The Road to CosmoErotic Humanism: The “Tears” of Dr. Marc Gafni Part 2

Dr. Marc Gafni on The Integral Stage Podcast

In this episode of The Integral Stage podcast, Layman Pascal and Dr. Marc Gafni continue their exploration of the backstory and intellectual journey to CosmoErotic Humanism with a further exploration of the “relentless Rabbi’s” book on Tears. This time, they focus on questions related to God’s Voice, Laughter in Hell, Bondage & the Abraham/Isaac tale. 

This podcast is Part 2 of a series focussing on the book Tears: Reclaiming Ritual, Integral Religion, and Rosh Hashanah. The book uses the rite of Rosh Hashanah in the wisdom of Solomon lineage to explore the necessity of the return of ritual and the importance of religion beyond philosophy and spirituality.

Click Here for Part 1 of this dialogue
The Road to CosmoErotic Humanism: The “Tears” of Dr. Marc Gafni Part 22025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

The Road to CosmoErotic Humanism: The “Tears” of Dr. Marc Gafni Part 1

Dr. Marc Gafni on The Integral Stage Podcast

In this episode of The Integral Stage podcast, Layman Pascal interviews Dr. Marc Gafni on his book Tears: Reclaiming Ritual, Integral Religion, and Rosh Hashanah. The book uses the rite of Rosh Hashanah in the wisdom of Solomon lineage to explore the necessity of the return of ritual and the importance of religion beyond philosophy and spirituality. 

This podcast is the continuation of their conversation about the predecessors to CosmoErotic Humanism.

Listen to Part 2 of the Dialogue Here
The Road to CosmoErotic Humanism: The “Tears” of Dr. Marc Gafni Part 12025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

The Integral Stage Podcast: First Principles and First Values, Part 3 (Interview with David J. Temple)

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zak Stein featured on the Integral Stage Podcast with Layman Pascal

Join Layman Pascal in conversation with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zak Stein

The Integral Stage

In this third and final episode in this series, which is cross-posted to both the Cosmo-Erotic Humanism and Authors Series playlists, Layman sits down again with Marc Gafni and Zak Stein to talk further about their jointly authored book, First Principles and First Values, this time focusing on some of the core philosophical arguments.

They are publishing the book pseudonymously under the name, David J. Temple.

First Principles and First Values https://www.amazon.com/First-Principl…

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 Integral Stage Podcast: First Principles and First Values, Part 3 (Interview with David J. Temple)2024-10-02T03:19:54-07:00

The Integral Stage Podcast: First Principles and First Values, Part 2 (Interview with David J. Temple)

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zak Stein featured on the Integral Stage Podcast with Layman Pascal

Join Allana Pratt in conversation with Dr. Marc Gafni.

In this episode, which is cross-posted to both the Cosmo-Erotic Humanism and Authors Series playlists, Layman sits down again with Marc Gafni and Zak Stein to talk further about their jointly authored book, First Principles and First Values, this time focusing on some of the core philosophical arguments.

They are publishing the book pseudonymously under the name, David J. Temple.

First Principles and First Values https://www.amazon.com/First-Principl…

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 Integral Stage Podcast: First Principles and First Values, Part 2 (Interview with David J. Temple)2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

First Principles and First Values (Interview with David J. Temple)

Enjoy this three-part podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zak Stein (David J. Temple) featured on The Integral Stage Podcast on the new book: First Principles and First Values.

In this episode, Layman Pascal sits down with Dr. Marc Gafni and Dr. Zak Stein to discuss their jointly authored book, First Principles and First Values. They are publishing the book pseudonymously under the name, David J. Temple.

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In this episode, Layman sits down again with Marc Gafni and Zak Stein to talk further about their jointly authored book, First Principles and First Values, this time focusing on some of the core philosophical arguments. They are publishing the book pseudonymously under the name, David J. Temple.

For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded.
I Accept

In this third and final episode in this series, Layman sits down again with Marc Gafni and Zak Stein to talk further about their jointly authored book, First Principles and First Values, this time focusing on some of the core philosophical arguments. They are publishing the book pseudonymously under the name, David J. Temple.

For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded.
I Accept

Our new book can be pre-ordered from the US and Canada (we are working on creating direct ordering from Europe and other countries – please stand by!):

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

First Principles and First Values (Interview with David J. Temple)2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

Dr. Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal: Public Shadow in the Planetary Age

Enjoy this podcast with Dr. Marc Gafni featured on The Integral Stage Podcast. 

