Most Recent Blog-Posts

• Ervin Laszlo & Marc Gafni on Supercoherence

  
  

  Watch and listen to this 6-minute video, the fourth part of a 10-part dialogue with Ervin Laszlo and Marc Gafni in Tuscany on the topic of Evolutionary Love–envisioning a new Renaissance that will take us to the future. Watch previous posts from this series:

  • The New Renaissance, & Love as an Erotic Force
  • The Second Shock of Existence
  • Evolutionary Love, the True Nature of Reality, & Unique Self Enlightenment

  Contents

  • 1 Enjoy the fourth part of the dialogue here:
  • 2 Transcript
    • 2.1 >>> You can watch the whole 10-part dialogue here <<<
  • 3 If you like the dialogue, you may be interested in our online course “Becoming a Future Human”

  Enjoy the fourth part of the dialogue here:

  
  

  Transcript

  Dr. László: The idea is in us, I think. This is what I want to emphasize. You know, it’s been only last few years that I’ve kind of rediscovered that I’m a Platonist, I didn’t know that. I always thought of myself as more Aristotelian, but I discovered that in Plato, this idea that our deepest level, what Plato called the soul, or the spirit, it knows it all. It’s there. When we discover something, we rediscover it. The knowledge is there, because everything that we need in this world, everything that brought us here to be a complex species, endowed with consciousness, had to be in us, had to be a part of our heritage, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, so there is this drive towards complexity, diversity in this unity.

  And this is part of the unfolding of this evolutionary trend in the world. It unfolds because systems become integrated with other systems. Each of them maintains its identity, each of them contributes to it. Now if you could contribute to it consciously, you can carry forward this evolutionary trend, this evolutionary drive, toward higher levels of integration. This individuality, diversity, this unity, we can carry it forward much more effectively, enhance this process. And to my mind, this is what I’m thinking now, and what am working on now. This is the ultimate meaning, if there is such a thing, I’m think there is, ultimate meaning of existence, of conscious existence. That we’re able to prehend, to comprehend, that we are part of this evolutionary unfolding symphony. Which is taking us, like you have pointed out, is taking us as unique irreducible selves, into a larger unity, into a larger whole.

  We don’t have to worry about surrendering ourselves, because as conscious being, we maintain the universe in us. The whole universe is encompassed in our consciousness, because we can grasp it, we can prehend it, as Whitehead would say. So we are there, as an irreducible whole, in the universe, which is unfolding around us, and unfolding in us. We can describe it objectively, as the coherence of elements in higher level systems. We can describe is subjectively, but just as meaningfully, and perhaps even more meaningfully, as the sense of becoming part, part of larger and larger communities, communing with others, and this is the world around us. And that’s the idea, that’s the element that we have neglected. That’s the element in our deep consciousness, that we have to recover, through meditation, through prayer. That’s where spirituality, I think, helps, to us, to rediscover that we are part of a cosmic symphony unfolding.

  We carry our individuality as a force, as an element, not by disregarding and subordinating the rest, but by cohering, embracing this. I talk, you know, about all embracing love. You mentioned loved could be subverted a little bit if it’s limited to two or more individuals.

  Marc Gafni: That would be ordinary love, egoic love.

  Dr. László: Egoic love, but we could have a deeper love, which is our sense of being a part of the cosmos. Now, this seems to be like a very big statement, but part of reality, if you have that sense, you start relating differently, then you start not using coal, but using solar, for example. Then you start acting in a way that you can co-evolve with others around you. I’m convinced that biologists have also pointed out, there is no evolution in the world, except co-evolution. There is nothing except in partnership with others around it. Coherence is ultimately supercoherence, as you mentioned. To my mind, supercoherence as a very simple definition, is the coherence among coherent systems.

  We are a coherent system, in so far as we’re healthy. When we have disease, then we’re breaking down as a coherence, but as healthy beings we are coherent. Now, we are also coherent with our group, with our fellows, with our communities, with our families, with our ethnic group, with our culture, with our nation, et cetera, and ultimately with human kind. Then we are supercoherent. And there is nothing on this planet, on the web of life, that would not be supercoherent, except modern people, because they have forgotten this larger part of their coherence, and that’s the task before us, to recover this, to be, again, feel ourselves a part of the unfolding symphony of life, on this Earth. That’s the only way I think we can overcome our problems. That’s the best way we can move into a future where we can participate, where we can flourish, and have the rest of the system flourish as well.

