This article outlines the basic teachings of a new chapter in Integral Theory: the postmetaphysical evolutionary emergence of Unique Self. The article begins by contextualizing the Unique Self conversation within a larger discussion on individuality and traces the emergence of the Unique Self teachings through the life and writings of the author. The core Western understanding of individuality and its affirmation of the dignity of the separate self is contrasted with the Eastern teaching of dissolution of the small self, before both are integrated into a higher integral embrace through a new understanding of Unique Self. This article elucidates how the teachings of Unique Self fundamentally change the classical enlightenment paradigm through the assertion that enlightenment has a unique perspective, which might be termed the “personal face of essence.” Perspective taking, which emerges from enlightened consciousness, is rooted in the ontological pluralism that lies at the core of the Hebrew textual tradition. The new enlightenment teaching of Unique Self therefore rests on a series of integral discernments between separateness and uniqueness, ego and Unique Self, and personal and impersonal man. The Unique Self teaching suggests a new understanding of enlightenment through intersubjective love; the Unique Self perception is then set within an evolutionary context of being and becoming, in which it is seen to express one’s response to the personal address of the evolutionary God impulse itself. In this sense, Unique Self is understood to be an essential chapter in the emergence of a truly evolutionary mysticism.

Two major works have been written within the framework of Integral Wisdom about the nature of Self and God. While they share important features, namely the evolutionary context of the conversation and a vision of Self beyond Ego, their interior visions of the quality of the Self beyond Ego are profoundly different. Both of these visions of Self-or key dimensions of the two versions-have been adopted, directly and indirectly by many spiritual teachers. In this clear and compelling work Marc Gafni articulates the two models, their shared features, their differences and why - as we seek to articulate an Integral Wisdom - these differences matter so desperately. You can buy the whole book here: https://www.amazon.com/Self-Integral-Evolutionary-Mysticism-Models-ebook/dp/B00XQIDDES/

From the author of the award-winning book, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment, in which Marc Gafni presents his view of the emergence of the personal beyond the impersonal, self beyond ego, we bring you the extensive research and analysis underlying his perspectives. Radical Kabbalah provides material and analysis that will intrigue all readers interested in Kabbalah and the subject of enlightenment. Book 2: The Wisdom of Solomon as the Matrix of the Enlightenment Teaching of Nondual Acosmic Humanism and Unique Self In the second academic volume of this set, Gafni cracks an esoteric code deep within the Kabbalistic tradition that identifies "wisdom of Solomon" as being the source of the teaching of nondual humanism. He then shows that this teaching of the wisdom of Solomon, i.e. nondual humanism, did not originate with Mordechai Lainer of Izbica. Rather, it has deep roots in earlier Zoharic and Lurianic texts all of which received and transmitted the nondual humanism teaching of the wisdom of Solomon. Nevertheless, it remained to Mordechai Lainer of Izbica to fully explicate and evolve the radically empowering implication of this ancient teaching. In Book 2 Marc Gafni carefully and rigorously uncovers the hidden teachings of the wisdom of Solomon as they appear in encoded within Hasidic writings waiting to be discovered. Reviews of Radical Kabbalah “I read Dr. Gafni’s masterwork on Radical Kabbalah in its first draft almost seven years ago… The breadth, depth and the sheer importance of the work moved me. I immediately recognized it as a seminal work, identifying a critical lineage of enlightenment from the tradition of Kabbalah, which needed to be incorporated into the Integral model.” — Ken Wilber, Integral Philosopher and Author “It appears that the rumors of God’s death have been greatly exaggerated! There may be no better way to understand the Divine in the coming decades than what is expressed in this book, where ancient traditions are cast in a new light and brought into a new Century. You will be compelled to respect the unparalleled rigor and depth of scholarship while at the same time swooning from the beauty of the ideas. A work like this comes along once in a generation.” — Dr. Zachary Stein, Integral Scholar and Metrics Theorist, Harvard University “This work is a true masterpiece of the sort our people have not witnessed for many centuries, shaking us out of our stupor toward reclaiming life again, reclaiming our goddess heritage and teachings, and the bond with the ancient spark of Eros. Rabbi Gafni in his fine and original reading of Mordechai Lainer in a Lurianic act of exalted scholarship and love raises the spark of paganism and sets it in new evolved ethical context.” — Rabbi Gershon Winkler, author of ten books of Jewish teaching and scholarship “Marc Gafni has written a magisterial work. Like Gafni himself, it combines depth of intellect with integrity of heart and has much to teach us, both from a scholarly perspective and as a contemporary transmission of what Gafni calls Evolutionary Kabbalah.” — Sally Kempton, author of Meditation for the Love of It

