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We live in a world of outrageous pain. Postmodernity—with its correct critique of pre-modernity's often fundamentalist and dogmatic stories about value—has deconstructed value and said value is not real. At the same time, regressive religious fundamentalism is on the rise all through the world. Fundamentalism, like post-modernism, says there is no universal Field of Value. Instead, it claims that value is mediated only through its particular prism of revelation. Outrageous pain is caused when we fail to recognize that we are all in a shared Field of Value. In the absence of a shared Field of Value, individual values are decontextualized from the Field of Value. Any value or goal, taken by itself and transformed into an absolute becomes first extremist, then absurd, then grotesque and then potentially evil. The chosen value becomes not only an idolatrous commitment but the core of our identity, thus, no relationship with any other value is truly possible. And that identity of value becomes narcissistic and therefore incapable of authentic relationship with other value identities. In this book, we look at multiple contexts of this dynamic of value-idolatry and polarization which generate outrageous pain. Some of these contexts include the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade case on abortion, as well as conversations around immigration, federal elections, name defamation on Twitter feeds and more. The only response to outrageous pain is Outrageous Love. In response to outrageous pain the moral imperative of today is to tell the Outrageous Love story of Reality. Reality is an Outrageous Love Story, rooted in First Principles and First Values. When we locate ourselves within a shared Field of Value and a shared grammar of value, we understand that what unites us is so much greater than what divides us.
Dr. Marc Gafni has been described as a world philosopher — a kind of galaxy heart brain — integrating wisdom from across multiple disciplines into what he has called a New Story of Value in response to the meta-crisis. One cultural critic described Gafni as a cross between Einstein, Da Vinci, and Rumi, with a dash of Robin Williams working at the cutting edge of the new narrative, collaborating with a team of leading-edge thinkers articulating a new vision of meaning for the world. Another wrote, “Gafni thinks in terms of panoramic vision but with an attention to intricate nuance and detail, which together generate a level of beauty and truth that, as Michael Murphy wrote, changes the game. And yet, he has the capacity to speak to virtually any audience with a direct sincerity, passion, and simple precision that melts hearts and blows open minds.” The renowned feminist theorist, cultural critic, and spiritual teacher Sally Kempton described Gafni as one of the great heart masters of this generation. Gafni is playing a pivotal role in evolving a new dharma or meta-theory of meaning overflowing with heart — a new set of distinctions that is helping to re-shape key pivoting points in global consciousness and culture. Gafni’s doctorate is from Oxford University with a masters degree from Bar Ilan University. He holds an orthodox rabbinic certification from the Chief Rabbinate in Israel and non-denominational rabbinic ordination. He is the author of forty books, of which only the first twelve have been published, including the award-winning Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment.
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