“Public shadow in the planetary age”

This is the first episode of a new series exploring the subtle dynamics of collective shadow, narrative making & our responses to how we are perceived. In the digital epoch, it is unlikely that anyone will escape confrontation with a negative image of themselves existing in the minds of others. Do we learn from it? Fight it? Absorb it? Ignore it? And how do we evaluate anything when information itself becomes dubious?

Layman is joined this time by Dr. Marc Gafni — the world philosopher of “cosmo-erotic humanism” together with Dr. Zak Stein. Gafni is the co-president with Stein of the Center for World Philosophy and Religion, founded with Ken Wilber in 2010, where they are articulating a “new meta theory story of value in response to the meta crisis”, even as Gafni lives as a character, both beloved and controversial, in the public mind.

Our task in this episode, and in this series, is not to demonize or exonerate. We encourage people to do their own research if they are interested. Facts matter. So do feelings. But that is not our topic in this series where we are focused on something more specific. We are not exploring the content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital, planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.

We are not exploring content of the narratives but rather how they emerge, how they are perceived by the people inside them, how those people respond under the conditions of the emerging digital-planetary age & what they have concluded about their responses.

Dr. Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal: Public Shadow in the Planetary Age2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

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 Gafni2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

The Future Faces of Spirit: On Value, Unique Self & CosmoErotic Humanism with Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal

Dialogue with Dr. Marc Gafni in The Integral Stage with Layman Pascal

What paths lie ahead for religion and spirituality in the 21st Century? How might the insights of modernity and post-modernity impact and inform humanity’s ancient wisdom traditions? How are we to enact, together, new spiritual visions – independently, or within our respective traditions – that can respond adequately to the challenges of our times?

ON VALUE, THE UNIQUE SELF, AND COSMOEROTIC HUMANISM

For episode 39, Layman meets with Marc Gafni to talk about his thoughts on an emerging World Spirituality, grounded in ritual and practice; the need for an integral orientation to encourage “dual citizenship,” embracing a global spirituality while also preserving and developing historical religious traditions; spirituality as the ground of value for human becoming; Marc’s notion of the Unique Self and its relationship to enlightenment; cosmic history as intimate conversation; and Marc’s recent work with Zak Stein on developing a Cosmo-Erotic Humanism. Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, and author of ten books. He is the co-founder of The Center for Integral Wisdom, and a rabbinic lineage holder in Bible, Talmud, and Kabbalah. He self-describes as a “citizen” of both Integral World Spirituality and classical Hebrew practice. He has been an editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice on issues of Integral spirituality and a faculty member of J.F.K. University. In 2014, Dr. Gafni co-initiated the Success 3.0 Summit and Rise Up movie, with John Mackey and Kate Maloney whose method and movement is to bring together key thought leaders and change-agents to collaboratively evolve a bold new Integral vision of Success, rooted in the entrepreneurial values of Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, and Evolutionary Love.

The Future Faces of Spirit: On Value, Unique Self & CosmoErotic Humanism with Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00

On the New Politics of Eros: Six Key Dimensions Broken in Democracy with Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal

Dialogue with Dr. Marc Gafni in “The Integral Stage” with Layman Pascal

Layman Pascal is joined by Dr. Marc Gafni, the co-founder of the Center for Integral Wisdom and the author of multiple books and essays on integrative spirituality and spiritual activism.
Marc presents his vision of what a planetary politics could and should be, and together they explore the question of AI and the enormous challenges manipulative algorithms pose not only to informed voting, but to sensemaking in general; the emergence of techno-feudalism; the problems with voting protocols rooted in rivalrous dynamics, and the possibilities for liquid democracy or a synergistic democracy; the viability and role of nation states in a globally interconnected and interdependent society; the dynamics of intimacy, and the importance of shared first principles and a shared story; and much more.

Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, passionate philosopher, and author of ten books. He is the co-founder of The Center for Integral Wisdom, and a rabbinic lineage holder in Bible, Talmud, and Kabbalah. He self-describes as a “citizen” of both Integral World Spirituality and classical Hebrew practice. He has been an editor of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice on issues of Integral spirituality and a faculty member of J.F.K. University. In 2014, Dr. Gafni co-initiated the Success 3.0 Summit and Rise Up movie, with John Mackey and Kate Maloney whose method and movement is to bring together key thought leaders and change-agents to collaboratively evolve a bold new Integral vision of Success, rooted in the entrepreneurial values of Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up, and Evolutionary Love.

On the New Politics of Eros: Six Key Dimensions Broken in Democracy with Marc Gafni & Layman Pascal2025-11-04T11:38:06-08:00
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