  Marc Gafni: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. So there’s this dislocation, right, which is this unique dislocation modernity, and this dislocation, of course, has served initially the evolutionary process, because it has allowed for the emergence of self, and the self’s dignity, and the self’s right, so human rights and democracy and feminism, have been what’s emerged from the beginning of this dislocation, the beginning of the dislocation was, I’m not only defined in terms of my larger context, I actually have irreducibly, irreducible dignity independently. You’re following, everyone who’s listening, so this dislocation that Ervin’s describing begins as a health evolutionary movement forward, but then it pathologizes, because the beginning of it stated, I’m not only part of a larger context, I also have my own irreducible dignity, but then it lost, it forgot, of course, I’m part of a larger context, of course I’m located right in the larger context, it dislocated from any location other than the desiccated self. And then the desiccated self was unable to experience its own meaning, and its own sense of wholeness. It then absorbed, parasitically, everything into itself, whether as a nation, or as an individual, which began the massive consumption of energy regimes, which produced the second shock of existence. And as Ervin said, we’re telling the exact same story. You know, slightly different ways of telling the narrative, which makes it exciting, but it’s the same story.

  
  

  >>> You can watch the whole 10-part dialogue here <<<

  In their dialogue, Ervin Laszlo and Marc Gafni share about the Second Shock of Existence, the New Renaissance, Evolutionary Love, and Unique Self Enlightenment as well as cutting-edge topics like supercoherence, self-organization, and the Unique Self Symphony.

  
  

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  If you like the dialogue, you may be interested in our online course “Becoming a Future Human”

  Who do we need to become in order for humanity to make it though its current dangerous technological adolescence and to create a world that is truly commensurate with our full human, scientific, social, spiritual, and technological capabilities? If you are here to embody your unique gift fully for the benefit of all life and play your role as a steward of the cosmos and the birth of a new humanity, then welcome! This course is for everyone that knows humanity is at the brink of an epochal shift, that believes we can create the world the great sages knew was possible, and that wants to be a part of co-creating that world together.

  >>> Learn more about the course here <<<

  
  
  

• Dr. Zachary Stein’s New Paper: Love in a Time Between Worlds

  
  

  On the Metamodern “Return” to a Metaphysics of Eros

  What is the world?
  What is my mind?
  Can I really know love?
  Can I really know what is out there, what reality actually is?
  How do we move humanity forward at this time of great existential crisis?

  These are questions Zachary Stein asks in his paper Love in a Time Between Worlds: On the Metamodern “Return” to a Metaphysics of Eros as he turns the reader’s attention towards a metamodern metaphysics, or a new way at looking at reality.

  Metamodern being the era of time we are now in where we are aware of the scope of the crises we face together and we are aware of the lack of a powerful cultural narrative.

  “The term metamodern is used simply to describe the structure of what is emerging “after postmodernism;” it points out the new personalities, cultures, and theories that are able to critique and integrate the insights of both the modern and the postmodern.”

  Metaphysics being the stories we tell about ourselves and about the universe.

  “Believe it or not, there are metaphysical systems that survived postmodernism and popped out of the far end of the 1990’s with “truth” and “reality” still intact. These include object-oriented ontology and dialectical critical realism, among others. Metaphysics can be practiced after Kant and Darwin only by theorizing beyond what is thought of as acceptable in postmodernism and late-stage capitalism, as I discuss in the first section below.”

  Cosmo-Erotic Humanism, as is expertly detailed in A Return to Eros, by Kristina Kincaid and Marc Gafni, is a species of metamodern metaphysics, or, simply put, we need to embrace telling the most ultimate stories about ourselves, and about the universe. If we don’t do that, we will stay stuck in hyperobject problems, problems that are huge objects, extended over mass space and time, and effecting us all the time, like global climate change, racism and ineffectual politics.

  From respecting science as an indispensable form of knowing, to seeing that science is always contextual and truth always tentative; that reality always holds deeper truths, to a systems view of life, to panpsychism, that consciousness is everywhere in the universe and “as real” as matter and space, Stein opens the door for us to personally more deeply enter into these big questions in our own lives and communities.

