Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment

267 Pages·2012·1.09 MB·English

by  Marc Gafni

PRAISE FOR MARC GAFNI’S WORK ON
YOUR UNIQUE SELF
“Marc is a deeply inspiring and talented transformational teacher.”
— Deepak Chopra, author of Spiritual Solutions: Answers to Life’s Greatest
Challenges
“It is very rare that one comes across a teacher or a book that is ‘changing the
game.’ My friend, Dr. Marc Gafni, is such a teacher. He is a rare combination of
brilliance, depth, and heart. Marc’s teaching on the Unique Self in an
evolutionary context is ‘changing the game.’”
— Michael Murphy, founder of Esalen Institute. Author of Golf in the Kingdom
“Your Unique Self is one of the most brilliant, provocative, and original books of
the new century. Dr. Marc Gafni has fused together the deepest insights of the
Eastern and Western mystery traditions to provide an evolutionary road map for
the Great Birth that is arising in and through our contemporary world crisis. This
is indispensable reading. The vision of the Unique Self is absolutely essential for
the next step of evolution and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
— Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism
“Dr. Marc Gafni’s Integral Unique Self teaching is seminal. What you hold in
your hands is a radically exciting and groundbreaking book that will change
forever not only how you think about enlightenment, but how you understand
from a postmeta-physical perspective, the very nature of human life itself. The
Unique Self work is magnificent, and it belongs among the ‘great books.’ It
offers what may arguably be one of the most significant contemporary
evolutions of enlightenment teaching. Unique Self brings together East and West
in a higher integral embrace of stunning implications. Unique Self is a pivotal
step toward an authentic Enlightenment. First laid out by Marc in his academic
articles on ‘The Evolutionary Emergent of Unique Self, A New Chapter in
Integral theory,’ it appears here for broader public, for the first time in full-
developed form, in this volume.”
— Ken Wilber, Author of A Brief History of Everything
“Dr. Marc Gafni has written a brilliant book, Your Unique Self, which I believe is
essential reading. Your Unique Self articulates a bold evolutionary, spiritual,
philosophy that calls every individual to realize their Unique Self and give their
Unique Gifts in an evolutionary context. Gafni, together with his colleague Ken
Wilber, is a bold visionary and a catalytic voice for the newly emergent World
Spirituality movement, which combines the best of premodern, modern, and
postmodern insight. I highly recommend this book.”
— John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods and Chair of Center for World
Spirituality
“With exceptional brilliance and an awakened heart, Dr. Marc Gafni speaks to all
of us who are interested in the evolution of consciousness. His teachings on the
before the high holy days Unique Self enlightenment are essential for the next
stage in our evolution. They have emerged from his direct experience and I
highly recommend them.”
— Michael Bernard Beckwith, author of Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your
Soul’s Potential
“Marc, a fellow drinker at the holy taverns has written a fine, fine book.
Kabbalists say a Day of Tikkun (evolution, soul-repair) is coming. There are
great stories here from the Hasidic masters and from Marc’s own life, honoring
the unique soulmaking that has brought you to this moment. This beautiful book
will deepen that astonishing mystery and awaken you to the individual beauty of
your path.”
— Coleman Barks, author of Rumi: The Big Red Book
“Your Unique Self is a great read. As is obvious from even flipping through its
pages, Dr. Marc Gafni not only understands the material, but also has lived it.
The book is both thorough and fun, and will provoke deep thoughts. I meant to
scan it on vacation and ended up reading it cover to cover in one sitting. It’s a
book that is worth many readings. It will both fascinate you in its insights and
annoy you that you haven’t read this book until now.”
— Dave Logan, PhD, New York Times #1 bestselling coauthor of Tribal
Leadership; former Associate Dean, USC Marshall School of Business
“Dr. Marc Gafni’s teaching on the Unique Self radically evolves the way we
understanding and realize enlightenment. He is a great teacher of both heart and
mind. His penetrating depth, practicality, and heartfelt charisma will change your
life.”
