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Story, Religion, and Mormonism | True North Project #57 with Christian Dokstader

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni featured on the True North Podcast with Christian Dokstader

Join Christian Dokstader in conversation with Dr. Marc Gafni.

  • Marc Gafni is a writer, philosopher, and co-president of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion.
  • His written dozens of books, including: A Return to Eros, Soul Prints, Your Unique Self, and The Erotic and the Holy.
  • This episode is the beginning of a deep conversation into a radically new story for humanity.
  • If you come from a Mormon story, this episode is especially for you.

Stay Curious, Christian Las Vegas, NV

FIRST PRINCIPLES AND FIRST VALUES

Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come

by David J. Temple

AS THE META-CRISIS DEEPENS, THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION AND HUMANITY HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

First Principles and First Values is the tip of the spear in the fight for a humane future. Establishing frameworks for a new school of thought called CosmoErotic Humanism, the book is built around forty-two propositions that provide new source code for the future of planetary culture.

Like Europe in the early Renaissance, humanity is in a time between worlds, at a time between stories. First Principles and First Values contains blueprints for the bridge needed to cross from this world to the next.

“The position argued for in this book is of vital importance . . . it needs urgently to be read.”
IAIN McGILCHRIST, author of The Master and His Emissary

Order Here

Story, Religion, and Mormonism | True North Project #57 with Christian Dokstader2024-09-22T20:25:24-07:00

From Crisis to Crossing: A New Story For A New Humanity ft. Marc Gafni

Enjoy this documentary with Dr. Marc Gafni created in collaboration with Aubrey Marcus and the Unique Self Institute

Documentary with Dr. Marc Gafni

In collaboration with Aubrey Marcus and the Unique Self Institute

In Dr. Gafni and Dr. Stein’s language: “We stand at a pivotal moment in history – a time between worlds and a time between stories  – poised between dystopia and utopia.” To bridge the gap between our external technologies and internal narratives of identity and purpose, every human and every epoch of humanity must evolve responses to three essential questions, what we refer to as the three great questions of CosmoErotic Humanism: “Who? Where? And What?”

Who am I? and Who are we?

Where am I? and Where are we?

What ought I do? and What ought we do?

In a profound analysis of our current meta-crisis and what he calls the “global intimacy disorder,” Dr. Marc Gafni draws from what he refers to as “the exterior and interior sciences” to deepen our responses to these three questions. The responses offer a new understanding of the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, and generate the beginning of “a universal grammar of value as a context for our diversity.”

“A universal grammar of value is grounded in eternal yet evolving First Principles and First Values, which are inherent in the Intimate Universe, in which we all participate. A new grammar articulates a potent Story of intrinsic Value, with the poignancy and power to respond to the meta-crisis. At the core of this Story of Value, called CosmoErotic Humanism, is a new narrative of identity, both personal and collective. Principles of Unique Self and Unique Self Symphony contribute to the shaping of a shared reality that is flawed and human, filled with holy and broken Hallelujahs. Yet, that Reality reaches insistently towards better tomorrows that are suffused with ever-deepening Eros and ethos, kindness, and creativity.”

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FIRST PRINCIPLES AND FIRST VALUES

Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come

by David J. Temple

AS THE META-CRISIS DEEPENS, THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION AND HUMANITY HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

First Principles and First Values is the tip of the spear in the fight for a humane future. Establishing frameworks for a new school of thought called CosmoErotic Humanism, the book is built around forty-two propositions that provide new source code for the future of planetary culture.

Like Europe in the early Renaissance, humanity is in a time between worlds, at a time between stories. First Principles and First Values contains blueprints for the bridge needed to cross from this world to the next.

“The position argued for in this book is of vital importance . . . it needs urgently to be read.”
IAIN McGILCHRIST, author of The Master and His Emissary

Order Here

From Crisis to Crossing: A New Story For A New Humanity ft. Marc Gafni2024-08-30T09:32:04-07:00

The Dysfunction We Are Experiencing in Birth, Death, and Medicine – with Hebrew Mystic Dr. Marc Gafni

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni featured on The Holistic OBGYN Podcast with Nathan Riley

Join Nathan Riley in conversation with Dr. Marc Gafni.

In Nathan’s voice:

The Episode was made possible by Immune Intel AHCC® & WeNatal

I don’t think I have prepared for any interview as hard as I prepared for this one. My guest today is Marc Gafni, former rabbi, Hebrew mystic, and author of a number of books, most notably “A Return to Eros”, “Your Unique Self”, and his most recent book, “First Principles and First Values: Forty-Two Propositions on Cosmoerotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come”. I recommend you take his writing in through small sips versus trying to binge any of them on a weekend. They are potent.

