force of evolution make him a living treasure and a delightful teacher.

Dr. Gillian Ross

Dear Dr. Marc Gafni, Your teachings are to me the shifting point I was looking for for a long time. The Unique Self Teachings really are not only the integration of old spiritual wisdom and modern psychology, but also the “missing link” to the possibility of mass-enlightenment – the much needed democratization of enlightenment. Your fierce love for teaching and your deep joy and enthusiasm to share your insights shine through every word of the live transmissions. I felt deeply graced by your tenderness and your clear perception of everyone in this course and on the portal.
The richness of the material provided in this course seems to be neverending – whenever I listen to one of the livecalls again, or read one of the texts again, I discover new and even deeper insights. I can’t really express in words how touched and thankful I am – you brought to my life no less than the re-connection with the Source and with my innermost, real Self. You showed me the way to let my love flow unconditionally, which means the chance to really live my life in its full meaning and potential.

And you brought together all these wonderful, lovely, warmhearted, amazing people on the portal! An international Sangha! Wow, thank you! And warm thanks to everyone of the team, it was (and is) perfect!

Johanna Roth

Virtual Community of Practitioners2022-08-01T04:40:58-07:00

Unique Self Emergence Process with Barbara Alexander & Claire Molinard

USE Logo White Background Final LargeKen Wilber’s Integral Theory integrated with the Unique Self dharma as articulated by Dr. Marc Gafni is the basis for the Unique Self Emergence Process. Its articulation of the human journey through the necessary individuation we call the separate self to the realization that we are part of the “seamless coat of the universe” to the recognition that we are each a unique expression of the Ultimate Reality provides an elegant and practical framework for growth.

The Unique Self is not a concept but a quality of presence that is embodied as we awaken to our interconnectedness and grow beyond our sense of separation. We believe it is the purpose for existence because it is from here that we can most fully offer our gifts to the world.

Researchers have given us irrefutable evidence that humans continue to grow throughout our lifetime. Spiritual teachers ancient and modern echo that truth. As our world becomes increasingly complex, it is imperative that we grow into deeper and wider stages of development in order to navigate and assist our world’s evolution.

Our desire to assist in the transformation of the world has resulted in the Unique Self Emergence Process as a powerful change technology that taps into Creative Source to engage your unique potential and facilitate its emergence as your Unique Self. Because the process facilitates getting to the heart of whom you are and how the creative impulse of Ultimate Reality wants to express through you, it has many applications. Whether you are seeking spiritual connection and development, wanting to understand why your life is no longer fulfilling or exploring your life’s purpose, this process will help.

Learn More about the Unique Self Emergence Process & Sign Up for Our Free Video Course

About Barbara and Claire

Barbara and Claire are long time spiritual practitioners who believe spiritual development is the cornerstone of human transformation. Individually we were coaching clients using the Integral Coaching approach, with an emphasis on spiritual development using the Unique Self Teachings. These teachings, offered by Marc Gafni and which Ken Wilber has called “a new key chapter in Integral Theory,” are deeply rooted in the wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions and informed by modern psychology.

When we met we embarked on a journey of developing and synthesizing our work and the Unique Self Emergence Process was born. We knew we would offer it to other professionals, who like us, believe true transformation integrates both psychology and spirituality.

Learn More about the Unique Self Emergence Process & Sign Up for Our Free Video Course

The Unique Self Emergence Facilitator Training

The Unique Self Emergence Facilitator Training is a nine month certificate program. It is designed to support change agents who wish to deepen their experience of their own Unique Self while learning a practical and elegant process rooted in the Unique Self Teachings. Upon completion of this program, participants are certified to facilitate the Unique Self Emergence Process with individuals and groups and join a collective of amazing people from diverse background – coaches, consultants, spiritual directors, therapists and body workers whose vision is to facilitate the emergence of Unique Self in men and women of all ages so they may live happier, more successful and purposeful lives in service to the world.

Unique Self Emergence Process with Barbara Alexander & Claire Molinard2023-06-19T14:53:06-07:00

“Shalom Stories” Features “Awakening As Your Unique Self” Retreat

CIW and Shalom Mountain leaders Adael Bullock, Tom Goddard, Jeff Hilliard, & Shelly Reichenbach are offering a retreat on December 4-7 that they have been developing over the past year under the guidance of Marc Gafni based on his Unique Self Dharma. This post is from Shalom Stories, a publication of Shalom Mountain Retreat Center.