From the author of the award-winning book, Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment, in which Marc Gafni presents his view of the emergence of the personal beyond the impersonal, self beyond ego, we bring you the extensive research and analysis underlying his perspectives. Radical Kabbalah provides material and analysis that will intrigue all readers interested in Kabbalah and the subject of enlightenment. Book 1: The Enlightenment Teaching of Unique Self, Nondual Humanism and the Wisdom of Solomon - The Great Teaching of Ethics and Eros from Mordechai Lainer of Izbica This "magisterial" academic volume lays the groundwork for key dimensions of the Unique Self teaching. Marc Gafni introduces in this work the enlightenment teaching of what he terms nondual humanism. Based on a deep re-reading of over a thousand Aramaic and Hebrew texts, Gafni first outlines the core teaching, and then traces the esoteric intellectual history of nondual humanism in five major matrices of the Kabbalah. In the vision of nondual humanism, the potential democratization of enlightenment opens up a genuine option in which every human being is called to live "as Source." Reviews of Radical Kabbalah “I read Dr. Gafni’s masterwork on Radical Kabbalah in its first draft almost seven years ago… The breadth, depth and the sheer importance of the work moved me. I immediately recognized it as a seminal work, identifying a critical lineage of enlightenment from the tradition of Kabbalah, which needed to be incorporated into the Integral model.” — Ken Wilber, Integral Philosopher and Author “It appears that the rumors of God’s death have been greatly exaggerated! There may be no better way to understand the Divine in the coming decades than what is expressed in this book, where ancient traditions are cast in a new light and brought into a new Century. You will be compelled to respect the unparalleled rigor and depth of scholarship while at the same time swooning from the beauty of the ideas. A work like this comes along once in a generation.” — Dr. Zachary Stein, Integral Scholar and Metrics Theorist, Harvard University “This work is a true masterpiece of the sort our people have not witnessed for many centuries, shaking us out of our stupor toward reclaiming life again, reclaiming our goddess heritage and teachings, and the bond with the ancient spark of Eros. Rabbi Gafni in his fine and original reading of Mordechai Lainer in a Lurianic act of exalted scholarship and love raises the spark of paganism and sets it in new evolved ethical context.” — Rabbi Gershon Winkler, author of ten books of Jewish teaching and scholarship “Marc Gafni has written a magisterial work. Like Gafni himself, it combines depth of intellect with integrity of heart and has much to teach us, both from a scholarly perspective and as a contemporary transmission of what Gafni calls Evolutionary Kabbalah.” — Sally Kempton, author of Meditation for the Love of It