In this conversation, we discuss:

  • The Divine Feminine and how the world’s religions have got it wrong how the comparison of masculine and feminine is fraught with disastrous outcomes
  • Postmodernity and the evolution of love and a new grammar of value through which a shared story of value can be developed in order to solve the world’s problems
  • Shame as the root of all evil and how a new sexual narrative – the sex erotic – is the only “cure” for shame
  • The importance of these principles in addressing the myriad of issues that plague maternity care worldwide
  • Limitations within the work of Jordan Peterson, Yuval Harari, Wilhelm Reich, and even Brené Brown

Brace yourself…you are entering the complex mind and heart of Marc Gafni… Visit the show notes for more: https://www.belovedholistics.com/blog…

Connect with Marc:

Website: https://worldphilosophyandreligion.or…

LinkedIn:   / drmarcgafni  

Instagram:   / marcgafni  

X:   / marcgafni  

TikTok:   / drmarcgafni  

Facebook:   / drmarcgafni  

Learn about Marc’s work:

Free Unique Self Mini-Course: https://www.uniqueselfinstitute.com/t…

Unique Self-Emergence Training Program: https://www.uniqueselfinstitute.com/p…

Free Weekly Broadcast with Dr. Marc Gafni: https://www.onemountainmanypaths.org/

References and Links from the show:

Marc’s books:

A Return to Eros: The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive: https://amzn.to/3x4JQyO

Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment: https://amzn.to/3WYm4iA

The Erotic And The Holy: Kabbalistic Tantra for Everyday Living: https://amzn.to/3R2wWbs

Join Marc in Holland for 5-Day Intensive Mystery School, April 28 to May 2, 2024, at erosmysteryschool.com

First Principles and First Values: Forty-Two Propositions on Cosmoerotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come: https://amzn.to/3V2tPS0

FIRST PRINCIPLES AND FIRST VALUES

Forty-Two Propositions on CosmoErotic Humanism, the Meta-Crisis, and the World to Come

by David J. Temple

AS THE META-CRISIS DEEPENS, THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION AND HUMANITY HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

First Principles and First Values is the tip of the spear in the fight for a humane future. Establishing frameworks for a new school of thought called CosmoErotic Humanism, the book is built around forty-two propositions that provide new source code for the future of planetary culture.

Like Europe in the early Renaissance, humanity is in a time between worlds, at a time between stories. First Principles and First Values contains blueprints for the bridge needed to cross from this world to the next.

“The position argued for in this book is of vital importance . . . it needs urgently to be read.”
IAIN McGILCHRIST, author of The Master and His Emissary

Order Here

The Dysfunction We Are Experiencing in Birth, Death, and Medicine – with Hebrew Mystic Dr. Marc Gafni2024-08-30T08:47:00-07:00

The Hidden Wisdom of the Temple Solomon Recovered w/ Rabbi Dr. Marc Gafni and Aubrey Marcus

What is the wisdom of the Temple of Solomon that has been hidden for over 3000 years?

The Hebrew Wisdom sage, leading world philosopher, my teacher, Dr. Marc Gafni, has been on a quest to decipher these texts like the Da Vinci Code, and the evolution of the secrets revealed may be exactly what is necessary to deliver us from the existential threats we face today.  

For more on the wisdom from the Solomon lineage, and a deeper understanding of the CosmoErotic Universe, check out the book: ⁠A Return to Eros by Marc Gafni and Kristina Kincaid. 

Time Stamps:

00:00– Intro

2:00– The Lineage Of The Temple Of Solomon

17:00– Totalitarianism, Invisible Controllers, AI, Dystopia

41:12– Downloading The Temple Of Solomon

1:05:33– Understanding Eros More Deeply

1:17:50– Desire, Will, & The Name Of God

1:33:53– The Feminine Desire & Pleasure

1:40:55– Paganism, Eros And Ethics

1:53:34– What Actions Can We Take?

The Hidden Wisdom of the Temple Solomon Recovered w/ Rabbi Dr. Marc Gafni and Aubrey Marcus2023-12-06T05:29:26-08:00

The Journey to CosmoErotic Humanism: Mini-Series with Layman Pascal and Dr. Marc Gafni

In this new mini-series, Layman Pascal talks with Marc Gafni about an emerging model he is developing together with Zak Stein and others, which they call CosmoErotic Humanism.