Awakening As Your Unique Self –
A Shalom Mountain Retreat
December 4-7, 2014
Sandie & Gerry Rumold in Sedona, AZ

Sandie writes of her ‘Awakening’ Experience:

My journey into the Unique Self retreat began at the end of last summer as several of us were finishing up leading the couple’s intimacy camp retreat. I got a casual invitation that went out to ten folks to be included in the pilot that Tom, Adael, Jeff, and Shelly had created melding Shalom process with Marc Gafni’s teachings. Having attended many of Marc’s Wisdom School weekends at Shalom and a few brainstorming sessions with this group of leaders and Marc, I was deeply curious and in full support of what my friends were creating. The answer to the invitation was a resounding, “yes”!

The weekend turned out to be a journey into a deep and personal map of my history of wounds and life experiences that have formed the images I hold of who I am. It was fascinating to uncover some profound yet underground judgments I have held about myself for the better part of my life. It was actually kind of fun discovering it all. The remarkable part for me came as we each had our individual space with the group as witness and the guidance of one leader.

The format was similar to our beloved mat trip, but this was a new process with a clear and deliberate map to illuminate the way through the old image. What happened for me, as Tom led me through, was unexpectedly and genuinely altering. The session reached into a hard and unforgiving place in my being and broke it wide open. Tears come to my eyes months later as I remember the impact of the work. It is rare that I come away from a weekend where I feel something imperative has shifted. I call myself back to the learning again and again as I work to make it a permanent part of me.

The group of leaders set out to create process around Marc Gafni’s sangha teachings. They did a remarkable job of bringing Marc’s work into the body, psyche, and cells! I am truly and gratefully changed.

Awakening As Your Unique Self –

A Shalom Mountain Retreat

December 4-7, 2014

What would it be like to live your life as the unfolding of Love itself, refracted through the unique prism of your embodied being? This is possible, not just as a metaphor or as a reframing, but as an enactment of reality itself. In this process-based retreat, rooted in Shalom Mountain’s Skills and Principles of Loving and the Wisdom School teaching of Marc Gafni, you’ll have a chance to reweave your life’s story. Through teachings, journaling, small group exercises and individual process work, you will make the journey from the feeling of separation to the discovery of the Unique Self that you are, utterly essential to the evolution of Love.
Led By: Jeff Hilliard, Shelly Reichenbach, Tom Goddard, Adael Bullock

“Would that you could
know yourself for a time,
You will be shocked by your delight.”
~Rumi

Kai Carol Jud Writes …

“Run, don’t walk to this invitation to your evolutionary edge. The time is now!”

Mapping Consciousness for our Unique Selves

For many years, I have been awaiting a retreat that would be the next initiatory step after the Shalom Retreat. I am delighted to say that this evolutionary leap has come to Shalom Mountain. I found that Awakening as Your Unique Self was a powerful retreat, designed for those of us who are ready to move even deeper into our hearts and into the expansion and unfolding of our Unique Selves into a world that desperately needs the gift of our Unique and Outrageous Love.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the beta version of this retreat in October. Although some of the elements of this retreat may be familiar to many Shalomers, the focus and depth of this retreat were centered, not on healing the wounds, but on helping us to bring our whole being — wounds, gifts, essence and experience to a fuller embodiment of our Unique Selves. Even after years of leading Shalom Retreats, I experienced many aha moments and months later, I am still digesting.

A richly textured offering of individual, group, small group and dyadic processes helped us walk through various states of consciousness — the False Self, the True Self and the Unique Self so that we could more easily navigate our way through these new passageways. The container was safe and deep and allowed intimacy, vulnerability and fellowship to develop.

It is clear that we need each other in this new world that we are entering and that we need new tools for the challenges ahead. I left this retreat feeling that my toolbox was overflowing and that I had good companions to walk this new path with me. I am grateful to Jeff, Shelly, Tom, and Adael for inviting us to stretch into our Unique Evolutionary selves in this way.

Run, don’t walk to this invitation to your evolutionary edge. The time is now!

THE CHOICE TO LIVE FROM UNIQUE SELF instead of merely ego is the only true choice a human being ever makes. Every other choice flows from this pivotal point in a person’s life. It is in this moment, which recurs again and again at deeper levels, that you choose to say Yes or No to life. You can choose to identify with your Unique Self instead of your ego.Emerson said, “Love is the universe shouting out a joyful yes when our names are called.””Yes” is the ultimate affirmation of our integrity.The question for your existence is whether you can say “Yes” to the unique destiny and adventure that is your life. That is self-love! From the place of ego you remain perpetually unsatisfied. Located in Unique Self, everything fills you.From Marc Gafni’s Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment

Editor: Adael Bullock – Graphic Design: Rosemary Tarcza – Images were removed as links to the images were broken

“Shalom Stories” Features “Awakening As Your Unique Self” Retreat2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Embodied Eros: Board Member Kristina Kincaid Taking the Teaching to New York City

Flyer Process Group Embodied Eros 2014Board Member Dr. Kristina Kincaid and Cynthia Kagoshima are starting a new Experiental Process Group in New York City on Embodied Eros: The Path of the Outrageous Lover.

