The incredibly complex interplay of forces and the thick web of mutual dependency among beings are no less amazing than the distance traversed in this long evolutionary journey. The interrationships between soil, plants, and insects, or those between climate, foliage, and animal life, all leave us breathless as we begin to comtemplate them. It is these very intricacies and complexities that have led the religious fundamentalists to hold fast to the claim that there must be a greater intelligence behind it all, that such complexity can only reflect the planning of a supernatural Mind. But they miss the point of the religious moment here. Our task as religious persons is not to offer counterscientific explanations for the origin of life. Our task is to notice, to pay attention to, the incredible wonder of it all, and to find God in that moment of paying attention.

When do our starting points lack good starting points? When must the substance of our foundation be more substantial?

In the same way, when starting with our foundation we aim to include humility before the wonder of being able to build at all.

[From yesterday]

Appropriate sense of self helps us build strong foundations.

[From Wednesday, May 16]

The key may be in not relying only on rigor when building. An excess of rigor hurts the base of the structure as much as its absence.

This may not seem intuitive. Still, a building, a structure, a project, all begin better when we start them with generosity in mind.

Malchut, where theory hits practice, in Hod, humble smallness - the doing of modesty requires care.

How can we follow a path of humility without making others feel guilty? How can we inspire without being immodest? These form some practical questions about humble aims.

Let's try to be humble without assumptions, modest without judgements.

We must ground ourselves in order to appreciate the wonder of the world.

And today is LaG b'Omer - the 33rd day of the Omer counting, on which restrictions ease and celebrations take place.

The Omer Counting marks the time between Passover and Shavuot - two important agricultural holidays that also became two important theological holidays in the Jewish calendar.

On the agricultural front, we mark this time as when winter planted grain ripens on the stalk, and is thus vulnerable to being destroyed by heat waves. In an attempt to not disrupt this fragile natural balance, some Jews observe a minor mourning period for the first 33 days of the Omer - from the Second Night of Passover until May 10 this year - and refrain from trimming hair or shaving, as well as abstaining from celebrations. There are multiple traditions about when this period ends, either the 33rd day as the last day, or merely a respite before the true end of the period, on the holiday of Shavuot, or weeks, which is the 49th day of the Omer, 7 weeks after we began, when the grain harvest is in and we can make an offering.

On the theological aspect, these days mark the movement from Passover, when the Israelites were freed from slavery, to Shavuot, when we received the Torah on Mount Sinai - freedom leads to revelation. In that spirit, recognizing that we must prepare ourselves for revelation, the Kabbalaists used the 7 by 7 structure - 7 days of 7 weeks to incorporate the lower seven sefirot of the Tree of Life. This model lays out important pricniples, many of which are paired with their complementary ideas (Chesed, loving kindness, with Gevurah, rigor, for example), and others are their balanced resolutions (like Tiferet, balanced beauty, and Yesod, balanced foundation). Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) identifies these principles as elements essential to living, thinking, and feeling in a way that leads to inspiration and creativity in appreciation of the gift of existence.

So for 16 more days I will continue to count and reflect - questions?