rabbi marc gafni has definitely acquired a special place in my heart (yes, christy, i too have thoroughly enjoyed integral naked’s 3 part series with him). gafni ended the third discussion by explaining patchworks of redemption:
a person to experience the notion of really feeling their own story — and feeling the wonder and grace and infinite radiant beauty is just so incredibly important….
the greatest gift any of us can give a person is to reflect back to them, through our faces, that we are receiving them and their wonder…
he went on to explain that this practice is just what Integral Kabbalah is. integral means integrity and kabbalah means to receive. thus, integral kabbalah is
the integrity of receiving…
to receive someone else with integrity…
to receive their wholeness and their wonder.
how often do you take the time to really feel your own story? do you feel the wonder, grace, and infinite radiant beauty? what about you is wonder-full, grace-full, beauty-full? wow, wouldn’t it be amazing if each of you (and others) that so heart-fully shared how you’d like to be remembered would share something about you that is wonderful, graceful, and/or beautiful. it’s okay, no one will think that you are full of yourself, instead we’ll show integrity, receiving your wholeness and your wonder, and hopefully reflecting it back to you. (i’m caught in a day dream now of living in a world where it’s not considered bragging to acknowledge one’s gifts and the infinite radiant beauty that one offers to the world… and also a society in which it’s not intimidating to try and locate that within ourselves.)