This committed group begins October 1st, 2014 and meets bi-monthly Wednesday evenings from 7-9 pm.

It is presented by our Teaching Center in New York, the Institute for Integral Evolutionary Tantra, founded a year ago by Kristina Kincaid in collaboration with teacher-in-residence and founder of CIW Dr. Marc Gafni.

For more information on the Integral Evolutionary Tantra Institute click here.

From the flyer:

Most of us assume that Eros is merely a synonym for sex. It is not. The fact that we often confuse Eros with sex informs us of how distant we are from true erotic engagement. Erotic fulfillment is reached when we expand the realm of Eros beyond the sexual to embrace all of our existence. Indeed the root of the Sanskrit word tantra: tan means “expansion”. True tantric energy expands into all realms of life.

Embodied Eros offers a unique path and practice that opens up and offers insights into how to live ecstatically by awakening our sensual self and sharing this sacred presence with others moment to moment. To be a great Lover–and Outrageous Lover in all facets of our being–we must listen deeply to the simple yet elegant whispering of the sexual.

In this experiential process group join us in mind-bending experiences, Core Energetic techniques, ecstatic study, wild goodness, deep truth, radical personal transformation–and, if you dare, the evolution of your own enlightenment.

“The Sexual is the ultimate Spiritual Master. It is the seat of all wisdom, aliveness and ethics. It models what it means to live an erotically infused life charged with purpose and meaning. The goal is to live erotically, not only in the sexual but in every dimension of life.” Marc Gafni

Dr. Kristina Kincaid is on faculty of The Institute of Core Energetics and holds an M.A. in Energy Medicine and a Doctorate in Theology from Holos University. A graduate of the Institute of Core Energetics and the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, she also holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin. Her passions include the deep mysteries of the body, genetics, and evolution. Her journey has taken her into deep explorations of the feminine and healing around sexuality. She has a healing practice in New York City.

 

Cynthia Kagoshima is a Certified Core Energetics Practitioner and runs a private practice and groups in New York City. She is also on the faculty of the Institute of Core Energetics and the Nyack Living Core Program. She specializes in how to embrace the body and the implicit wisdom and healing it has to impart. Cynthia also holds a Bachelors of Science from the University of Madison, WI. She offers her clients a variety of support mechanisms to encourage their growth and success in creating lasting shifts in their lives through customized programs and events.

Embodied Eros: Board Member Kristina Kincaid Taking the Teaching to New York City2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Integral Wisdom at Burning Man 2014

MarcGafniBurningManCampMystic2014-200x300Marc Gafni, together with Michael Ellsberg, Jennifer Russell and Robert Beinstock, organized a series of leading-edge cultural talks and panels at one of the most active Burning Man camps: Camp Mystic. This camp attracts an incredible group of well-known thought leaders, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, musicians, and healers who are dedicated to continuing to evolve themselves and the people they interact with.

This year’s theme was ”The Emergent New Story of Humanity’s Evolution”, exploring topics like futurism and where humanity is heading, the history of evolution, conscious capitalist and post capitalist economies, post modern spirituality, evolutionary relationships, conscious sexuality, new paradigms of family, sex, and relationship, new paradigms of feminine leadership, the future of masculinity and femininity, how we can build a regenerative civilization, and much more!

See full post here

You can check out the complete 2014 speaker lineup online at http://campmystic.org/events.

Integral Wisdom at Burning Man 20142023-06-19T15:56:48-07:00

Unique Self Coaching Collective Evolves

Barbara-Alexander-2013

Barbara Alexander
Master Integral Coach

A new certification program in Unique Self Coaching designed by Integral Master Coaches Barbara Alexander and Claire Molinard at the request of Marc Gafni launched its first training in June 2014 as the Unique Self Coaching Collective. The program will run over a 9-month period, with three intensive meetings and nine months of both personal coaching and supervised Unique Self Coaching of volunteer clients.

Claire Molinard

Claire Molinard
Master Integral Coach

The foundation of the training is Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory and Marc Gafni’s Unique Self dharma. The process facilitates one diving inward to clarify the front edge of their development and engaging in practices that connect to Creative Source to engage one’s unique potential and embody the stabilized emergence of Unique Self consciousness. Unique Self Coaching Collective Training Brochure 2015-16

The first participants are all experienced in varying degrees of Integral Theory and Unique Self teachings. I am profoundly delighted to be among this professionally diverse, talented and accomplished group of thoughtful and heart-expanding evolutionaries. We are collectively full of praise and gratitude for the elegant and comprehensive program designed and taught by Barbara and Claire.

