In this short video, I talk about three major teachings of CosmoErotic Humanism, as articulated by Dr. Marc Gafni, which have been most important to me, and how they have affected me:
The teaching on the void
The teaching on Value is Real
The teaching on the unique transformation, healing, or evolution (tikkun) that we have a unique obligation as well as a unique capacity to engage in - for our own sake and for the sake of the Whole – which is really the deepest understanding of Dr. Marc’s Evolutionary Unique Self teaching
Facing the void has been and still is the most important journey of my life – it literally is my unique tikkun. And without really getting in the depths of my being that Value is Real, there was no way for me to actually face the void. I am beyond grateful for this.
Dr. Marc Gafni has been teaching about the void for many decades. For example, as early as 2003, in his Tikkun essay “On the Erotic and the Ethical,” he wrote https://marcgafni.substack.com/p/on-the-erotic-and-the-ethical:
“The driving force behind the corporate ethos is fear of emptiness. When we lose the sense of the world being divine and full of meaning, we risk falling into the void—we "lose touch" with our own essential self-worth and value. So we learn a-void-dance, doing everything we can to deny the lurking emptiness. In order to stifle those voices we work hard at producing and climbing in the line world. Somehow, the eros of productivity and competition give our lives a veneer of meaning, at least until a crisis when our vulnerability is exposed and we plummet into the void.”
“In Isaac Luria's graphic and daring vision, the world is not formed by a forward-thrusting male movement which creates outside of itself. Quite the contrary—Divinity creates within itself a sacred void in the form of a circle. This is the creation not of the masculine God but of the Goddess, of the Shechinah! This is the Great Circle of Creation.”
“If the circle is so wonderful, why not live in circle consciousness and just jettison the jagged and cutting line once and for all? Why not simply return to the Goddess?
“The answer is that the circle alone is not sufficient. Indeed, followers of both the biblical line and the mystical path have been quick to point out that the circle not integrated by the line not only lacks integrity, but is a primary ontological cause of evil. Master Nachman of Bratzlav writes that the source of evil in the world is the primal chalal reik, the empty void. The chalal reik is a circle image drawn from Lurianic Kabbalah which has not yet been penetrated by the kav, the line.”
I also remember a couple of Sacred Text Studies we did in 2017. And then, I had a whole bunch of personal sessions with him, where we talked about my personal relationship with the void.
Value is Real, on the other hand, is a new teaching that is in the making right now – at least in this formulation. Of course, there have been many predecessors throughout the years (also by Dr. Marc Gafni) in slightly different wording.
For the newer formulations, see the book by David J. Temple, First Principles and First Values: https://www.amazon.de/First-Principles-Values-Propositions-Cosmoerotic/dp/B0CS85WYVX/.
See some of the more recent Oral Essays from One Mountain, Many Paths: https://marcgafni.substack.com.
Stay tuned for the forthcoming essay, “Value Is Real,” which I am currently working on editing.
See also the upcoming Parallax course on Value Is Real, https://www.parallax-media.com/courses/value-is-real.
And see the somewhat nerdy podcast Conversations with David J. Temple: https://open.spotify.com/show/5iYZjdiaXm85mtg4m9ass0?si=a989e69a8c9742a8.
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