Birth Day. That’s one way of thinking about the last day of the Omer. The day we touch on Shechinah she’b’Shechinah. And complete our journey through the tree of sefirot. Sometimes I picture the tree of sefirot as a throne. Divine being, which I can’t really picture, sits on it. Some Kabbalists call this throne…
Category: Spirituality
Afterlife: Omer 46
Netzach: eternity. Malchut or Shechinah: close divine spiritual presence. I think about the afterlife sometimes. As in life after death. I’ve had some visions of it. So I know? believe? hope? it’s another kind of life. And it goes on forever. When my father died, my son was five years old. One day, about a…
Yesod the Stream: Omer 41
Yesod. Foundation. Yesod she’b’Yesod. Ultimate Foundation. What kind of foundation? Not the solid one we see under a house. But a dynamic one, always on the move. Maybe you have a little glass carafe where you mix your salad dressing. You put in oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar. Then you shake it up. And, when…
Balance: Omer 38
Tiferet: Balance. Yesod: Foundation. Tiferet she’b’yesod: Balance as a foundation. Where is the point of balance? Where do our bodies find their foundation? In ballet class, we learned: balance is up. You stand on strong feet. Then you lift up through your legs, torso, chest. Your eyes look up, too. And when you rise on…
Humility: Omer 31
Tiferet. Beauty. Some say balance. Because on the tree of sefirot, love and judgment both flow into it. Tiferet sits in the middle, like a perfectly balanced heart. Hod. Literally, splendor. Also, almost literally, gratitude. What’s a perfect balance between those two definitions? Some say it’s humility. Tiferet she’b’hod. Finding balance through humility. Okay, I’m…
Repetition: Omer 20
Yesod. Foundation. Tiferet. Beauty. Yesod she’b’Tiferet. Foundation of Beauty. What’s the foundation of a beautiful soul? Repetition. Not the kind that goes in circles. But in cycles. Teachers know. When we want to lay a foundation for a good habit, we use repetition. We say things over and over again. And we ask the learners…
Attachment: Omer 18
Netzach: Enduring, Lasting. Tiferet: Beauty. Netzach she’b’Tiferet: Lasting beauty. Wanting beautiful things to last forever. Isn’t that a kind of attachment? One best met with non-attachment practice? But where do I begin? Maybe with last night’s dream. We discover harmful bacteria in our pond. Then, I notice blue ink stains all over my white dress.…
Numinous Beauty: Omer 17
Tiferet: Beauty. Tiferet she’b’Tiferet: Beauty within beauty. The ultimate. The heart of the tree of sefirot. Some say the vibe of Tiferet is like the vibe of YHWH. The ineffable divine, subtle like a breath. But also, like a breath, threading through everything we do. Occasionally it catches our attention. Leaps forward and touches our…
Mantra Strength: Omer 13
Yesod. Foundation. Gevurah. Judgment. Yesod she’b’Gevurah. Foundation of Judgment What are the foundations of judgment? Are they feelings? Beliefs? Can we free ourselves from old foundations? See the world anew? And then learn to make kinder, gentler judgments? Apparently, this is a big question right now. There’s a hot academic debate about “affect theory.” Here’s…
Philosophy Skills: Omer 12
Hod. Splendour. Gevurah. Judgment. Hod she’b’gevurah. Splendid judgment. So, I have a Ph.D. in philosophy. I don’t teach it anymore, and I’m glad. But I learned so much. Philosophy is equal parts critical thinking and creative thinking. In the critical thinking part, you have to define concepts precisely. Think quickly about all the implications of…