There is a strong and deeply rooted tradition in the Kabbalah that says the Kabbalists inherited their spiritual techniques and their teachings from the ancient Hebrew prophets themselves. In other words, it is the path of the prophets one needs to follow to achieve the enlightened transformation that is Rosh Hashanah. One such Kabbalist was Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczno, the last great Hassidic master of Polish Hassidut. A resistance fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during the Second World War, he was ultimately captured by the Nazis and murdered in the Treblinka concentration camp. But before he died, he inspired thousands with his death-defying spiritual and physical courage. One of his teachings was that “the way of the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples, is the way of the prophets . . . this is the teaching of the Zohar . . . where Rabbi Yaakov said ‘how did I merit to be among the prophets, the people of faith, the students of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai?’” The Zohar passage cited by Kalonymus Kalman places this belief on the lips of Rabbi Yaakov, a student in the innermost circle of the second-century mystical master, Shimon bar Yochai. Yochai is the primary inspiration behind the teachings of the Zohar. Yechiel HaLevi Epstein, another Hassidic master, closer to the founding generations of the Hassidic movement, also confirms this intuition. He claimed it as central to the self-understanding of modern day Hassidic Kabbalists saying, “The masters of every generation, students of the Baal Shem Tov . . . their path is the path of the prophets of God.” This tradition can be traced back generation to generation in an unbroken lineage from the Kabbalists, to the prophets themselves. According to Kalonymus Kalman, the essence of the path of the prophets, and that of the Kabbalists, is both understanding and experience that “the depth of revelation for the sacred ones of God is in their very inner soul, their inner soul which is a substantive and real part of the Divine. It itself—the revelation of their soul to their soul—is the revelation of God to them . . . and thus, with their revealed soul, they are able to be a Merkava LaShekina, a vehicle for the Divine.”

First 4 Chapters of the Book Your Unique Self Ken Wilber writes about Your Unique Self: DR. MARC GAFNI’S INTEGRAL UNIQUE SELF TEACHING IS SEMINAL. What you hold in your hands is a radically exciting and ground-breaking book that will change forever not only how you think about enlightenment, but how you understand, from a post-metaphysical 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.

This essay is supplemented by “Notes on the Study of Later Kabbalah in English,” which contains a bibliography covering Lurianic kabbalah. "Which Lurianic Kabbalah?" should be considered a work in progress and a call for more in-depth research.

Kabbalah (Cabala) is a word derived from the Aramaic word QwabIa which means "to receive." The Random House Dictionary, College Edition, identifies the word as 'Cabala'-"a system of esoteric theosophy and theurgy developed by Rabbis from about the 7th to 18th centuries, reaching its peak about the 12th and 13th centuries, and based on a mystical method of interpreting the Scriptures to penetrate sacred mysteries and foretell the future. For centuries Hassidic Jews have practiced a form of mysticism known as Kabbalah. Its origin is not known for certain. Some trace it back to the time of Moses. Others say it began in the 13th century with the primary work Zohar ("the Book of Splendor"). Kabbalah is not one unified and normative system but rather a way of looking at the universe through a Jewish mystical perspective. Over the years many occult distortions have influenced thinking on Kaballah. Regardless of its origin and the many distortions that are practiced under the name Kabbalah, it has had an impact on Christianity and many seekers of wisdom have endeavored to study its depths. I have found much wisdom in it when it is preceded and balanced by the authentic study of Torah (Aramaic: Oreta which means Enlightenment). This study will cover the Kabbalistic concept of Tikkun-literally meaning, "repair" or, in its expanded form-fixing the world. The background material was gleaned from a variety of Jewish and Christian sources as well as through personal experiences in life. It is important to note that the material presented in this writing on Kaballah is typical of most Kaballistic works in that they include mystical and metaphysical concepts that illustrate truth. They are to be considered seriously but are not all to be taken literally. They utilize symbols to illuminate our minds beyond rigid and linear thinking patterns. In addition, it is important to point out from a Christian perspective, these concepts are not intended to replace the unique work of redemption already completed by Jesus Christ. These concepts can assist us as spiritual, physical, and mental disciplines that lead to a higher level of understanding of self in relationship to God. Each human living is believed to have a special tikkun as his or her unique and divine mission in the overall redemptive process of God. In the overall redemptive and restorative process of creating a paradise on earth, each human act either aids or impedes this process. We will generally be blind to the area we need to correct. We need a mirror to see, recognize, and understand our blind spots. There is no situation in life that is not part of our Tikkun process. The Hebrew words, etzer keneged, used in Genesis to refer to a wife, are usually translated "helper." These words literally mean, "helpful against" and relate to the soulmate role that a spouse has in challenging as well as helping us in our growth through life (our tikkun). This same concept is carried over to other areas of life. This paper deals at a basic level with relationships that are challenging as well as supporting for growth to occur ultimately leading to healing or correction (tikkun).