Dr. Marc Gafni – Co-Founder, President, and Lead Scholar
Dr. Marc Gafni is a philosopher, public intellectual, author and social innovator. He holds his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, rabbinic certification from the chief rabbinate in Israel, as well private rabbinic ordination. He is also ordained and holds a doctorate in religious science. He is the initiating thought leader, together with Ken Wilber, of World Spirituality based on Integral principles, as well as the leading theorist and teacher of Unique Self Enlightenment. He is the director of Center for Integral Wisdom, a think tank he co-founded in 2010 with Mariana Caplan which is creating a body of work to evolve the source code of human existence.A rabbinic lineage holder in Bible, Talmud, and Kabbalah, Gafni self-describes as a “dual citizen” of both integral World Spirituality and classical Hebrew practice. He is a guest editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice on issues of Integral spirituality, has been a faculty member of J.F.K. University, and is author of twenty five books, of which the first ten have been published, including the national bestseller Soul Prints, and The Mystery of Love, an exploration of the relationship between the erotic and the sacred. His newest books are Your Unique Self, Radical Kabbalah, and, together with Dr. Kristina Kincaid, A Return to Eros.
An iconoclastic artist and provocative visionary, Dr. Gafni has led spiritual movements and learning communities as well as created and hosted for several seasons a highly popular national Israeli television program on culture, meaning, and spirit. He is the father of four children (the youngest being two years old), is in committed relationship, and lives in Northern California.
Dr. Zachary Stein – Co-President and Academic Director
Zak Stein‘s work focuses on social justice and education through the lenses of developmental psychology and integral metatheories. He holds degrees in philosophy and religion from Hampshire College, and educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education from Harvard University. While studying at Harvard, he was a co-founder of Lectica, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to the research-based justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in K-12, higher-education, and business.
He has published two books. Social Justice and Educational Measurement was based on his dissertation and traces the history of standardized testing and its ethical implications. His second book, Education in a Time Between Worlds, expands the philosophical work to include grappling with the relations between schooling and technology more broadly. He also writes for peer-reviewed academic journals across a range of topics including the philosophy of learning, educational technology, and integral theory. His work has appeared in a variety of journals including, American Psychologist, New Ideas in Psychology, Mind, Brain, and Education, Integral Review, and the Journal of Philosophy of Education.
He has taught at Harvard University, Meridian University, and JFK University. His invited speaking engagements span a wide range of venues, from metamodern podcasts to the National Security Agency and off-the-grid spiritual retreat centers. Partial curriculum vitae: CV_Stein_Winter2015
These days:
- He is co-founder of The Consilience Project, which is dedicated to improving public sensemaking and building a movement to radically upgrade digital media landscapes.
- He is a scholar at the Ronin Institute, where he researches the relations between education, human development, and the evolution of civilizations.
- He acts on the scientific advisor boards of technology start-ups, where he uses his expertise in ethics and human development to help guide innovation.
- He offers human development and learning science consultations to schools, organizations, and educational technology companies.
- He serves as Co-President and Academic Director of the activist think tank at the Center, where he writes and teaches at the edges of integral meta-theory.
Ken Wilber – Co-Founder, Leading Voice on our Wisdom Council, and Lead Scholar
Ken Wilber is the most influential figure in defining the terms of discussion on what constitutes the Integral perspective today, and he is a leading voice on the Wisdom Council of the Center. His corpus of 25 widely translated books has erected an intellectual framework for understanding the nature of converging trends in philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines. His books have often been bestsellers, and his scholarly books have been the basis for numerous academic programs, master’s and doctoral dissertations.
Revered as the “Einstein of consciousness,” Ken has written over twenty books exploring different facets of human development and cultural evolution. His first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, written when he was only 23, became a seminal text in the emerging field of transpersonal psychology. Among his diverse corpus of writings are a novel, Boomeritis, which provided a groundbreaking critique of postmodernity, and The Simple Feeling of Being, a corpus of mystical, spiritual writings of transcendent and lyrical beauty.