Future programs are scheduled to begin in the U.S. in June 2015, and in Europe during July 2015. Claire and Barbara recently joined Marc and the amazing Venwoude community for the Summer Festival of Love in Holland. They were honored to be one of the workshop contributors and appreciated the opportunity to introduce their upcoming training to be held at Venwoude starting in July 2015.

Unique Self Coaching website
Unique Self Coaching Collective Evolves2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Excitement Builds for Summer Festival of Love – July 26 to August 2, 2014

Summer Festival Icon

Sometimes, people wait to the last minute, and then decide to jump into a major life event because of an inward pull and calling… an impulse that is not to be denied! If you are having this calling regarding our 3rd Annual Mystery School, and our 1st Annual European Integral Wisdom Conference… now is the time to act so you can be at the Summer Festival of Love at the Venwoude Integral Practice Community in Holland, the week of July 26 – August 2.

Many are still carrying the transformative “Loving Your Way to Enlightenment” vibe from the Summer Festival and Mystery School of last year… really fantastic reports of authentic growth and change. Promotional Flyer here—>

Loving Your Way to Enlightenment

Mauk Pieper, Chahat Corten and Dr Marc at the 2013 Summer Festival of LoveWith Marc Gafni leading, our previous Mystery Schools have attracted many participants from all over Europe and the Americas, contributing to the expansion of our European Center for Integral Wisdom faculty, and to a dramatic evolution of CIW teachings and workshop opportunities in the past year. The Summer Festival of Love is truly a signature event among all of the teachings for the year.

There are few spaces left… you may register here.

Register here
Excitement Builds for Summer Festival of Love – July 26 to August 2, 20142022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

The New Living Expo – Future of Spirituality Panel 2014

NLEbanner-300x295This year Marc Gafni returns to the 13th Annual New Living Expo in San Mateo, CA to join Raz Ingrazi, and Lisa Schrader, Sheva Carr, and Arjuna Ardagh on a panel called “The Future of Spirituality: Connecting Community Through Mind, Body, Spirit“.

The panel will be moderated by honored teacher and Wisdom Council member Arjuna Ardagh.

“More and more people today describe themselves as “spiritual” while at the same time turning away from the religions and traditions of the past. As we expand beyond patriarchal and dogmatic way of exploring our true nature and our deepest potential, everything is up for reexamination. What is “enlightenment,” and does it have any fixed meaning? Is spiritual practice and expression the same for men and women? Is there any real conflict between a deep spiritual life and involvement in money and the world? What is the relationship between spiritual awakening and social and political action? Are sexuality and intimate relationship a barrier to true awakening, or a portal for deepening?”

“The Future of Spirituality” panel is on Sunday, April 27 at 1-2:30pm in Room 7.

The New Living Expo is a weekend event from event held April 25-27th at the San Mateo Event Center (1346 Saratoga Drive).

We hope you’ll come by for this important conversation!

For over 25 years the New Living Expo has brought healing, enlightenment, education and wonder to the San Francisco Bay Area. The Expo draws learners, changers and explorers of alternative thinking and being. The 10,000+ crowd is diverse, engaged, and looking for new and different products and businesses to support their innovative thinking and lifestyles.

The New Living Expo – Future of Spirituality Panel 20142022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Dharma Jam Outrageous Acts of Love – Apr 19, 2014

Dharma_InviteTbird Luv and Dr. Marc Gafni have teamed up in the creation of a new series of Dharma Party events, during which she and Marc bring dharma, music, empowerment and outrageous calls to action to awesome crowds of movers and shakers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Some of you may know board member Tbird Luv from some of the Center’s events over the past year (such as the 2013 World Spirituality retreat at Esalen, and the SF Dharma Circles), where she has brought her unique music to Dr. Marc Gafni‘s teachings, and her collaborative brilliance to other projects with the Center.

A Dharma Party is Not just another event that leaves behind GREAT memories. Instead, those present have a chance to get inspired, and to strategically design the future with aligned relationships and projects that have the potential to make the world a better place.

Here is the invitation to the 2nd Dharma Party – coming up next week on April 19 which was sent to a list of Bay Area locals who attended the 1st one. If you want to be invited to this Dharma Party – or any of the next ones! – let us know here. We want you there!

Knock Knockdharmaparty1.7

Are you coming to the next Dharma Jam Outrageous Love Hub April 19th 7pm sharp? We’ve got more work and play to do together.

These last months, Marc Gafni and I have poured energy into creating a platform for you and us to co-creatively establish MORE outrageous acts of love in response to the pain happening in the world.

Three months ago we joined with over 100 of The Bay area’s finest in social innovation, social justice, technology and business, the performing and healing arts and spirituality – to start the conversation of collaboratively building a beautiful world together.

dharmaparty1.3

Tbird Luv & Dr. Marc Gafni
Photos courtesy of Lily Dong

We ate, drank wine, listened to great music and reflected on our purpose through the transmission of dharma.

