Coexisting in Harmony

The sages teach us that beauty is found within the balance of mercy and judgement; when gevurah is balanced with chesed, there is tiferet. Beauty exists in their harmony.

This is a Kabbalistic understanding of how three of the ten sefirot—or emanations of the Divine essence, of the Infinite [Ein Sof]—are manifested within the world.

To define what this beauty, what tiferet, is would take me much longer than this blog post will allow. (Good thing I wrote a fantasy novel to explore it instead.) And to be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I could. I don’t know if anyone has defined it yet.

What is beauty?

Is it merely the sight of a luminous sunrise? A perfect melody? The first snowfall? The scent of a sweet blossom? The smile of a newborn babe?

While, yes, beauty might exist within those things and so much more, they are—all of them—only something which can be experienced through one of the five senses. They are physical, material, reflections of beauty.

But beauty, true beauty, tiferet as I’ll now call it—that is something far more intrinsic and intangible than the softness of two lovers’ lips when they kiss.

We live in a world today where inclusivity is the normative. We define ourselves by what we are, not who we are. Who you are is more than a race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious observance, or even hair type. I think we are too afraid to be honest with ourselves, to learn who we are, so we hide behind the guise of what we are, thinking our labels sufficient to define us, ignoring the dissatisfaction aching in our souls, yearning to be reached, to be loved, to be whole.

We are also living in a time when it is more common to announce when an injustice has been committed, to seek retribution from those who have wronged us. Activism rages in its myriad of forms. Now, don’t misunderstand—we need to fight injustice. However, I often wonder if we have been beaten down and hurt for so long, we lost sight those who we fight are just as broken and hurt as us? Have we become so enraged over the most trivial of offences we have forgotten how to extend mercy?

I think tiferet is found when we discern between whether to exercise judgement or mercy.

If tiferet is the harmony of mercy and judgement coexisting, then it must be more than a materialistic expression of our subjectivity. It has to be more. I need it to be more because without it, I am lost. We all are.

I’ve been presented with an opportunity where, if chosen, I could exercise either my harshest judgements, my most profound mercies, or…I could help teach those who have wronged me, help them recognize their own lack, that they might not wrong others like me they may meet who come after me.

But what if they continue to resist change? What if I am unsuccessful? Where is the glory in failure?

There is none, but then again, I’m not doing it for glory. If I accept this opportunity for the gift that it is—the responsibility, the burden—it will only be because I know I must try to create harmony where there is strife, peace where there is pain, whether I greet success or failure at the end of my journey.

Vengeance is a tricky thing. I think this is why Hashem warns us to leave it up to Him for only He can bear it.

The sages also teach that we continue encountering the same challenges because we do not learn how to respond differently, and until we do, until we break the behavioural patterns trapping us in our conflict, we will continue to falter.

I wonder, though, if perhaps now I’ve finally learned what it is He wanted me to learn?

Maybe not. I do not think I am that skilled or wise, but perhaps I am more aware. To strive towards tiferet, the harmony of so many sefirot, is a life-long journey, and one I shall continue to make.