marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com Detachment for the biblical mystic is a strategy, not a goal. In the end, you must not remain a spectator in the drama of your own existence. Rather, you need to become the lead actor on your stage, fully merged with the part the universe has [...]
On the Clarification of Desire: Marc Gafni
August 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com Desire is Holy. And not always to be acted upon. In fact often not to be acted upon. The biblical mystic lovingly counsels us to be with yourself and gently watch your desires as they come and go. Not to eradicate them, not to get off [...]
The Eye of Desire: Alexander the Great: Marc Gafni
August 30, 2008 · 1 Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com shared comments on info@marcgafni.com The Eye of Desire For many of the biblical mystics, the symbol of confused desire was Alexander the Great. He took almost the entire known world of his day. Yet, insisted the masters, without becoming an erotic lover, Alexander would necessarily remain empty. The legend tells [...]
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Davinci Codes, Templars: Marc Gafni
August 29, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com The templars. The masons. Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Ark of the Covenant in the Temple. Jerusalem the place of the temple. The eye of the storm and the hope for peace. Davinci Codes, a popularization of the esoteric temple tradition. The temple. The Temple [...]
The Third Face of Eros: Desire: Marc Gafni
August 29, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com The Third Face of Eros: Desire Desire has gotten a bad name. Buddhists talk about desire all the time and tell us how bad it is. Christianity and Judaism are big attackers of desire. But if you look at the deep teaching of all three you [...]
Snakes and Scorpions: Marc Gafni
August 27, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com We have all met snakes and scorpions. The biblical master ask the students. The mantra reads. The pit was empty, it had no water. {This comes from the description of the pit that Joseph is thrown into by his brothers in the famous biblical story and [...]
Life is what you do with your emptiness: Marc Gafni
August 27, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com Life is what you do with your emptiness. Life is about walking through the void. Every time we walk through and not around the void we come out stronger. Every time we are seduced by pseudo-eros, ethical breakdown is around the corner. There is no ethics [...]
Echoes of Emptiness; The Erotic and the Ethical: Marc Gafni:
August 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com Echoes of Emptiness; The Erotic and the Ethical The arena where emptiness- non-erotic living – is most destructive is in the ethical. Every ethical failure comes from the absence of eros . It is the inability to stay in the experience of emptiness that moves people [...]
Stay in the Emptiness: Marc Gafni
August 26, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com The cherubs once again serve as our guide. Remember that the vortex of Shechina in the biblical myth is no less than “atop the ark in the Holy of Holies, between the cherubs.” ‘Between’ is interpreted by the kabbalists as a word which dances between the [...]
Aftertaste Part Two: Marc Gafni
August 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com Now here is a wild idea. Biblical myth practice suggests that, just as a fast day is helpful in sensitizing you to distinguish between wholesome and desperate eating, regular short periods of voluntary sexual fasting can be ever so enlightening It is critical in helping you [...]
Aftertaste: Marc Gafni
August 25, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments on info@marcgafni.com AFTERTASTE: Now if we are courageous enough to walk one step further, we will see that sex follows the same exact formula. Every human being engages in two very different forms of sexuality. The first is, by whatever your own inner standard may be, sacred sex, [...]
Ever Brushed up Against Emptiness?: Marc Gafni
August 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments at info@marcgafni.com One of the beauties of a spiritual system which invites an occasional fast day is that you can’t just jump to devour. Instead, you have to sit there in the hunger, in the emptiness. From there you can observe the moments when you crave, seek out [...]
Why Do I Eat Food?: Marc Gafni
August 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com please share comments at info@marcgafni.com There’s a wonderful short prayer in the Hebrew liturgy which is recited after eating. Strangely the prayer begins with a unique formula which appears nowhere else in the liturgy, “You created many beings, each with their own unique emptiness.” Ostensibly, at this point we are [...]
Pseudo Eros and Gossip: Marc Gafni
August 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com please share comments on info@marcgafni.com Kabbalah scholars point out that one of the defining characteristic of the Zohar mystics is that illumination happened not in solitary retreat but in groups engaged in sacred conversation. Fulfillment comes not from escaping but from engaging. So carefully watch and you will see that [...]
Pseudo Eros: Chocolate-Covered Raisins: Marc Gafni
August 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
marc gafni posted on marcgafni.com share comments at info@marcgafni.com Chocolate-Covered Raisins The same thing happens with food everyday without our realizing it. Our bodies can be our most blatant teachers. Our bodies are talking, but are we listening? On a religious fast day a few years ago, I finally listened, and realized what fast days [...]
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