Mercy, Mercy Me
April 23 - 29, 2006
Do you write people off as losers without even knowing them? Are you a little too harsh with family or co-workers? Is it difficult to stop judging yourself?
Now is the time to correct the energy of unbalanced judgment running through your life.
On April 13th, the day after Pesach began, we entered a period of 49 days known as the Counting of the Omer. These days are meant to help you fine-tune your nature so that the undiluted Light of the Creator can travel down through the Sefirot (dimensions) and reveal itself fully in your life.
The Sefirot are spiritual transformers, each successively downgrading the Creator’s infinite brightness until it reaches you in a manageable intensity. As you transform your nature bit by bit over the next month or so, you will slowly travel back to your source, a dimension of pure brilliance and immortality. This destination is housed within the holiday of Shavuot, occurring on the 50th day.
Each week corresponds to a different Sefirah that needs clearing. This week relates to the Sefirah of Gevurah. Gevurah carries the energy of judgment and restriction. It demands that there be consequences to your actions. It is here that the process of differentiation and the beginning of physicality originates.
Consider this: when a new life comes into being as a fertilized egg in the womb, it exists in a state of wholeness, absolutely safe from negative influences. This condition of invulnerability is short-lived, however. The growth process begins, and new cells become differentiated as organs, connective tissues, and thousands of other possibilities.
Differentiation, of course, is a necessary and positive development, but it also represents a loss of the completeness that characterized the human cell in its undifferentiated form. By its very nature, the growth of the organism brings about openings in the once impenetrable shield.
So, just as judgment can be useful in our lives (knowing when a situation or person is dangerous, making smart choices), if it goes unchecked, it can create openings for negativity to enter.
In the Torah it is written “You should judge your friend justly.” This initially sounds like yet another spiritual lesson most of us have heard before. In reality there is a very important self-centered reason why we need to judge others justly.
It is said that in the Holy Temple there was a mirror in which the spirituality of a person could be seen. Today, because the Holy Temple doesn’t exist, every person is a mirror for others.
What you see in other people is really within you.
When you judge something you don’t like in another, you’re basically pointing out your own bad points! Yeah, I know, harsh. But true.
Remember, there is a difference between discernment and judgment. The energy for this week helps you strengthen the former and recognize where you don’t need the latter. When you’re sitting there with a head full of judgments about the guy who just sat next to you on the bus or your sister’s new boyfriend, remember that they are merely a mirror for you.
Here’s an exercise. Every time a judgment enters your mind about someone else, ask yourself, “What is the Light showing me about myself now?” Asking the question will lead you to your answer. Once you have seen your own flaws, you’ll immediately feel more mercy towards the other person – and yourself.
All the best,
Yehuda