— John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
“This is a coherent, comprehensive and amazing book from an amazing mind on
a challenging topic. Using the concept of the “Unique Self” as the essential
reality behind all forms of the self, the author succeeds in integrating not only
the historical East-West polarities regarding the nature of the self, the variables
of spiritual practice and the meaning of enlightenment, but also the antinomies
between psychotherapy and the spiritual traditions. His redefinition, extension
and integration of the core meanings of healing, wholeness and the self will
expand the consciousness of all readers. I compliment the author’s intellectual
and spiritual achievement and recommend it to all travelers on the journey to
enlightenment.”
— Harville Hendrix, PhD, author of Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for
Couples
“I am usually stingy with superlatives because their meaning has been so diluted
by overuse, but I cannot control myself regarding this book—it is truly brilliant.
It offers an engaging and erudite corrective to the tendency in the spiritual
community to disdain personal uniqueness and worship transcendental oneness,
as well as the striving to rise and remain above the ego and the material world.
Instead, Gafni says go ahead and transcend, but then reclaim your uniqueness on
the other side of transcendence and bring your unique enlightened consciousness
back to this world with you, and use your unique gifts to change it for the better.
It would be entirely accurate to say that Internal Family Systems and Unique
Self are overlapping models that recognize each other’s insights while each
excels in its own domain. The integration of these two models fosters a creative
synthesis that is nothing short of revolutionary in its implications for healing and
transformation.”
— Prof. Richard Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems. Author of
evolutionary integrityInternal Family Systems Therapy
“Your Unique Self has a core idea of considerable importance that could change
the way spiritual transformation is understood and inaugurate a whole new level
in the InterSpiritual dialogue.”
— Cynthia Bourgeault, Christian theologian, author of Mary Magdalene
“At this historic moment, our human mind is passing the border towards a new
consciousness. Marc Gafni is far enough ahead of most of us to articulate
insights he gained beyond that borderline. Yet, like all great teachers, the author
becomes transparent. Here is an invitation and a great opportunity to listen—not
to Marc Gafni, but to Your Unique Self. Thus this book becomes an
indispensable travel guide into the realm of a vast new consciousness.”
— Brother David Steindl-Rast, Christian theologian. Author of Belonging to the
Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality, coauthored
with Fritjof Capra and Thomas Matus
“Marc Gafni’s brilliant intellect and spiritual passion make him a force to be
reckoned with. His deep knowledge and advocacy of Abrahamic mysticism,
coupled with his inspired vision of a World Spirituality, offer a unique and
significant contribution to the evolution of our understanding of God, religion
and Spirit in the 21st century.”
— Andrew Cohen, founder of EnlightenNext. Author of Evolutionary
Enlightenment
“Marc Gafni’s overflowing heart and transmission of the Unique Self teaching
profoundly moves me. Dr. Marc holds the lineage energy of the great Hasidic
masters of Kabbalah, which he brings with him into the visionary initiative of
Center for World Spirituality. There is little doubt in my mind that Your Unique
Self will become one of the classic texts that forms the World Spirit vision that
our world needs so deeply. This is a book and a teacher that we all very much
need.”
— Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom
for the Western World and founder of the Dzogchen Meditation Centers
“I’ve never met anyone so talented at what he does and passionate for his work
as Marc Gafni. He is simply spellbinding. He awakens people’s grasp of the
ungraspable better than any spiritual teacher I’ve ever known. He is a true artist.
A creative genius. To not experience his transmission as a teacher in this
lifetime, whether in person or through his writings, would be a tragedy.”
— Kristen Ulmer, world-renowned top ranked professional extreme skier and
sports coach
“Marc Gafni’s Your Unique Self is the great invitation to live a meaningful life
that we have all been waiting for. This book is especially for anyone who has
ever wondered if they have a unique calling or purpose in life. The answer is
YES and you are well on your way to learn how to live a life of infinite
creativity, passion and possibility. The next step of the journey is to read this
brilliant guide to discover WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU ARE here to
uniquely experience, express and expand on behalf of the whole.”
