Today’s Omer theme is humility and grace in eternal victory and endurance. (See comments below for more on the Omer)

Before and after meditating today, I read chapter 53 from the The Lao Tzu (See comments below for full text)

The connections between the reading in the Tao and the theme of the Counting of the Omer continue today - as they both seem to be reminding us of the temporary nature of things, and the importance of humility in finding something enduring.

As I meditated this morning, aiming to breathe past all of the distractions and try to find some solid ground on something that could be called enduring, I found myself seeing my attention stray after the things that shine brightly, but usually only for a moment in real time.

In this challenging environment, I learn a bit from this Counting tradition in Judaism that directs us to “count up” to the next holiday. We are not wishing away the numbers, hoping for them to diminish to that destination of “zero”, when “it happens”. Rather, we are trying to see each day as leading to the next, a moment connected to that which has passed upon which we can build, a little.

Each of our days contributes to our whole, and our whole is still so small in relation to the immensity of time and space around us. It is from some sense of smallness that we may be able to find our way to participating in that which endures past the now.

Wishing everyone a good day.

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 164-165, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

53.
If I had but little knowledge
I should, in walking on a broad way,
Fear getting off the road.
Broad ways are extremely even,
But people are fond of by-paths.
The courts are exceedingly splendid,
While the fields are exceedingly weedy,
And the granaries are exceedingly empty.
Elegant clothes are worn,
Sharp weapons are carried,
Food and drinks are enjoyed beyond limit,
And wealth and treasures are accumulated in excess.
This is robbery and extravagance.
This is indeed not Tao (the way).

About the Counting of the Omer in the Jewish holiday cycle:

Today is twenty-six days, which is three weeks and five days of the Counting of the Omer - a time when many Jews note each day between the Second Day of Passover, the celebration of freedom, and the next major holiday, Shavuot, or “weeks”, when Jews celebrate the covenant given at Mount Sinai. Each of the seven weeks and each of the seven days in these weeks correspond to a particular “sefirah” or “sphere”, or perhaps better, “a divine emanation/human aspiration”. These themes allow us to reflect on the days as we move from liberation to revelation in the Jewish calendar.

Today’s Omer theme is humility and grace (“netzach”) in the week of eternal victory and endurance (“netzach”).