DR. MARC GAFNI & ANDREW COHEN IN DIALOGUE
EPISODE FIVE 2nd SEPT 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 5: Facing the Apocalypse

Many thought leaders, scientists and cultural commentators insist that when it comes to climate change and environmental devastation, the seeds of our own destruction are already sown.

The predictive modelling on this is compelling, and it’s hard to deny the science. Many of the best predictions suggest we are too late to save ourselves, absent some as-yet-unimagined technological breakthrough that can reverse the trend and prevent the ultimate catastrophe.

Some go further and say that the moment complex cognition evolved in consciousness, the die was cast. In other words, the evolution of complex cognition itself leads inexorably to the extinction of the species that evolves it.
 
This is a profoundly shocking thought for anyone to contemplate. But especially if you are devoted to the evolution of consciousness in a developmental context, it’s a devastating conclusion. If true, it would completely overturn our long-held assumption that evolution inevitably leads to ever-greater complexity in a never-ending upward trajectory.

As many physicists have pointed out, we live in a universe in which mass extinction events are not only commonplace, but inevitable. That confronts us with another sobering and unsettling thought: that mass extinction is a fundamental and intrinsic part of the evolutionary process, and only our deeply embedded anthropocentrism prevents us from realising it.

The limited bandwidth of human perception also explains why we have been lacking a basic objectivity about our own most destructive tendencies for so long. But what does this doom-laden narrative mean from the highest possible perspective?

• What are the implications for post-progressive spirituality and the evolution of consciousness?
• In a developmental context, have we fundamentally misunderstood evolution?
• How can we embrace the truth of radical uncertainty as a foundational principle to live by?
• Most importantly of all, how can we respond?

These are without doubt the most pressing issues of our time, and the next in our series of dialogues between Andrew Cohen and Dr. Marc Gafni seeks to explore this painful moment of reckoning for our species – and indeed for consciousness itself.

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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 FIVE 2nd SEPT 2021