DR. MARC GAFNI & ANDREW COHEN IN DIALOGUE
EPISODE TWO FEBRUARY 4th 2021

Dear Friend,

Manifest Nirvana is delighted to announce the next in our series of dialogues between Dr. 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.

Their dialogues 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.

For more about the context and intention behind these conversations please visit the event page.

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Episode 2: The Three Faces of God

All the great wisdom traditions – Kashmir Shaivism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Sufism, Gnostic Christianity – speak of three faces of the divine, or the three faces of God.

The first face of God, or God in first person, is the direct experience of nondual being as “I”. Experienced in meditation and prayer, it refers to the subjective experience of God, in the form of satori and other ecstatic peak experiences of the divine – I am God.

The second face of God, or God in the second person, is the “I-Thou” relationship with the divine; the direct experience of God as “Thou” or the great “other”. Not my will but THY will be done – You are God.

The third face of God, or God in the third person, is the recognition of God as infinite cosmic process, the great eternal unfolding of life and creation in all its magnificence and complexity – ALL is God.

All spiritual traditions are capable of expressing these three faces of God or Spirit, but historically they have tended to gravitate heavily toward one or the other. This polarisation persists within contemporary culture; the academy prefers the third person, the ashram the first person, and the traditional church – in all its forms – the second person.

Herein lies the problem. Leave out any of the three faces – any of these three primordial perspectives – and humanity as a whole finds itself in a state of schism. We risk nothing less than societal fragmentation and breakdown unless we find a way to heal this schism.

To re-vision and recreate our future – humanity’s future – we need to articulate a personal, political and social vision which embraces all three in a dynamic wholeness, in a divine evolutionary tension.

But what would a truly Integral or post-postmodern interpretation and unification of these three faces or principles of God look like?

In this dialogue, Marc and Andrew will first articulate the mythic expression of the three faces of the divine and then – looking at God in all three persons – try to articulate an evolutionary vision of the same three faces.

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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
EPISODE TWO FEBRUARY 4th 2021