Wilber has also played an active role in supporting and promoting integral thinking. He is a leading voice in support of World Spirituality based on Integral principles and has been one of the founding members of the Wisdom Council of the Center.
Howard Bloom
Howard Bloom has been called “next in a lineage of seminal thinkers that includes Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Freud, and Buckminster Fuller” by Britain’s Channel4 TV and “the next Stephen Hawking” by Gear Magazine. Bloom is the author of seven books, including The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History and the new Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me: A Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll. The Office of the Secretary of Defense threw a symposium on Bloom’s second book, Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century, and brought in representatives from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT. The eleventh president of India, Dr. A.P.J. Kalam called Bloom’s third book, The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism, “a visionary creation.” And the Sheikh who runs Dubai named a racehorse—the Beast–after that same book. Bloom has published or lectured scholarly conferences in twelve different fields, from quantum physics and cosmology to neuroscience, evolutionary biology, psychology, information science, governance, and aerospace. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Knight Financial News Service, Cosmopolitan, The Village Voice, and the blog sites of Psychology Today and The Scientific American. In a full-page article in Business Insider, SpaceX’s Elon Musk praised one of Bloom space projects, the Two Billion Dollar Moon Prize. The Two Billion Dollar Moon Prize was also covered in Time, Newsweek, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and Politico. And Jeff Bezos tweeted a Bloom blog from the Scientific American calling for the establishment of a permanent transport infrastructure in space.
Daniel Schmachtenberger – Director for Research & Development and Senior Vice President
Daniel Schmachtenberger is the Founder of the Consilience Project and Director for Research & Development and Senior Vice President at the Center. His background in systems science, human behavior, and activism brought him to focus on the global systems that interconnect and drive our major global challenges.
He has spent much of the last decade studying the etiology, scope, magnitude, timelines, and interconnectedness of major issues; inventorying global resources and solutions; doing detailed comparative analysis of economic and comparative analysis of economic and governance systems; and developing comprehensive systems solutions, adequate to the issues and realistically achievable.
Sally Kempton, Co-Founder – Sacred Feminine Leader, Author – Awakening Shakti
Sally Kempton has been practicing and teaching in a Hindu tradition for 30 years, twenty of them as a Swami, or Hindu monk of one of the Dasnami order of sannyasins. A former New York journalist who wrote extensively for the Village Voice, Esquire, New York Magazine, and The New York Times, she left her career in the early 1970s to study with her guru, Swami Muktananda. In the 1980s, she became one of the key teachers in the Siddha Yoga tradition as well as the first editor of a magazine, Darshan, which aimed at finding the shared truths within different spiritual traditions.
Sally has spent many years studying Kashmir Shaivism and yoga philosophy, as well as investigating esoteric mysticism as it appears in different traditions, including Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism.
Since 2002 she has lived and taught as a lay teacher of meditation and spiritual wisdom. Her work aims at bringing the wisdom of non-dual philosophy and yoga into the problems and challenges of daily life. Sally’s teaching is based on the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, on the core texts of yoga and devotional Hinduism, and deeply influenced by Integral theory. She is the author of several books, The Heart of Meditation, Meditation for the Love of It, and Awakening Shakti, writes a column, “Wisdom,” for Yoga Journal, and teaches regular teleconference classes as well as retreats and workshops at conference centers like Kripalu, Esalen, and Mt. Madonna.
Sally says, “I was originally drawn to the spiritual path through the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a radically prescient nineteenth-century Indian saint who realized God through the practices of several different traditions. My deepest conviction is that all the traditions contain authentic pathways to mystical realization, as well as authentic guidelines about how to live. As we move outside of conventional religious frameworks, it’s imperative that our practice carry an authenticity and rigor that is comparable to the rigor of the traditions, even as it acknowledges and works with the gifts and questions of modernity and post modernity.
“I am excited that the Center has the potential to define a trans-lineage spirituality that is powerful enough to hold practitioners steady in the radical transitions of our times, and to lead us in working with the transformative energies all around us for the highest good. To me, World Spirituality holds a promise that as a group, we can discover pathways to full self-realization and skillful enlightened action, which are rigorous, authentic, dogma free, and capable of riding the energy of this pregnant moment in human evolution.”