What’s Next?

What to Expect on April 19th:

Like I mentioned in January, the Outrageous Acts of Love Dharma Parties are dedicated to and created for folks like you doing amazing work in the world.

It is an INVITE ONLY private gathering. Be prepared to meet – face to face – in real depth – at least twenty NEW Dynamic PEOPLE who – if you so choose and delight – might become your partners, sacred collaborators, your outrageous love cohort. This will also be a celebration and more than just a good time.

We will make sure that you will have plenty of time to network, get your groove on, shine your radiance and get to know who’s in the room.

With an element of surprise, this will Not be just another event that leaves behind GREAT memories. Instead, you’ll have a chance to get inspired and strategically design the future with aligned relationships and projects that make the world a better place – if you so choose.

Outcomes of This Event Include:

  • To self organize and establish working partnerships
  • To instigate collaborations between aligned partners, players and participants under the umbrella of Dharma
  • To create viral Outrageous Acts of Love Globally
  • To experiment and explore creative ideas between us
  • To Play and have FUN together

More organic tapas and drinks, live music will be provided for your pleasure. We’re also building an online presence for those of you of who’d like to continue to find one another, communicate and create.

Here’s a video clip from the 1st Dharma Party in January, 2014:

See you on the 19th.

PS…you are absolutely welcomed to bring guests and invite those who feel aligned with this magic.

Big Love,

Tbird Luv, Marc Gafni and The Center for Integral Wisdom

Dharma Jam Outrageous Acts of Love – Apr 19, 20142022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

2014 Summer Festival with Mystery School and 1st European Integral Wisdom Conference on Love, Eros, and Enlightenment

Discover the hidden secrets that can guide YOU and millions of people in finding Love, Personal Greatness and Enlightenment.
We feel great Potential inside us. Many people are Seekers, but very few bring their true Potential into embodied reality.

Everybody is looking but so few find it. It is a dream unfulfilled.

It’s a yearning, we can imagine it, we can feel it, we can taste it, but we just don’t know how to get there!

WHY do we keep missing the point?

We are approaching the essence of our Fullness through the ‘wrong’ door. We have exiled the most important access point to our power, to our aliveness, to our intelligence, through just one aspect of our Being.

‘You try to squeeze light into your parched Being from a source as fruitful as a dried date pit, that even a bird is wise enough to spit out,’ is what the Sufi poet Hafiz tells us.

Let’s explain what we mean!

There is something so obvious, so powerful and so close to us that we overlook it completely. Even when we tell you what it is, you’ll hesitate because there is a huge veil of cultural misinformation around it.

By itself, this quality wants to nourish all parts of our lives! But if we narrow it down, if we exile it into one part of our life, it will show up as a shadow quality causing a lot of pain in our world.

It is EROS that is the power that drives and nurtures our whole society, and indeed, our very existence.

Eros contains all of the wisdom, all of the power, all of the intelligence, all of the strategy, all of the capacity that you need to live a successful, meaningful, alive, and gorgeous existence.

Eros is not just in the sexual! Eros being interpreted as only about sexuality is a profound misinterpretation, and when we stay stuck in that narrow definition, it limits our life force and creativity, blocking us from leading an inspiring and successful life!

Saying ‘My life is very erotic’ is not the most obvious way to express the fact that you have an inspiring and successful life!

Eros is not just an expression of limited physical sex. Eros is the core nature of every moment of reality. LIFE ITSELF IS EROTIC! Reality itself is erotic!

We need to liberate Eros from its exile to the sexual, and thus liberate its energy for us to experience in ALL aspects of our lives!!

It is the Liberation of Eros that is our purpose at the Mystery School of Love this summer in Holland, July 26 to August 2.

This summer…

…God – Goddess Willing…

…our Mystery School of Love will have two hundred Seekers

reclaiming Eros from exile, expanding their capacity for Love, Creativity and Success in Purposeful Living.

We are going to…

with the Grace of She…

…change the source code of Eros in the heart of the Kosmos.

We will be… with total humility and total audacity… loving each other outrageously… a think tank on the outside… and a band of outrageous lovers in our interiors!!

Those of you who know Marc know that he likes to call this…

“A vision of the patterns that connect, that catalyzes the evolution of love.”

Marc Gafni:

‘We will engage Pleasure and Eros in a whole different way.

We will move beyond shame in a way that works across the memetic code.

Or as I said to beloved Ken Wilber, summarizing our dialogue this week on Integral Sexuality:

“What is shame but pleasure which stops short of infinity?”

Or as one master said about fear, “What is fear but love that stops short of infinity?”

And… This will be the first European Annual Integral Wisdom Conference … Wow!!!!

We are honored to invite YOU to the
3rd Summer Festival of LOVE!

