The Building Blocks of Kindness

“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”  ~ C.G. Jung

Today, the Sixth Day of the Omer, is the day focused on yesod, balanced foundation and the interpreter of all those abstract ideas of the more profound mystical spheres into something practical.

How do we bring the idea of universal loving kindness into our minds as a "doing" instead of a "thinking" or "feeling"?

All actions start with a spark within us - even our on the spot reactions are rooted deeply inside. To consciously bring compassion and loving-kindness from our best selves into the world of action requires conscious balancing and internal negotiating - the job of that foundational interpreter, yesod.

A solid foundation takes an uneven footing on the earth to create a level place for a building and yesod helps us build a solid place within our minds to bring constructive and kind actions into the world.

Day 17 of the Omer - balance and beauty

Tiferet in Tiferet - balanced beauty and harmonized resolution in itself.

Starting out on a project means from the very beginning holding the balanced whole in mind.

We often begin with fanciful notions and attachments to the flights of fancy of our dreams. These inspirations can be embraced and encouraged even as we ground ourselves with other values.

Dream big, aim for beauty, and see the beauty as emerging from many sources woven together. Even an individual project embodies different important influences brought together to create a balanced whole.

Breathe inspiration in, think of beauty, and pursue it with balance.

Beautiful counting everyone!

Day 3 of the Omer

Tiferet in Chesed - harmonious balance in loving kindness.

Tiferet often connotes beauty, perhaps a supreme harmonized balance between important values - in this case between Chesed, compassion and kindness, and Gevurah, strength and rigor.

Perhaps the beauty we find is the balance between immediate needs and long term needs. In order to enact kindness that transforms the world, we may need to think beyond the good feeling of doing a compassionate deed in the moment. How can we exercise our compassion so as to create a ripple effect of kindness in our selves, our families, and our larger communities?

Balance our kindness for the long view.

Happy Passover and Happy Counting of the Omer!

Day 2 of the Omer

Gevurah in Chesed - power or rigor in compassion.

At first glance two difficult to combine concepts, still to apply compassion rigorously we would have to demand compassion of ourselves even when we feel no kindness.

Often our first response to difficulty excludes any compassion. To be rigorous in kindness would require us to admit a compassionate reflection, especially towards ourselves when we might be least disposed to do so.

Happy counting!