We will be adding to this post whenever new dialogues are being published. So, come back and scroll down for the most recent episode.

Episode 1: Certainty & Uncertainty

For episode one, Layman and Marc discuss the origins of this project, and Marc’s work on exploring and unfolding a model of Certainty and Uncertainty for addressing the meaning crisis, grounding moral value, and wrestling with perennial theodicies.

Episode 2: Soul Prints

For episode two, Layman and Marc discuss the concept of Soul Prints, the origin of the notion of the Unique Self; the importance of story and spiritual autobiography; the issue of working appropriately with boundaries; and towards the end of the conversation they begin to open up the question of evil and shadow in relation to the Unique Self.

Episode 3: Eros

For episode three, Layman and Marc discuss the concept of Eros, its understanding and role in esoteric Judaism, its connections to evolutionary spirituality, the uniqueness and irreducibility of desire, and much more.

The Journey to CosmoErotic Humanism: Mini-Series with Layman Pascal and Dr. Marc Gafni2023-11-01T04:55:32-07:00

Love or Die: A Conversation Series with Dr. Marc Gafni Hosted by Andrew Sweeny

This Series Is Hosted in Partnership with the Parallax Academy and the Unique Self Institute

We are adding to this post whenever there is a new dialogue. So come back and scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the most recent dialogue.

Also, if you sign up for our newsletter, you will be notified when there is a new dialogue coming up, and you can be there live.

Love or Die #1: The Global Intimacy Disorder and CosmoErotic Humanism

The first of a monthly series of discussions, Love or Die, in which Marc elaborates on what he has called the Global Intimacy Disorder and CosmoErotic Humanism. How can we rewrite the source code of the present epoch and create a New Story? The stakes are high. It’s Love or Die!

Love or Die #2: Radical Kabbalah

The stakes are high. It’s Love or Die! This week we delve into Hebrew Wisdom and Radical Kabbalah.

Love or Die #3: The Meta-Crisis, Hebrew Wisdom, and AI

The 3rd of a monthly series of discussions, Love or Die, in which Marc and Andrew discuss the meta-crisis, Hebrew Wisdom, and AI.

Love or Die #4: Sabbatai Sevi Part 1

In this passionate conversation, Marc speaks the unspeakable: about Sabbatai Sevi, the Hebrew Wisdom Messiah, and his wife Sara. Where sex and Eros meet religion and the clarification of desire.

Love or Die #5: Sabbatai Sevi Part 2

In part 2 of this passionate conversation, Marc speaks the unspeakable: about Sabbatai Sevi, the Hebrew Wisdom Messiah, and his wife Sara, where sex and Eros meet religion and the clarification of desire.

Love or Die #6: The Tree of Life Part 1

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the first Sephirot, Keter, the crown.

Love or Die #7: The Tree of Life Part 2

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 2nd and 3rd Sephirot: Chokhmah and Binah.

Love or Die #8: The Tree of Life Part 3

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 4th and 5th Sephirot: Chesed and Gevurah.

Love or Die #9: The Tree of Life Part 4

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 6th Sephirot: Tiferet.

Love or Die #10: The Tree of Life Part 5

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 7th and 8th Sephirot: Hod and Nezach.

Love or Die #11: The Tree of Life Part 6 – Yesod

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 9th Sephirot: Yesod.

Love or Die #12: The Tree of Life Part 7 – Malkuth

Andrew questions Marc about the famous Tree of Life and the ten Sephirot in Hebrew Kabbalah. An introduction and a radical interpretation. And a discussion on the 10th Sephirot: Malkuth.

Love or Die: A Conversation Series with Dr. Marc Gafni Hosted by Andrew Sweeny2024-07-05T07:06:45-07:00

Evolutionary Funeral: Aubrey Marcus’s Father Died – The Blessing of the Father

This is what Aubrey says about this dialogue:

On Saturday March 25, I discovered that my dad had died.

As the intimate universe would have it, the tender and powerful @marcgafni (a Rabbi turned CosmoErotic Humanist mystic) was with me when my father was discovered.

After four days of us sitting shiva house in mourning and celebration of the passing of my dad, I am utterly in awe. These days have been some of the most magical, miraculous, painful, and beautiful days of my life.

This podcast may be the most important and vulnerable thing I have ever offered. It’s what Michael Phillips Marcus would have wanted.

