MARC GAFNI & ANDREW COHEN IN DIALOGUE
SESSION ONE DECEMBER 3rd 2020

Dear Friend,

Manifest Nirvana is delighted to announce a new series of dialogues between Marc Gafni and Andrew Cohen, organised jointly with One Mountain, Many Paths.

In these conversations, Marc and Andrew will probe the intersection of absolute meaning and relative reality, within the context of the most destabilised and destabilising time in recent history.

Marc and Andrew will look deeply into the relentless challenge of being human, particularly at this unique moment in time, while simultaneously celebrating the profound cosmic and metaphysical significance of human incarnation.

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We are truly living in “a time between stories” – a phase-shift in human history. The apparently sturdy, reliable, fixed structures that have held our world together are on the brink of collapse.

We are collectively realizing that we are not too big to fail – and in the face of such overwhelming insecurity, we may well lose sight of our moral compass completely.

Andrew Cohen and Marc Gafni believe strongly that unless we are in control of our internal environment – in particular our capacity for radical sovereignty and sense-making – the outcome will be immeasurable suffering for billions of people.

Both men agree that for spiritual attainment to mean something, it cannot be only rooted in the ego-self-personality, and that any basis for real change must include a new hierarchy of values that places radical spirit at the apex of our attention. What this actually means in terms of our models and practices for invoking the “new human” will be one of the key themes of these conversations.

These two distinct but strongly aligned approaches to the wicked problems faced by humanity ultimately point in the same direction – only through a radical reorganisation of our values can our capacity for clear thinking, feeling and sense-making be unleashed.

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In their first dialogue, Marc Gafni and Andrew Cohen will share and explore their deepest insights into the ultimate mystery that lies beyond life and death.

• From the deepest metaphysical perspective, what is the distinction between life and death?
   
• Is life the manifestation of an eternal metaphysical source, or is it merely the extraordinary emergence of a fundamentally material process?
   
• How do our conscious and unconscious convictions about the ultimate source of the evolving universe affect our moral and philosophical relationship to living and dying?
   
• Is consciousness part of an unbroken developmental continuity in the cosmos, or merely an emergent epiphenomena of matter?
   
• Is death the absolute end of what was, or a transition that is part of an infinite unfolding?
   
• Is the nature of death a question of belief, or do we have real data to support our understanding of it? If there is data, then what is it and where do we find it?
   
• Do we have a more enlightened relationship to death in the 21st century, or can the great wisdom traditions still illuminate our understanding?
   
• Is the fear of death an experience to be transcended, embraced or both? Is living forever a wish that we would want fulfilled?
   
• What are the political, social and economic implications of our relationship to death?

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Dr. Marc Gafni and Andrew Cohen are spiritual teachers and thought leaders who share a strong foundation in an evolutionary approach to spiritual awakening and practice. Both are original and innovative thinkers who have produced pioneering bodies of work in evolutionary spirituality, 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. The aim of these dialogues is to generate a creative and dynamic evolutionary tension – to catalyze an awakening to higher and deeper states and stages of consciousness, liberating insights and life-affirming perspectives.

The dialogues will unfold organically over time as an inspiring example of emergent spirituality in action – one that gives rise to its own unique tapestry of coherence and meaning.

MARC GAFNI & ANDREW COHEN IN DIALOGUE
SESSION ONE DECEMBER 3rd 2020