And the First Annual European Integral Wisdom Conference on
Love, Eros, and Enlightenment.
July 26th – August 2 at the Venwoude Retreat Center in the Heart of Europe
The first two years of our International Festival of Love, at the wonderful Venwoude Integral Practice Community in Holland, were so surprisingly alive, deep and groundbreaking, that we cannot continue our journey without letting YOU know what we are up to this year. We are especially inviting you, being in one way or the other part of the Integrally informed Community.

The Festival of Love has grown from 80 to 150 participants and now we are ready and prepared to hold 200 people. Without exaggeration we can say that the Field of Love and Holding that emerges from this Festival is profound. People reported after both events that they experienced deep states of awakening that lasted for weeks and/or a profound deepening of their insight.
Start each day with the morning practice of your choice: yoga, mondozen meditation, breath work and bodywork, if you want to start your day energetic. Or take a quiet walk by yourself in our stunning woodlands.

The combination of deep Dharmic space, opened in the morning and held by Master of the Heart Dr.Marc Gafni, a variety of great workshops, with great teachers in the afternoon, an invitation to exercise in pairs during the day, has in the passed two years been the great igniting force to an open heart, a clear mind and a natural flow of love among all that are joining.

The night-times will also come alive and will be high energy experiences created by dance-master Kareem, the rhythmic kick-ass-Tom-Baur-Band, musicians, artists and DJ’s. (A new special event will take place on several evenings which we want to keep a surprise for you!)

Add to this, small family gatherings, the possibility of individual sessions, massages, a hot tub, awesome and healthy organic food, beautiful nature, dance parties and musical events!

Don’t miss being part of this once a year International Summer Event of the Mystery School of Love.

Information and Registration

(Early bird until May 1st)

2014 Summer Festival with Mystery School and 1st European Integral Wisdom Conference on Love, Eros, and Enlightenment2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Special Community Lineage Days at Venwoude and Conscious Capitalism Event at Nijenrode University

We just completed a very special series of events at our Teaching Center at Venwoude in Holland. Dr. Marc Gafni taught two Valentine’s Day events in a very beautiful church in Amsterdam. This was followed by a wonderful and very intimate two-day retreat at Venwoude on Saturday and Sunday. Capping off the 4-day weekend, we had an outstanding presentation at Nijenrode University on Conscious Capitalism with Prof. Dr. Paul de Blot, Dr. Marc Gafni, and Ken Wilber (via Skype) in front of 150 enthused Entrepreneurs.

Valentine’s Day at Vondelkerk Amsterdam

Marc Gafni at Vondelkerk AmsterdamA packed house of people celebrated Valentine’s Day in an old beautiful Church in Amsterdam with Dr. Marc’s Dharma on Outrageous Love. It was a day of profound new dharma, deep practices, and a stunning community of Outrageous Lovers. Dr. Marc took us deeply into a practice space with dyad practices, chanting, and intimate sharing. The evening session seemed to explode–after a very quiet and subtle beginning with hearts meeting in Chant and Meditation and finally and melting open into the Inside of the Inside–with a fireworks of Dharma on Outrageous Love and Unique Intimacy.

Everybody was deeply touched, and many decided to join us for the upcoming Summer Festival of Love at Venwoude…from July 26th to August 2nd, 2014…that this year will also be the First Annual Integral Wisdom Conference on Relationships and Sexuality.

Two days of deep immersion into the “Lineage Energies”

Marc Gafni in the Venwoude LibraryThe following weekend was our first annual lineage event at the Venwoude retreat center who is our deep partner and where Marc serves as the World Spirituality Teacher in Residence. We dialed in directly to the source lineage of Unique Self teaching in two intimate and intense days of teaching. Our group practice was held in a very special and sacred place: the Library at the heart of Venwoude, which was packed and vibrantly intimate as Marc immersed us in Story-Telling, Lineage Practices and Chant–drawing especially from the Lineages of Hebrew Mysticism, Kabbalah, and Chassidim.

As one participant, Claire Molinard, posted a couple of days later on Facebook: “I am still basking in the sacred space of lineage transmission from these two magic days in Venwoude. Deep bow and gratitude to Marc Mordechai Gafni and all the wonderful people at Venwoude International.”

Conscious Capitalism at Nijenrode University with Prof. Dr. Paul de Blot, Dr. Marc Gafni, and Ken Wilber (per Skype)

Marc Gafni, Mauk Pieper & Paul de Blot at Nijenrode University

Marc Gafni, Mauk Pieper & Paul de Blot at Nijenrode University

This week of European teaching was then capped with a shockingly outstanding evening in a packed auditorium at Nijenrode Business University, Hollands leading business school. The event featured two fabulous talks by Ken Wilber and Marc Gafni. Ken gave a brilliant talk on the nature of Integral business which was met by wildly enthusiastic intellectual and emotional appreciation by all of the participants. It was a landmark talk which is sure to set a new standard for this conversation world over.