— Paul Taylor, CEO, Global Citizen Consulting; former Global VP, The Coca-
Cola Company
“Your Unique Self could only have been written by someone who passionately
lives his own uniqueness. Marc Gafni is a brilliant teacher and heart master with
a rare capacity for empathy and a gift for creating community. This book
contains the essence of his teaching on what it means to live from an enlightened
life from a ground of one’s own personal uniqueness. A truly ground-shifting
book, it offers a perspective on personal transformation that integrates insights of
traditional and postmodern wisdom. Reading it can change your understanding
not only of your own path, but also of what it means to live a life of inner
contemplation and transformative service in the world. This is a book that
deserves to become a classic.”
— Sally Kempton, author of Meditation for the Love of It
“Dr. Marc Gafni’s writing eloquently demonstrates the essentially mental—and
futile—conclusion that there ever could be separation between ‘I’ (oneself, me)
and ‘Presence’ (no-I, unity). Both ‘I’ and ‘unity’ are radiant refractions of the
infinite mystery of beingness conscious of itself. I salute and support his
expression and recognition of the uniqueness of each in all.”
— Gangaji, author of Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life
“Your Unique Self represents a truly planetcentric mysticism that provides a
powerful way of integrating the enlightenment traditions of the premodern East
and the modern West. It has been easy for spiritual traditions to embrace
profound states of Kosmoscentric consciousness, but they have often neglected
to include the developmental capacities to take perspectives thereby falling short
of an emancipatory worldcentric articulation. Marc Gafni’s teachings on Unique
Self provide the first sophisticated and mature expression of this ‘unique’
integral position. Your Unique Self ushers in an exciting new chapter in Integral
Theory building on the most widely applied meta-framework on the planet and
extending it into new contexts of embodied enlightenment.”
— Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, PhD, coauthor of Integral Ecology and editor of
Integral Theory in Action
“No one book has inspired me to cherish myself, respect others and have hope
for both this country and this world more fully than Your Unique Self. With
insights as sharp as a knife and words that hone its blade, Rabbi Gafni holds
before us the mirror of our unique selves and the molecular, spiritual, internal
and external paths we might explore to enhance that uniqueness. An
extraordinary future classic. Your Unique Self gives my unique self shivers.”
— Warren Farrell, PhD, author of Why Men Are the Way They Are and The Myth
of Male Power
“What I love about Your Unique Self is that among the nondual traditions, it
stands alone in its conviction, demonstration and celebration of our uniqueness.
It does not ask us to sacrifice our individuality in the service of the highest truth,
but rather to become fully ourselves in order to be of greatest service in the
world. Marc Gafni backs his vision with brilliance, passion, humor, personal
integrity and a life lived in dedication to articulating a world-changing dharma.”
— Mariana Caplan, PhD, author of The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards
of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher and Eyes Wide Open: Cultiv
ALSO BY MARC GAFNI
Soul Prints
The Mystery of Love
The Erotic and the Holy (audio)
Soul Print Workshop (audio)
Radical Kabbalah: The Great Teaching of Ethos and Eros of Mordechai Lainer
of Izbica
Published in Hebrew
Reclaiming Uncertainty as a Spiritual Value
Redefining Certainty from “It Is True” to “I Am True”
Lillith: ReReading Feminine Shadow
First Steps in Judaism
Forthcoming
World Spiritualty, based on Integral Principles with Ken Wilber
The Dance of Tears and Rosh Hashanah: First Steps Toward an Integrally
Informed Judaism
On the Erotic and the Holy (with new material and primary source footnotes)
Soul Prints: Living Your Story (with new material and primary source footnotes)
Integral Religion: Reclaiming Uncertainty as a Spiritual Value (translated from
Hebrew and revised)
Integral Religion: Redefining certainty from It Is True to I Am True (translated
from Hebrew and revised)
Answering the Call: A User's Guide to the Universe (with coauthor)
Shadow (with Sally Kempton)
Beyond Venus and Mars (Warren Farrell)
Beyond Twelve S/css"/>
of the Universe generMARC GAFNI