Marc and I have been combining all of our human tenderness with elements of our respective mastery to co-create an evolutionary week of mourning, celebration, and ceremony. While many aspects of the Hebrew shiva tradition have been maintained, the practice has been evolved and adapted for this unique situation to include shamanic medicine ceremonies and the psychotech of the Shabbat table.

Ultimately the purpose of this is to evoke the blessing of the father, and to assist him in his journey into wholeness in the life beyond life. And then to open source this process to the community and the world.

This live stream conversation … is both intensely personal and universal, raw, and refined. It is the highest blessing to my father, that his passing is bringing the deepest revealing connections with everyone who knew and loved him, and that hopefully these stories and the wisdom they contain will touch some of you.

The Blessing of the Father Part 1

The Blessing of the Father Part 2

Evolutionary Funeral: Aubrey Marcus’s Father Died – The Blessing of the Father2023-10-03T03:53:07-07:00

Evolutionary Spirituality: Towards an Engaged Evolutionary Mysticism – Dr. Marc Gafni & Andrew Cohen in Video Dialogue

Evolutionary Spirituality: Towards an Engaged Evolutionary Mysticism

Arguably our most significant interpretive framework for the nature of reality is the modern scientific discovery that the world and the universe are not, as the ancients believed, static or cyclical. The universe, and everything in it, is evolving. Cosmic and biological evolution are foundational truths of existence, and the implications are profound and multi-dimensional, extending outwards in every direction. In the 21st century, the context for any path or practice of enlightenment must surely embrace this knowledge and perspective. It is perhaps the most important shift in our understanding of enlightenment in the 2500 years since the Buddha first attained it.

Andrew Cohen and Dr. Marc Gafni are pioneers in the field of evolutionary spirituality, each with their own unique perspective on this newly emergent tradition. They share a strong foundation in an evolutionary approach to spiritual awakening, while emphasising distinctly different but intersecting dimensions of the path and practice. Both Marc and Andrew have produced pioneering bodies of work in this field, and formulated many of its core tenets. Their teachings uphold and demystify the foundational principles of traditional, modern and postmodern wisdom streams, weaving them together into an integral whole, and ultimately pointing toward a new evolutionary mysticism – what might even be considered a “religion of tomorrow”.

The aim of these dialogues is to celebrate the creative and dynamic evolutionary tension between these two perspectives – to catalyse awakening to higher states and stages of consciousness, giving rise to liberating insights and life-affirming perspectives in a unique tapestry of coherence and meaning, and an inspiring example of emergent spirituality in action.

Enjoy the Series HERE (and Come Back for More)

Episode 1

Episode 2: Evolutionary Relationships

From the Invitation by Dr. Marc Gafni to Episode 2: Evolutionary Relationships

I am wildly excited to, for the first time in a public forum, engage in an in-depth discussion with my dear friend and colleague Andrew Cohen on what the evolution of relationships – which is the evolution of intimacy, which is the evolution of love – means in our time.

  • What is the future of relationships?
  • What is an evolutionary relationship?
  • What do we mean by what we call a whole-mate relationship?
  • What is the place of romantic relationships?
  • What is the place of shared creativity in a relationship?
  • What are our new models for sexuality in relationships?
  • What are the core forms of relationship that all of us need to engage?
  • What are the First Values and First Principles that guide them?

Why is it true that no Enlightenment, no transformation, can be considered real, until it goes through the crucible of relationship and intimacy?

Let me share some deeper dharmic thoughts with you, which might help explain why this dialogue is deeply important, exciting and necessary.

“Reality is relationship.”

“Reality is evolution.”

“Reality is the evolution of relationships.”

These are the first lines of the forthcoming book that I have written with my dear evolutionary partner Barbara Marx Hubbard entitled The Future of Relationships: from Role Mate to Soul Mate to Whole Mate.

What is already apparent from the first three lines is that “relationship is not only a human category. Relationship is structural to Kosmos from the first nanoseconds of the Big Bang. In precisely the same way, evolution – Reality as a series of transformations and the transformation of relationships – is structural to Kosmos from the first nanoseconds of the Big Bang.”

When you put those two realizations together you get the following ostensibly simple but in fact insanely profound sentence:

“Reality is the evolution of relationship. Indeed the history of Reality can be most properly told as a history of the evolution of relationship.”

“By relationship however we do not mean casual or surface interactions between separate parts. Rather, by relationship we mean intimacy.” Intimacy as I define it in our forthcoming book The Intimate Universe, based on an enormous amount of information from the interior and exterior sciences, is “shared identity.”