The event was hosted by 89-year-old Business Sage Prof. Dr. Paul de Blot. Marc referred to him as –a true “living Master Yoda”, honoring his life’s work of establishing in Holland the entire field of Business & Spirituality and writing about it long before anybody had ever thought about Conscious Capitalism. The event started with more dramatic Dharma fireworks by Dr. Marc Gafni. Drawing connections, engaging hearts and minds, and quoting freely from at least 20 different books while always bringing it back to the core questions he asked passionately: “Who are you? And are you willing to play a larger game?” A strong and resounding “YES,” completely shook the room!

Marc then outlined ten core principles of what he called “outrageous entrepreneurship” which completely re-defined the role of the entrepreneur in the modern world. Marc gave enormous honor to Paul De Blot, to John Mackey and Raj Sisosdia’s work on Conscious Capitalism, and to Ken Wilber and his vision of Integral theory. What was really beautiful was the significant personal honor that Marc gave to all of three of them before launching into his talk. Building upon their work, Marc then gave a stunningly original and ground breaking talk which pretty much left everyone speechless. Prof. de Blot then gave a wonderful talk and presented his meta-perspective on the evolution of consciousness. In the following Question & Answer session, Marc again warmly expressed full honor to Prof. de Blot, and added his own perspectives.

The evening ended with a question about the dangers and opportunities of the Internet. Dr. Marc gave a brief introduction to his newly formed ideas on Digital Intimacy (Stay tuned to our new Portal and Project!) that he is developing together with the amazing Embodied artist Megwyn White – followed by standing ovations and then networking with wine and snacks in a wonderfully open atmosphere. Professor de Blot and Dr. Marc expressed their deepest thanks to Mauk Pieper, Director for Integral Wisdom Europe, for organizing this wonderful day. Thank you, Mauk!

Special Community Lineage Days at Venwoude and Conscious Capitalism Event at Nijenrode University2022-07-06T03:20:15-07:00

Inner Student Circle

Step into the Heart of the Center for Integral Wisdom Translineage Practice…

The future of our world depends on the great realization of love: that which unites us is infinitely greater then that which divides us. For the first time in the history of the human race, we are able to rise beyond the place of our birth, our religion of origin, our family circle and choose to live our highest truth. This truth transcends and includes all of our personal history even as it invites us to our singular and unique evolutionary destiny.

The Spiritual teaching for this age must be drawn from all of the great traditions of Spirit, pre-modern, modern, and post-modern. These great understandings must be lovingly integrated into a space of open heart, community and insight that has the power and the compassion to guide us on the next stage of our personal and global journey.

We live in an intimate Universe.

Every single pore of you is loved and accepted in Love.

Every single corner of you is actually seen in Love.

Every corner of you is held and witnessed in Love.

Every part of you is spoken to and addressed in Love.

Dr. Marc Gafni

This message from the Universe itself most of us can receive…… on a good day.

When the days are not so good, for most of us doubt kicks in and depending on the level of training and practice we have done, we are able to hold ourselves and deal with these hard and often lonely moments….
Stepping into private study with Marc is giving your self the actual experience that the message above, gets incarnate in human form and takes place in a chair next to you. From there a holy, total personal supportive loving relationship is being build.

In private study Marc offers a deep lineage transmission together with a deeply personal supportive loving relationship that addresses ALL of YOU.

In this context you will open up and also ground levels of Your Unique Greatness and Your Unique Brilliance that are beyond your imagination.

Do you hold big dreams, do you want to embody a big vision? (And big dreams and big visions can be public and can be private.)

What you bring down into this world is not only for you, it is evolving the very source code of all our lives.

In working and studying with Dr. Marc Gafni you will be both lovingly, totally challenged and lovingly, totally held at the same time as the most epic version of yourself.

Marc’s brilliant mind, his creativity and his deep heart are actually totally at your disposal.

You can totally use of all he has to offer for the creation of your deep dreams, which are in fact the dreams of our world.

Give yourself the best!

Chahat Corten

The lineage is transmitted by a lineage master.

The term means different things in different traditions. We use it to mean someone who not only knows, but also has absorbed into and incarnated in their being, the wisdom of his or her lineage. This does not suggest that a lineage master is perfect or incapable of making mistakes.

It in no way suggests you give over your personal authority and responsibility for your life to your teacher.

What it does suggest is a passionate commitment to love, truth, courageous transformation, unflinching integrity, ruthless honesty that is demanding and forgiving, even as it merges with unending compassion, selfless service, wide and deep mind and heart.

It also suggests a mastery of levels of inner depth, wisdom, meaning and heart, which the teacher– with all of his heart and mind – is committed to gifting to you.

