Hod she'b Chesed
הָיום חָמִשָׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֵר
Today is five days of the Omer
Humility in Love
Arrogant love is not love. You can often get locked in a certain position in love, unable to forgive your beloved nor to bend or compromise your position. Hod introduces the aspect of humility in love; the ability to rise above yourself and forgive or give in to the one you love just for the sake of love even if you're convinced that you're right.
Know that the ability to love comes from a greater, higher place—from G-d. Swallow your pride and reconcile with a loved one you have quarrelled with.
Today we explore Chesed, Lovingkindness, the expression of Love’s energies, reflected through Hod, Glory, the container that shines with the beauty of these energies. Hod represents form, that which limits the expression of life energy at Netzach. The sefirot for today radiate through the body from the right shoulder to the left hip.1
The Universal expresses Itself in the material world. That Which Is Without Limit manifests through that which is always limited. We, who span both realities, seek our balance between the two.
How often we grow confused between what is real and what is not real. We cherish the form, the container and glorify that. We forget that its true meaning derives from that which is not material that it contains. Having forgotten the Truth that is at the core, we worship and create shells which dissolve before our very eyes.2 Focusing on these external forms, we expend much energy striving to shore them up without attending to the essence that is, in fact, their real beauty, their true glory. We ourselves cannot help but become caught in this dilemma. The form that holds the Spirit of Love and Light always reflects that beauty, but only when we honour it for what it truly is. The challenge of Hod in Chesed is just this kind of remembering where that beauty really resides.
Becoming more aware of my being Life of the Universe manifesting, I reflect upon the idea that I am the embodiment of the Love in this Universe. As (long as) I remember my true being, this Love and Compassion will reflect in all I meet. I see now with greater clarity, the Blessing of the One Who Gives all life its beauty and its glory – for ever and ever.
Reflections
This is not easy to achieve. But it is a worthwhile goal.
Footnotes
There are two ways to look at, for instance, Hod she’b Chesed. The first is Chesed’s energies expressed or reflected through Hod. The other is Hod’s influence on Chesed’s energies. My tendency is to explore it from the latter perspective. Chesed is the fixed leg around which the seven sefirot of Assiyah dance. ↩︎
Just as we need to learn to balance our bodies by working with both our right and our left legs, until we find the harmony within to enable us to stand and then to walk. ↩︎