Week Six in the journey of self-examination we call “Sefirat Ha-Omer”: observing the “sefirot” (Divine energies) within us.

Literally, the Hebrew word yesod means “foundation.”  It’s helpful to think of yesod as “foundational energy.”

Plato offers a theory about foundational energy in the human psyche. In his dialogue Symposium, eight drunken men and one imaginary woman discuss the nature of love. They speak about love of family, friends, lovers, community, arts and more. All these, they conclude, are expressions of a single drive: the yearning to bring beauty into the world. People yearn to reach beyond themselves, into the realm of the gods, so to speak, for new inspiration. A passion for reaching up, reaching in, and reaching out: that’s “Eros,” a divine messenger and the foundation of human civilization.

For the Ramak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, 1522-1570), Yesod is this foundational energy. Making an analogy between God’s creation and human procreation, he sees Yesod as the energy of the father, providing a seed of inspiration. Ramak cautions men not to waste the Yesod entrusted to them, and to express it in good marital relationships.

Yesod, of course, refers to more than this physical metaphor. Yesod expresses God’s desire to fill us with Divine Spirit, so that we can become creative beings. We are always pregnant with meaning. Beauty can burst through at any moment, on any level of consciousness.

What foundational energies yearn to find expression in your life?

And where can you notice beauty being born?

Image: Eros stringing his bow, Roman copy of Greek statue by Lysippos c. 4th BCE, theoi.com