Week Three of Counting Omer we examine the nature of Tiferet (תפארת), the 6th Sephirah of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Tiferet is most often translated as beauty. More accurately, it is Elevated Beauty. It sits at the intersection of Khesed and Gevurah, which is why it also means Balance, Integration, the Unexpected and Miracles.
Khesed ShebeTiferet Lovingkindness, Grace, Compassion, Benevolence, and Loyalty within Elevated Beauty, Balance, Integration, the Unexpected, Miracles, and Order. Tiferet intersects – balances - Khesed and Gevurah.
Quality: There is plenty
There is a genuine distinction between a half full and a half empty glass and both viewpoints are valid. Each frame how we see the world.
If you see the glass as half empty, chances are you consider yourself a realist with your feet planted firmly on the ground. You know what is missing, lacking, or broken.
If you see the glass as half full, chances are you consider yourself optimistic and hopeful. You see the water and the space above the water. You hold what is present as well as what is missing.
Training our hearts and mind to see the brokenness and the wholeness of life causes us to be present to the fullness with which life always presents itself.
It also creates paths to healing, if we are willing to be less wedded to the story of our pain and more attentive to feeling the ache, hurt, anger, disappointment, loss…
When I avoid feeling, I am living the glass half empty and there is bleakness. When I allow my feelings the space they need, I am living the glass half full and there is plenty of Lovingkindness, Grace, Compassion, Benevolence, and Loyalty within Elevated Beauty, Balance, Integration, the Unexpected, and Miracles to comfort, tend, and partner with the bleakness. This partnership creates the possibility for a broader view of what is so. After all, the glass cannot be half empty if it weren’t also half full.
Blessings!
Sabrina
© Sabrina Sojourner 2020