YouTube video: https://youtu.be/tjQY5U7DvWE
Chesed of Tiferet
Hi everyone, Jordan Drayer, the savvy millennial voice actress whose compassion is love-filled. Today is two weeks and one day of the Omer. We've made it through two weeks! If you want to know more about the Omer and how it works, go to the first blog post for Chesed of Chesed. And you can compassionately like and share.
I like to keep in mind the placement of Tiferet in the middle of the tree or the torso of a body. The largest part of us is our torso, and so we should be made up of compassion and empathy for others. Tiferet balances all of the other sefirot from this position, reminding us to compassionately consider our limits in discipline of others, to be compassionate with ourselves and not debase ourselves by being too humble, etc.
Today we're looking at Chesed of Tiferet, love in compassion. Sometimes these can seem like synonyms, but what if I asked if your compassion was more pity or condescending or patronizing sympathy? Your intention could be to appear understanding, but others may perceive it as condescension.
This is kind of annoying, because we're often told not to care what others think, and that we're not responsible for how people react. If they're so broken that they only see your helping hand as pity, whose fault is that? I'm going to venture to say a lot has pushed them to that point, so there's no one fault. But if that hand is offered begrudgingly, because you just want to do your good deed and get on with your day, then that is not love in compassion. Don't give a dirty look as you hold the door open for someone slower than you but smile, maybe say hello.
If you're still overcoming racist tendencies and are forcing yourself to be nice to people of other ethnicities, or to look on them in a better light when you hear stories on the news, I'd suggest taking out the race part and just seeing them for their age to start. Like if you hear of a certain ethnicity person robbing a store, instead of saying, "They're all like that," ask yourself, "What is wrong in that boy's life, or that young person's life, that they had to do this?"
Even with the "good" stereotypes, instead of saying, "Those people are all so hardworking," just consider the individual you're hearing about and say their name, like, "John is so hardworking." Now it has nothing to do with the fact he's from a certain ethnicity.
Love in compassion. Focusing on the other people, not yourself or seeing them as a group of people. Like with the door holding example, if you find yourself stuck holding the door for 15 people and you hadn't planned it, smile at those you can, who are likely not part of the same group, and then just wait until a small gap before leaving the door.
And that's the exercise today: when helping someone, extend yourself in the fullest way, with a smile or friendly word. If you have any friendly comments for me, or would like to share, I'd appreciate it! See you next time.
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