Indeed, we’ve articulated an intimacy formula.

“Intimacy = shared identity in the context of [relative] otherness X mutuality of recognition X mutuality of pathos X mutuality of value X mutuality of purpose.” [read more in this article]

[A fuller unpacking of the intimacy formula appears in a forthcoming volume with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zachary Stein The Six Propositions and in the aforementioned forthcoming volume The Intimate Universe with Barbara Marx Hubbard and Dr. Zachary Stein.]

For now, it’s enough to say that “the evolution of relationship is the evolution of intimacy.”

In fact, one could accurately say that “evolution is not, as commonly understood, the movement from simplicity to complexity, but rather evolution is the progressive deepening of intimacies.”

“Evolution is the evolution of relationships.”

“This is true from the first nano seconds of the Big Bang when gazillions of quarks rain on planet Earth and the only quarks that would survive are those who are able to establish a stable structure of relationship. Those that are able to create between them a configuration of intimacy that can find its way to the unbearable pressures of the first nanoseconds of relationship.”

“From the singularity of relationships – intimacy continues to evolve.“

“There are two drivers to the evolution of relationships.”

  1. The inherent, erotic, creative impulse of Kosmos that desires, seeks, moves towards ever deeper contacts and ever greater wholes. That is to say: ever deeper, wider and more intense configurations of intimacy – relationships.
  2. The second driver for the evolution of relationships is crisis. Crisis is an evolutionary driver.
  3. All genuine crises are a crisis of intimacy or said slightly differently: all genuine crises are a crisis of relationships.

These core structures of Reality – evolution, relationship and intimacy and the play between them – are evolving First Values and First Principles of Reality. They are the plotlines in the great story of value that Dr. Zachary Stein and Dr. Marc Gafni call CosmoErotic Humanism.

The Evolution of Relationships is the source code of Reality. We are at a moment – in this time between worlds – when we need to participate together in evolving the source code of consciousness and culture.

And we need to do it personally!

This dialogue is not about relationships and their evolution. It is about OUR Relationships, and their evolution. You and me, all of us, in our personal and collective lives. How do we, as the leading edge of evolution itself, evolve Our Relationships?

How do we birth, from the inside of Our Relationships, the New Human and the New Humanity, that all of Reality and our deepest hearts, souls and bodies yearn for.

It is only such an evolution of relationship that can respond to what we have called the Meta Crisis of existential and catastrophic risk that hovers over our world.

For the Meta Crisis at its very core is a Global Intimacy Disorder.

We must evolve our intimacies – generating new forms of evolutionary intimacy, personally and collectively.

That is the overarching moral imperative, urgent necessity and the great agony and ecstasy of our time.

Episode 3: Evolutionary God

Episode 4: Evolutionary God (Part 2)

Episode 5: Karma, Destiny & Free Will

Episode 6: God Loves Stories

Episode 7: Evolutionary Spirituality, Desire & Need

Episode 8: The Evolution of God — “Evolutionary Perennialism” meets “Evolutionary Enlightenment”

Evolutionary Spirituality: Towards an Engaged Evolutionary Mysticism – Dr. Marc Gafni & Andrew Cohen in Video Dialogue2024-07-05T12:58:40-07:00

Dr. Marc Gafni on Spiritual Practice – Podcast with James Bampfield

In this beautiful conversation, Dr. Marc Gafni and James Bampfield speak about Enlightenment and Intimacy.

“Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” – Dr. Marc Gafni

Dr. Marc Gafni on Spiritual Practice – Podcast with James Bampfield2023-06-17T07:34:07-07:00

A Gift from the CIW Board Retreat 2017: Introduction by Dr. Marc Gafni: Never Bypass the Personal

Enjoy this beautiful introduction and story by Dr. Marc Gafni from our 2017 CIW Board Retreat:

The Story of Levi Isaac of Berdichev Told by Dr. Marc Gafni

from the book Your Unique Self  by Dr. Marc Gafni

When you fail to hold the personal, you may begin to engage in manipulation or possibly even psychological abuse. When you begin to see yourself as aligned with the process, which was the great teaching of Hegel, you may inadvertently give birth to the worst evils of Fascism, Communism, and Nazism, all of which were very heavily influenced by Hegel’s teaching that demanded that the individual must awaken and identify with the great evolutionary process of divine unfolding in absolute spirit. In Hegel’s powerful clarion call to align with the ecstatic impulse of historically unfolding evolutionary God, the holiness of the individual was somehow crushed in all the grand rhetoric, with devastating results for God and humans. The process must always remain personal.

