Yesod she'b Tiferet
הָיום עֶשְׂרִים יָוֹם שֶׁהֵם שְׁנֶי שָׁבוּעוֹת וְשׁישָּׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֵרֹToday is twenty days, which is two weeks and six days of the Omer
Connection in Harmony
For compassion to be realized, it requires a channel between giver and receiver. A mutuality that extends beyond the moment of need. Ensure that something eternal is built as a result of your compassion.
On this day, nearing the end of the third week of our crossing, we bring Yesod into Tiferet. It is our ego identity which we now bathe in the Light of Compassion. Today, Tiferet receives the balance of Foundation within itself, seeking to root this balance in the physical world. The Light is focused on the central pillar of the Tree, from heart to pubis. The promise of this day is the balancing of our lesser and greater “I”, our exclusive and our inclusive identities.
Which “I” looks at the world at any given time determines what is perceived. If it is the smaller “I”, the one who feels separate from all others, then it will be seen in terms of competition, of winning and losing. If from the perspective of the larger “I”, the one who compliments rather than competes, who has rather than needs, then a different reality will be perceived.1 Once I realise it is my self acting all parts in the drama, I will glimpse the nature of the Dance of the Whole. What is really “out there”? It depends on who is looking.
We need both our greater “I” and our lesser “i”. The one is connected to the Universe of Being, and maintains our connection to this greater Light, reminding us who we truly are. The other ensures our biological survival on this planet, so that the Greater Awareness might be in this world.
Focus on blessing that lesser identity in the Light of the greater I that lives within us. Bathe all your feelings of separateness, of competition, and your fears in the Light of Compassion. Do not seek to change the vivifying ego, but to appreciate it more fully. In order to do that, relieve it of responsibilities that it cannot carry, and support it in those it must. My goal is to build a suitable structure for Tiferet to express itself in the world.
The Oneness that exists within me brings blessing to all aspects of my being. The self I bring to the world is enhanced by the Self which connects to all Being. I am grateful for the gifts from my awakening Identity which I now share with others. I am one with all that is…
Reflections
"The finish line is for the ego. The journey is for the soul."
No longer experiencing the awesome wonder of the Creation, we are asleep. We awaken, either through our soul being jolted awake, or suffering sufficient pain that we begin to acknowledge that the universe is infinite and we each have a piece of that infinity existing inside ourselves. We need then to become nothing again, so that God can now clothe us
—Essential Kabbalah by Daniel Matt, p. 71.
Ego arises as part of growing, to protect and to define You—that is an expression of the Infinite Being.) It is Gevurah that creates the limits and boundaries to the awesome being you actually are. Thereupon we being to identify ourselves, and other begin, nay, actually encourage us to identify, to “create”, our selves, the being we are going to become. Suddenly, we find ourselves in this place: we have become the vessel, the covering, we need in order to function in our society. We thus define our world by that yardstick by which we are accepted into the community surrounding us.
Footnotes
One could compare it to sexual love, or lust, or physical attraction, versus true love for a partner, or love for a child, or a sibling. ↩︎