Success 3.0 and Second Simplicity: Unique Self Dharma Goes Mainstream

The Success 3.0 Summit, this amazing gathering from October 30th to November 2nd, 2014 in Boulder, Colorado of the world’s leading thinkers, entrepreneurs, and change-agents that was co-initiated by the Center for Integral Wisdom was a wild success.

Among the speakers were thought leaders like Tony Hsieh (CEO, Zappos Inc), Arianna Huffington (Editor in Chief, Huffington Post), Alanis Morissette (Singer/Songwriter & Activist), Blake Mycoskie (Founder, TOMS Shoes), Barbara Marx Hubbard (Author, Social Innovator, Evolutionary Thought Leader), Michael Franti (Lead Vocalist of Spearhead & Activist), Casey Sheahan (former CEO, Patagonia), Lynne Twist (Global Activist & Author), Adam Bellow (Vice President, Harper Collins), Ibrahim Husseni, Business leader, Ben Jealous (former President & CEO of the NAACP), DJ Spooky (Composer, Musician & National Geographic Emerging Explorer), Tom Chi (Innovator & Founder, Google Glass), Jack Canfield (Author, Chicken Soup for the Soul), and many others.

The goal of the summit was to articulate a new, transformative vision of conscious living, innovation, and social impact and to create a new definition of Success that can lead humanity into the future. And that was exactly what happened. The partnership between Marc Gafni, the President of Center for Integral Wisdom, and the other Leaders of the Center was so clear and beautiful that it naturally manifested this powerful event which so many people in the room felt was perhaps the most powerful event of this kind that had ever attended in their lives. I want to particularly note the love and respect between Marc and Kate that was subtle and quiet in the space but clearly lit up the room.

In the Media

About 600 people attended the event live and thousands of people watched at least part of it through the live stream. The event was wildly shared through social media with many thousand tweets on twitter alone. Gaiam TV will screen the videos of it by the end of the month. And last but not least, many of the speakers and attendees were recorded alongside the event as part of a movie that will emerge from this. So, stay tuned.

Second Simplicity of Dharma

It was gorgeous to see the many ways the Dharma of Unique Self, Eros, Outrageous Love, and World Spirituality, that Dr. Marc Gafni has been articulating and outrageously transmitting for the last several years, has played a role in this amazing happening.

Most of the speakers started to use the 6-word Mantra Wake Up, Grow Up, Show Up. Dr. Marc Gafni, Visionary Scholar, Wisdom Teacher, and Co-Founder and President of CIW, brilliantly transmitted these thought forms in his opening speech. He suggested that every generation needs to participate in the evolution of consciousness. And:

“It is our turn. We are here to articulate an ethics of success that is rooted in Outrageous Love. Outrageous Love demands a new vision of success.”

He also introduced one of his key terms, the word Second Simplicity. Second Simplicity is what he calls the Simplicity that comes after Complexity. After having really grasped the complex concepts, we can get to a stage where we can express them in a compellingly simple way–thereby reaching people from all stages of consciousness.

While many of the concepts Marc brought into the space carry a lot of complexity–which became obvious to everyone listening to the basic introduction Ken Wilber gave in his keynote address–Marc transmitted them in a way that people can grasp intuitively without even knowing or understanding the depths of the teaching. And yet, all of the complexity is embedded into his Second Simplicity expression of the teaching.

For example, the Six Word Success 3.0 Narrative that Marc was talking about according to him needs to answer two basic questions: Who are you? And: Are you willing to play a larger game?

“The Six Word Narrative is: Wake up – Grow up – Show up.”

The depths of the teaching enfolded in that simple phrase can be (and have been) unpacked by him in many books or in-depth teaching days. Or: they can be put into the space in a way that gives people a first intuitive understanding of something profound going on here

The words Unique Self and Outrageous Love could be heard all over the Summit, used by speakers and attendees alike.

This is Second Simplicity at its best.

Marc has charged these words with meaning over the years. On a subtle level, they carry the complexity and wisdom of Integral Theory and age-old traditions. They come with a transmission of meaning and depth. And yet they appear simple and accessible.

People who had never heard of them before were taking them on as if it was natural to talk about Wake up, Grow up, Show up as the new measure for Success 3.0.

Weaving a Thread of Integral Distinctions

Integral philosopher and CIW Co-Founder Ken Wilber offered an in-depth and at the same time basic reading of the terms which was brilliant and critical and complimented Marc’s teaching perfectly. At a critical moment of the Summit Marc illuminated the inner quality of outrageous love that he showed to be animating Ken’s teaching which startled and awakened everyone in the room. Marc then artistically wove the thread of the whole event by dropping sets of distinctions very gently into the space all through the summit like for example one my favorite his distinction between pre- tragic, tragic and post-tragic consciousness. He reminded us why “extremists feel better when they wake up: They only have one value.” and that “Integral Theory is about love. It is about finding the patterns that connect. It is about giving everything a place on the table.”

Writing Outrageous Love Letters

His second keynote was about Outrageous Pain and the Outrageous Love that is the only response to it. He introduced the idea of God as the infinity of intimacy that is violated by outrageous pain. By that he put Dave Logan’s idea of outrage being more powerful than our dreams into the perspective of the Dharma: “I am outraged because it is not as it is supposed to be. God is in the outrage.”

Another powerful teaching Marc introduced was the answer to the question of why do we close our hearts: It is because “the gap between our ability to feel the pain and our ability to heal the pain is too great. You cannot shut your heart a thousand times a year and keep your other heart open. There is only one heart: One Love–as Bob Marley sang.”

Another distinction he made brought us all really home: While ordinary love is an emotion, a reaction, and even a strategy of the ego, it is Outrageous Love that is the love that moves the entire process of evolution. So, how can we access the outrageous lover in us? The answer is: by writing outrageous love letters. In his words from the Summit:

“You can write an Outrageous Love Letter to yourself. You can write it to a friend or a lover. You can write it to Source. But do it outrageously. Do it as reality itself.”

And with that he invited everyone in the room to write an outrageous love letter. The two lines of people wanting to share their letters at the mics were still long when time ran out. People were deeply moved by that experience and practice. Having done this practice regularly for half a year now, I can attest to how powerful it is.

When Marc then suggested that “You are an outrageous love letter written by reality to itself signed with your name,” sighs of recognition waved through the space.

The Summit at the Agape Wednesday Service

For those of you who don’t want to wait for the videos of the summit, watch and listen to Reverend Michael Beckwith, who co-hosted the Summit, at his post-summit Wednesday Service at Agape, talk about the Summit. His talk about the summit starts at 24:55 of part 2 of the service. At 1:20:55, he gives thanks to the Center for Integral Wisdom and Marc Gafni.

Perhaps the most important teaching of all that Marc shared with the Summit was how he shared the space with Michael Bernard Beckwith. Dr. Michael would blow the space wide open and then Marc would do the same and each word that each of them said loved the other, complemented the other and always integrated into a larger field of knowing, feeling and outrageous love wisdom.

It was a model that I have never seen. Two super strong men, loving each other, in an egoless space that created a field of delight and enlightenment for everyone in the most natural and understated yet powerful and potent way.