The Kabbalah of beauty

Empathy in beauty Hod of Tiferet

Last week as we were winding down the energy of Tiferet and transitioning into the world of Netzach, we had a great opportunity to reflect on the combination of Hod of Tiferet, and ensure that our definition of beauty continues to vibrate from our highest selves-rejecting, for example the way our society objectifies women, by ascribing beauty to them only in terms of their physical attractiveness.

The notion of “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” is both an inaccurate and demeaning gauge of beauty.

The energy of Hod– empathy helps to elevate us as we search for appropriate ways to siphon off from the beauty that floats around us, and direct it into the flow our own lives, by reminding us, that joy to be found in outer beauty is short-lived and is akin to stealing something that doesn’t belong to you.

To look at a person without seeing them through the tinted windows of ones own persona is to learn to let go, and see them as they see themselves.

This is not just the rule for discovering true Beauty in one another. It holds true for the discovery, and experiencing of the beauty lurking in the corners of our lives, and in the nooks and crannies, in the “cleft of the rock” of all our human and planetary experience.

Hod of Tiferet — helps us understand that the light of all the beauty in this world begins to shine in us when we stop seeing everything that happens to us, from our limited human eyes- liberating us from the need to view our lives solely, from the one dimensional narrow straits of our perspective.

The step away from narcissism toward the genuine seeing of another, is also a leap of faith in the goodness to be found even in challenging times, and the goodness and true beauty to be found in the heart of the other, and the world around us.

An empathetic faithful Hod step toward truly seeing an other is also a giant faithful step toward G-d as well.

A step toward the faith that we can and will be held, and warmly embraced by the goodness of the universe, a good that will be given, surrendering our fearful need to violently seize and take.

On the wings of Hod we soar from the earthly perspective of “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” upward to a heavenly perspective of “beauty is in the eyes of the beheld!”

Much Love
Rabbi Yossi