Day 10: Tiferet she’b’Gevurah, Beauty within Judgment

TEXT STUDY: Think about how God’s glory fills the world, and how God is the subtlest of the subtle. … And then your thought might split open all the heavens at once and ascend higher than the angels (Ba’al Shem Tov, Tzava’at HaRivash, 137).
What a beautiful comment on spiritual practice! Work with the tools you have. Think about the divine. Try to feel its quiet presence. Without a doubt, this work will uplift you. Because the tools themselves are powerful.
But then, maybe, these training wheels will fall away. And then you’ll soar into a new understanding. Something your tools alone could not have built.
Questions
IDEAS. How does a familiar way of knowing or habit of thought constrain you?
FEELINGS. What does it feel like when you suddenly see anew? In your body and mood and style of thinking?
PRACTICES. What everyday practices or habits of thinking do you use to cultivate higher vision? To see ideals, hope, spirit hidden in the fabric of daily life?
GOD. Do you imagine (or experience) God beyond all concepts? Or are some concepts just right for expressing the divine?
About the questions
These questions take off from the text above. And they also go deeper into the daily reflections in the book Shechinah, Bring Me Home: Kabbalah and the Omer in Real Life.
There are many ways to explore these questions. You can: Tell a story from your own life. Give an example from a book or a movie. Write a poem. Analyze a concept. Offer a definition. Draw a picture. Sing a song.
New to the Omer? Here’s a guide to the theory and practice.