  Kristina Amelong

  >>> Download the Paper Here <<<

  

  
  
  

• Evolutionary Love, the True Nature of Reality, & Unique Self Enlightenment

  
  

  Watch and listen to this 14-minute video, the third part of a 10-part dialogue with Ervin Laszlo and Marc Gafni in Tuscany on the topic of Evolutionary Love – envisioning a new Renaissance that will take us to the future. In it, Ervin Laszlo introduces the concept of love and entanglement through physics, while Marc unpacks evolutionary love and its place in structures and society. Watch previous posts from this series, The New Renaissance, & Love as an Erotic Force, or The Second Shock of Existence.

  Contents

  • 1 Enjoy the third part of the dialogue here:
    • 1.1 Ervin Laszlo introduces the concept of love and entanglement through physics:
    • 1.2 Marc Gafni unpacks evolutionary love and its place in structures and society:
    • 1.3 >>> You can watch the whole 10-part dialogue here <<<
  • 2 If you like the dialogue, you may be interested in our online course “ Becoming a Future Human”

  Enjoy the third part of the dialogue here:

  Ervin Laszlo introduces the concept of love and entanglement through physics:

  • Love is first expressed in this universe when particles emerged in the big bang. There were particles of matter and antimatter. These particles when they collided annihilated each other, the surviving particles are now the substance matter. What did these particles do? Hydrogen nuclide looked for a companion, the electron, which started rotating around the nucleus of the hydrogen nuclide. This formed the Hydrogen atom. The Hydrogen atom picks up another electron, and becomes Deuteron. Gradually these atoms themselves relate among each other and form to create further unions and integrations of more complex forms and life emerges out of non-life.
  • The way in which every particle is related and sensitive to one another is called entanglement.
  • Einstein didn’t believe entanglement when he tried to split an atom in half and project the other half further away, thinking that he would measure the two separately bringing in new results. It turns out the other particle felt when the first half was being measured, changing the result. This flabbergasted the science community. Every element of the natural world is related instantly to every other element. Information is instant, and much more direct than physics originally thought.
  • Entanglement is universal, is present in us, in our consciousness, because it’s part of our cosmic heritage. It’s part of the symphony of love.
  • In a coherence system every part is sensitively interconnected with every other part. New life wouldn’t be possible without coherence between cells, acting as one, so to speak. We are an integration of different cells, working together to create a symphony, a living organism. If any part of this unit breaks, we have disease.
  • There’s a need to rediscover this connectivity within us, outside of us. We have to recognize that we’re a part of these ongoing wholes, otherwise we cannot survive ourselves.

  Marc Gafni unpacks evolutionary love and its place in structures and society:

  • Evolutionary love is not ordinary love. What we’re describing here is awakening to the true nature of reality, an interconnected evolutionary love that lives at every level of reality. The human being can adopt this love in one of two ways, an egoic way – a disguise for the separate self seeking security – or awaken and realize love is living in me and I am an irreducible unique part of the larger whole, and I awaken to that reality as my actual consciousness otherwise known as enlightenment.
  • The universe has an interior, a prehension, allurement and entanglement that lives at the quantum level and the macroscopic level.  This attractive force moves up and down reality. We’re not saying reality is an entangled system of interconnected “its”. Reality emerges from an erotic force, which connects everything and that force comes alive in us when we awaken (enlightenment).
  • The second shock of the existence (See the Second Shock of Existence post here) requires an evolution of self. A transformation of identity beyond the separate self, to be an enlightened unique self is to realize there’s no externalities.
  • The evolution of consciousness that responds to the second shock of existence we can call the democratization of enlightenment, enlightenment becomes democratized and the evolution of enlightenment from true self to unique self begins the symphony of love.
  
  

  >>> You can watch the whole 10-part dialogue here <<<

  In their dialogue, Ervin Laszlo and Marc Gafni share about the Second Shock of Existence, the New Renaissance, Evolutionary Love, and Unique Self Enlightenment as well as cutting-edge topics like super-coherence, self-organization, and the Unique Self Symphony.

  ---

  If you like the dialogue, you may be interested in our online course “ Becoming a Future Human”

  Who do we need to become in order for humanity to make it though its current dangerous technological adolescence and to create a world that is truly commensurate with our full human, scientific, social, spiritual, and technological capabilities? If you are here to embody your unique gift fully for the benefit of all life and play your role as a steward of the cosmos and the birth of a new humanity, then welcome! This course is for everyone that knows humanity is at the brink of an epochal shift, that believes we can create the world the great sages knew was possible, and that wants to be a part of co-creating that world together.

  >>> Learn more about the course here <<<