Much as some of the classic traditions, Dr. Marc has accepted a group of students.

Unlike those traditions, Dr. Marc will both give genuine transmission as a teacher even as he co-creates with his autonomous students, a study track that meets their unique needs of heart, body and mind.

We reject for our community the image of the teacher as Guru even as we reject for our community the image of teacher as pal or buddy, who just happens to be teaching.
In our community we believe that the teachers must incarnate both Spiritual attainment, humility, willingness to own mistakes made, a commitment to constant deepening, giving over of his life fully to the Mystery, profound natural Spiritual authority, profound respect for his students autonomy, coupled with radical delight at all he can learn from his students. This dialectical balance requires a profound and mature autonomous student who can both be a student and master at the same moment.

You absolutely can be a full practitioner in a particular lineage and study with a particular teacher AND be a full Trans-lineage Path student at the same time.

The Sacred Teacher Student Covenant: Privilege and Responsibility

  1. The student commits to purify and open their heart and mind to receive mind and heart transmission.
  2. The teacher commits to purify and open his heart to give heart and mind transmission.
  3. The teacher will own his Spiritual responsibility and authority even as the student owns his Spiritual responsibility and autonomy.
  4. Teacher and student recognize both the fixed nature and the fluidity of their roles. A deep commitment to honor and uphold the teacher is taken on by the student even as the teacher commits to guide, honor and love the student.
Inner Student Circle2022-08-01T04:36:51-07:00

Daily Wisdom: From the Holy of Holies: The Pain of Intimacy

From Shalom Mountain Wisdom School teaching by Dr. Marc Gafni. Transcribed by Adael Bullock.

Photo by Julie M. Daley

Photo by Julie M. Daley

Divinity is not only the infinity of power; divinity is the infinity of pain.  It is the infinity of tears.  Divinity at its core is the infinity of intimacy. The infinity of intimacy feels your pain and doesn’t relegate it to separate self.  Is there part of your pain and my pain and all of our pain that comes from an obsessive grasping in the realm of separate self?  Of course.  Is that unnecessary pain?  Of course.  And can we liberate from that pain by awakening?  Of course. That doesn’t end the story of pain.  That ends the unnecessary pain in the world.  But then, there is the legitimate and the real pain that comes with being incarnate.  That is where the Christ consciousness got it better than the Buddhist consciousness.  The Christ consciousness didn’t say there is no pain; the Christ consciousness said, I die for your sins.  That is a very different move.  That is not the same spiritual move.  One is, “life is suffering” because your mind is fucked up, so unfuck your mind, and you will not suffer – the 4 Noble Truths.  The second is, suffering is so fucking intense, there is nothing you can do, so I am going to die for you.

The real way to integrate it is you bring both together.  This is gorgeous.  The world spirituality ninja move is, on the one hand, True Self.  You actually realize True Self, and you know that you can deconstruct the illusion of a grasping separate self as being the fullness of your identity and actually realize your identity as True Self, as Christ awake and alive in you.  When Christ awakens and lives in you, then you participate in the infinity of intimacy.  You become Christ.  As you awaken, you take the pain and joy of the world unto you, your own pain recedes.  As you awaken as Christ, you don’t awaken as a neutral True Self, you awaken as Christ, you awaken with your own ability to feel the infinite pain and joy of the world. When you reach out to hold someone’s hand, your own suffering recedes.  You wake up.

You wake up–not as No Self. You wake up as Christ, as a living, breathing, pulsing source of divine love and compassion, radical empathy, radical intimacy, radical caring, radical eros, awake, alive in you, and you feel AS Elijah, AS Bodhisattva, the full pain, joy and grace of the world coursing through you. And all of a sudden, your own wounds, they are in this much larger context.  You own wounds, the fact that your father abused you, and your mother did not let you leave the light on by the bed is all real.  When you actually take those wounds into the larger context of your own Christ consciousness, those wounds assume a different place, and they begin to melt, to dissipate, in the infinite Christ consciousness that is awake and alive in you.

Quote transcribed and edited by Adael Bullock from the 2013 Shalom Mountain Wisdom School.

10362_563571473686712_1875177207_nElizabeth Helen Adael Bullock is a Center for Integral Wisdom Senior Editor and empowered Senior Teacher of Unique Self. Adael has been trained in Introductory and Advanced Shalom Retreat Leadership Process. She has also completed training in Tantra, 5 Rhythms, Insight and Metta meditation, creative writing, and Integral Theory. Adael is currently editing the CIW think-tank book Teachings from the Holy of Holies: Daily Reflections on World Spirituality.

View Marc Gafni’s books on Amazon.com.
Daily Wisdom: From the Holy of Holies: The Pain of Intimacy2022-07-06T03:20:16-07:00
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