One of her most recent works is her book Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddess of Yoga.
For more books and CDs by Sally Kempton, see her website>>>.
Lori Galperin
Lori Galperin is a clinician, writer and teacher who began her 27 year career working in the area of sex & marital therapy. Training at Masters & Johnson Institute, she eventually became co-director, co-founded the first inpatient sexual trauma program in the country, and ultimately established and clinically co-directed three such programs. Her work spanned diverse populations including incest families, sex offenders, victims of sexual abuse and individuals struggling with sexual addiction.
In 2000, Lori turned her attention to another under-served population: eating disorder clients, co-founding and clinically directing 3 residential treatment centers over the next 13 years. Most recently she has been working with populations with co-occurring disorders in a context that utilizes all prior skill bases.
Lori currently resides on the Monterey Peninsula of N. California, where she recently participated in the founding of the Monterey Institute of Mental Health. She is also hard at work in collaboration with Dr. Marc Gafni on a book project entitled: Unique Self Recovery, a distillation & application of the heart Marc’s Unique Self teachings to the process of healing.
Venodhar Rao Julapalli, M.D.
Venodhar Rao Julapalli, M.D. is founder and president of Integral Gastroenterology Center, P.A., an active private practice in gastroenterology. Inspired by the works of Ken Wilber, he started his practice in 2005 with a passion to bring an AQAL approach to patient care. With extensive experience on the front line of the American health care system, he has engaged in the best of what traditional allopathic medicine can offer and lamented the vast flatland of unconscious healthcare. His mission, with his brother Vinay, is to consciously co-evolve the practice of medicine.
Venu graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. with Distinction in Biological Sciences. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, with election to Alpha Omega Alpha. He underwent medical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he continues to serve as a volunteer clinical instructor. He practices in north Houston. Venu’s spiritual stream has flowed from his mother’s traditional Hindu rituals to Ken Wilber’s writings, from Vipassana to Adyashanti, and now to Marc Gafni’s Unique Self insights. He believes the Unique Self holds the key for all stakeholders in healthcare to enjoy lives well lived.
John Gray, Ph.D., Social Thought Leader & Author (Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus)
Dr. John Gray is the leading relationship expert in the world. His relationship and health books have sold over 50 million copies in 50 different languages. His groundbreaking book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, is the best-selling non-fiction book of all time. It launched his Mars Venus book series that forever changed the way men and women view their relationships. John helps men and women better understand and respect their differences in both personal and professional relationships.
Dr. Warren Farrell – Senior Vice President for Gender Issues
Dr. Warren Farrell has been chosen by the Financial Times as one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders. He feels, though, that the mind can be misused as easily as well-used; spiritual centering facilitates the mind being well-used both externally and internally. Dr. Farrell’s books are published in over 50 countries and in 15 languages.
They include two award-winning international best-sellers, Why Men Are The Way They Are plus The Myth of Male Power. His book on couples communication, Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say, was a selection of the Book-of-the Month Club. His book, Father and Child Reunion, has inspired many dads to be more involved with their children. And Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap–and What Women Can Do About It was chosen by U.S. News and World Report in 2006 as one of the top four books on careers.
Dr. Farrell has taught at the university level in five disciplines, and appeared on more than a thousand TV shows from Oprah to Larry King Live. He has been featured repeatedly in Forbes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He has two daughters, and lives with his wife in Mill Valley, California.
Terry Nelson – Vice President and Board Liaison
Terry Nelson writes, “In my 30 years working as a Lifespring trainer, I have coached thousands of people all over the world to be more successful in fulfilling their commitment to becoming fully human. I think the work of CIW, to provide us human beings with a new and powerful lens through which to view our spiritual journey, will help all of us greatly. Hopefully, this wisdom will also reduce the likelihood of bad things being done in the name of religion. I am not a fan of crusades or suicide bombers. Enough!”
