Love or Die #8: A Conversation Series with Marc Gafni - The Tree of Life - Part 3
Jan 13, 2024
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Marc Gafni discusses the Tree of Life in Hebrew Kabbalah, focusing on Sephirot Chesed and Gevurah. He explores CosmoErotic Humanism, boundary breaking in Hasidism, and the importance of radical originality and heresy for transformation.
Chesed embodies radical love and connection beyond boundaries in spirituality.
Geburah focuses on shaping and channeling intense emotions for constructive purposes.
Balancing Chesed's boundary-breaking love with Geburah's disciplined boundaries creates fruitful relationships.
Deep dives
The Essence of Chesed: Boundary Breaking and Desire
Chesed, meaning radical love and desire, goes beyond limitations and traditional laws to seek passionate connection with the Divine. It embodies boundary-breaking eros, allowing for a fuller, more passionate engagement in spirituality. It's about experiencing love that overwhelms, yet initiates a deeper connection beyond conventional boundaries to achieve a sense of radical merger and ecstasy.
The Function of Geburah: Boundary Making and Taming Overwhelming Feelings
Geburah, or heroism, embodies the concept of discipline and directing overwhelming feelings. It refers to creating boundaries and shaping desires to manifest control and choice over powerful emotions. Instead of being a dragon slayer, it's about befriending and engaging the dragon, utilizing the force of intense feelings by channeling them purposefully and constructively.
Harnessing the Interplay of Chesed and Geburah: Generating Fruitful Boundaries
The interplay between Chesed and Geburah involves the balance of boundary breaking and boundary making. By embracing radical love and desire while channeling overwhelming feelings into disciplined boundaries, individuals can create spaces for generative experiences and relationships. This dance between the two qualities allows for the cultivation of fruitful connections while respecting the need for limits and structure in spiritual and interpersonal interactions.
Boundary Breaking and Unique Self-Expression
The podcast delves into the concept of boundary breaking and unique self-expression, emphasizing the importance of engaging in actions that break artificial boundaries while maintaining authenticity. It discusses poetry as a form of boundary breaking within language, illustrating how the boundary of language can be transformed into an expression of profound Eros through the depths of poetic language. The conversation highlights the significance of constantly renewing one's attention and authenticity, uncovering the richness and surprise in each moment, leading to a deeper understanding of individual uniqueness and creative self-expression.
Gevurah and the Shallows of the Internet
The episode explores the interplay between Gevurah, representing appropriate boundaries, and attention placement, particularly in the context of the shallowness symbolized by the contemporary internet. It contrasts Gevurah's authentic limitation with the superficiality and scattered attention prevalent in online interactions. By drawing parallels between poetry and authentic language expression, the discussion urges a discernment of artificial limitations and a commitment to profound attention placement, fostering a deeper engagement with creativity and authenticity.
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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 Sepirot: Chesed and Gevurah
Dr. Marc Gafni is a visionary thinker, social activist, and passionate philosopher. He is known for his “source code teachings,” including Unique Self theory, the Five Selves, the Amorous Cosmos, A Politics of Evolutionary Love, A Return to Eros and Digital Intimacy. He is author of over twenty-five books, including the award-winning Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University, as well as Orthodox rabbinic ordination.
He teaches on the cutting edge of philosophy and spirit in the West, with the aim of participating in the articulation of what Dr. Gafni together with Dr. Zak Stein and colleagues are calling CosmoErotic Humanism. At the core of CosmoErotic Humanism is what Dr. Gafni and Dr. Stein are calling ‘First Principles and First Values,’ Anthro-Ontology and a “Universal Grammar of Value.” This shared story rooted in First Principles and First Values can then serve as the matrix for a global ethos for a global civilization.
Dr. Gafni is the Co-Founder and Co-President of the Office for the Future, the Center for World Religion and Philosophy and the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. At the core of their shared missions is the articulation and delivery into culture of a Great Library - in multiple forms - which participates in evolving the source code of consciousness and culture in response to the Meta Crisis. "
Artist links:
Website Dr. Marc Gafni: http://www.marcgafni.com
Radical Kabbalah: https://www.marcgafni.com/main-teachings/radical-kabbalah/
Parallax Academy: https://www.parallax-media.com/2024-courses-and-events
Membership and Donation: https://parallax-media.eu/parallax-academy-calendar
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