For me it was always the Hasidic master Levi Isaac of Berdichev who radically reminded me of the primacy of the personal even when in the throes of evolutionary ecstasy. Levi Isaac was once leading the prayers at the close of Yom Kippur services. Yom Kippur is a fast day and the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar. The twilight hours at the end of the fast are filled with potency. According to the evolutionary mystics of Kabbalah, the enlightened prayer leader, during that time may potentially enter the virtual source code of reality and effect a tikkun; that is, effect a momentous leap in the evolution of consciousness for the sake of all sentient beings, in all generations. This is precisely what Levi Isaac—greatest of all enlightened evolutionary prayer leaders—was doing on that Yom Kippur. Night had already fallen, the fast was officially over, but the ecstasy of Levi Isaac was rippling through all the upper worlds. All beings held their breath in awe of the evolutionary power of Levi Isaac’s consciousness. All of reality was pulsating with him towards an ecstatic evolutionary crescendo. Just as the great breakthrough was about to happen at the leading edge, Levi Isaac spotted out of the corner of his eye an old man who was thirsty. The fast had been very long and the old man needed to drink. So in the midst of his ecstasy, Levi Isaac brought the whole evolutionary process to a halt. He immediately ended the fast and personally brought the old man a drink of water.

A Gift from the CIW Board Retreat 2017: Introduction by Dr. Marc Gafni: Never Bypass the Personal2023-09-12T09:54:34-07:00

Video Series with Dr. Marc Gafni on the Democratization of Enlightenment

By Marc Gafni

It is time for a radical democratization of enlightenment.

It used to be that enlightened living was for the elite. The few great lovers, saints, and sages throughout history reminded us that something more was possible, that there was a better way to live, that joy and overflowing love could and did exist, at least for some, as the animating essence of everyday life.

This tiny elite of subtle and evolved minds and hearts held alive for all of us the possibility that human beings could genuinely realize a transformation of identity, that they could truly evolve from their small constricted egos into spacious, dynamic, enlightened beings. In days gone by, we relied on this elite to guide our world. Today, that age has passed. The old elite no longer has the power to guide us. We can no longer hope that in some room somewhere, in the halls of spiritual power or the inner chambers of an ashram or temple, there are holy, wise people upon whom we can rely for our salvation.

In a globally interconnected world, one person acting alone or a small group of ignorant individuals has the ability to literally destroy humanity. This is a pointing-out instruction by the universal love-intelligence. Said simply, reality is telling us something that we desperately need to know. The lesson is clear for better and for worse, the age of ruling elites, be they spiritual or political, is over.

Democracy is the evolutionary unfolding of love-intelligence in our era. It began with the democratization of governments. Now it must move to the democratization of enlightenment, and enlightenment of your True Self beyond personality and ego, which then expresses itself in the full glory and power of your Unique Self. Enlightenment is a genuine possibility, and therefore a sacred obligation, for every single person. You are not obligated from without. You are obligated in love by your own highest possibility.

The disciples of one master liked to explain this radical Unique Self principle with a story:

A precocious child was convinced that the king was not as wise as people claimed. And so he set out—as young people are wont to do—to prove his point. He came before the king with a question. “Sire,” he said with great audacity, “it is said that you know the future and can answer any question posed. Well, I have a question for you.” The assembled court gasped at his insolence. But the boy went on. “I have in my closed hand a butterfly, sire. Tell me, is it alive or dead?”

The boy thought to himself, “If he says ‘alive,’ I will simply squeeze and kill it, and if he says ‘dead,’ then I will open my hand and let it fly away.”
The sage was silent for a moment, even as the room grew very silent. When he finally spoke, it was with the gentlest voice the boy had ever heard. “My son,” said the king, “whether the butterfly lives or dies depends on you.” It depends on us. On each and every one of us.

From Your Unique Self, Chapter 3, Pages 19, 20

For more on the Democratization of Enlightenment read Marc Gafni’s White Paper on “Three Steps to the Democratization of Enlightenment” or watch his 11-part youtube video series here:

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Or watch the 11-part YouTube video series here:

Read the White Paper on “Three Steps to the Democratization of Enlightenment” HERE
Video Series with Dr. Marc Gafni on the Democratization of Enlightenment2023-06-20T13:13:01-07:00
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