Terry is currently an executive development coach. He is a former Vice-President of Lifespring, a personal development training company. He worked as an analyst for the Congressional Budget Office and was a Peace Corps Volunteer and Training Project Director in Thailand. For the last 11 years, he has coached his kids’ basketball and soccer teams. Terry lives in Mill Valley, California, with his wife and two children. He holds a B.A. from U.W. at Madison and an M.P.A. from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell.
Dr. Kristina Kincaid – Director of the Outrageous Love Project
Dr. Kristina Kincaid is an Anthropologist, Theologian, Master Embodiment Practitioner, Relationship and Sexuality Teacher, Speaker and Author.
She holds an MA and a Doctorate in Theology and Energy Medicine from Holos University. A graduate of the Institute of Core Energetics and the prestigious Barbara Brennan School of Healing, Kristina also earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin.
Dr. Kincaid is known for her transformative work around sexuality, personal growth and intimate relationship with self and other through the body.
Kristina has traveled the world studying with powerful Healers of our tim e- from the most primitive to the most advanced, cultivating an extensive background of bodywork and energy healing rooted in science. Her passions include the mysteries of the body.Her own personal healing journey has taken her into deep explorations of healing around sexuality.
Kristina’s personal mission is to teach conscious relating that is an affront to shame and guilt. Her commitment is to spark a movement of embodied practice that empowers women and men to take responsibility for their own arousal and desire resulting in the full liberation and reclamation of their true potency and power.
Kerstin Zohar Tuschik – Editorial Director of the Great Library of CosmoErotic Humanism
Kerstin Zohar Tuschik has served as Executive Director of the Center for many years and has recently shifted to the position of Editorial Director of the Great Library, working closely with Dr. Marc Gafni as Senior Editor, Scholar, Researcher, and sometimes co-author for major book projects. She is also a Senior Teacher for Unique Self and Representative for the Center in Germany.
Her professional, academic, and experiential background ranges from professional stage dancing and its didactics, physics, human resources development, project management, coaching, and alternative education to personal and spiritual growth. She has been on a conscious spiritual path for more than 30 years, studying different practices and approaches (including Kundalini Yoga, Trauma Therapy, Constellations Work, etc.) with various teachers.
Integral Theory has helped her to connect the dots. Through her dedication to this field, she met Dr. Marc Gafni in 2011 and connected deeply to his vision of a World Spirituality based on Integral Principles and his trans-lineage-path Dharma of Unique Self, Eros, Outrageous Love, and the New Enlightenment. Working and studying with him while working with this international trans-lineage sangha (our band of Outrageous Lovers) is a deep Pleasure and Joy for her.
Swami Chetanananda
Shawn Ramer
Kathy Brownback
Benjamin Swartout: Researcher, Fellow, Co-Leading publishing of the Great Library
Benjamin graduated from Lafayette College school of Engineering in 2011. During his time there, Benjamin attempted to address injustices through leading activist work with organizations like Save Darfur and Amnesty International. In the midst of confronting massive systemic inequalities, which seemed beyond repair, Benjamin found the work of Integral Theory and the Center for Integral Wisdom which helped him reclaim the hope and vision of a more beautiful world.
After college and earning his Permaculture Design Certificate through Kibbutz Lotan, he then worked in Silicon Valley at Bloom Energy and SunPower. Benjamin returned to Israel for a year in 2016 as a Fulbright Scholar, where he learned about the convergence of the environmental crisis and the Conflict in the Middle East. This took place on Kibbutz Ketura, a rarefied living laboratory of Arab, Israeli, and international students all learning with and from each other.
It was during this year, that he began studying with Dr. Marc. While deepening his understanding of the Unique Self theory and learning sacred texts from original sources, Benjamin has also been working as a proton accelerator engineer at Varian Medical and a hardware engineer at Apple and Beats headphones.
As part of a 3 year internship with the Center for Integral Wisdom, Benjamin is currently co-leading the creation of a publishing and editing process for the Homo Amor Great Library.
Benjamin also enjoys Tai Chi, sci-fi movies, and walking barefoot!
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