Statement in Support of Dr. Marc Gafni by CWS Leadership 2013

Statement in Support of Dr. Marc Gafni by CWS Leadership 2013

Marc Gafni is most well known for his teaching on Outrageous Love. In Marc’s words, “We live in world of Outrageous Pain. The only response to Outrageous Pain is Outrageous Love.” By Outrageous Love, Marc means the willingness to “radically commit and make significant sacrifice to foster a world in which the power of love is more potent then the love of power.”

Whenever a figure like Marc appears, he arouses strong and sometimes polarized responses. As so many of Marc’s colleagues, students and friends attest, Marc is a person of rare love, commitment and integrity. He is larger then life, deeply caring, self- deprecating and a great lover of God and of people, even as he is one of the most brilliant teachers of higher philosophical and spiritual realization in our generation. We recommend you read the first three documents listed below to get a direct sense of Marc’s true persona.

Like many public figures with a complex teaching and large presence, Marc’s private life has been the subject of rumors and distortion. There have been false reports about Marc Gafni personal behavior. This is categorically not true. There have been assertions that this behavior is a pattern in his life. This also is categorically not true.

Marc’s thinking and teaching on love and sexuality have evolved over many years since his early teachings within the Orthodox Jewish community. In his personal evolution from traditional orthodoxy, he has inevitably offended some of the faithful from those traditions.

During this evolution, Marc has said, in a public letter posted on his site, that he feels he made mistakes of judgment along the way which he regrets, and he made a sincere public apology for any part he might have had in creating the context that allowed for the false complaints. However, with that apology, Marc and the CWS Leadership cateogrically rejects the distorted narrative that seeks to characterize relational mistakes in ways that suggest that Marc would ever be dishonoring to the feminine or behave in ways that could legitimately be characterized as abuse or harrassment. This is a crtiical distinction of the kind that are often lost in vitriol and flaming quality of so many internet posts. Quite the opposite is the case. Marc is radically committed to the evolution of love and intimate relationships to their highest possible forms of mutual dignity and possibility.

When a public figure has his character attacked through the machinery of the Internet, there is a drip-drip-drip nature to the dissemination of that disinformation over time. Marc has responded fully through the documents linked below. In addition, Marc has received the unequivocal support of many thoughtful leaders, both men and women, in the consciousness movement.

In the response to controversy section of marcgafni.com, you will find a full set of documents, all posted in the public domain, which clearly refute the distortions that have appeared in some public forums. In a world where mistrust of spiritual and religious authority has been frequently well-founded, we hope to receive your deeper deliberation and consideration of the accusations wrongly spread against one of the great teachers, philosophers and lovers of people, of our time.

Center for World Spiritualty Leadership