Kabbalah: Compassion, The Love Archetypes - Rabbi Laibl Wolf, Spiritgrow - Josef Kryss Center

The Art of Loving Session 4 - Compassion - The Love Archetypes
A five part series by Rabbi Laibl Wolf, Spiritgrow Josef Kryss Centre, Melbourne, Australia
www.spiritgrowj...
Sources: Tanya: Vol. 1, Ch. 45
Filmed 18th July 2011
1. What are Sefirot?
• Sefirot are creation's spiritual energies that coalesce into the spiritual and material matter of the universe.
• These become expressed in the human being through Mind (Seichel) and Emotion (Middos) which in turn become the human personality. There are 3 flows of Mind and 7 of Emotion.
• There are therefore 49 combinations of emotion -- the combinations of the 7 Middos.
• The nature of Hessed is to share. The nature of Gevurah is to restrain. The nature of Tif'eret is to balance these two but in favour of Hessed.
2. Archetypes for the Three Primary Emotions
• Hessed is the Sefira through which Ahava (love) flows. Abraham is the archetype of Hessed.
• Gevurah is the Sefirah through which Yir'ah (fear) flows. Yitzhak is the archetype of Gevurah.
• Tif'eret is the Sefirah through which Rachamim (mercy, compassion) flows. Yaakov is the archetype of Tif'eret.
3. How to Arouse Compassion
• Kabbalah explains that focusing on the spark of inner consciousness, the soul, and its quest to express truly through the coarseness of the body, is an excellent meditation practice for compassions.
• The spiritual source of the material body is Kelipat Noga, 'the translucent shell around the fruit', compared to the three completely Tameh (impure) Kelipot (shells) that wholly hide the innate goodness of creation.
• The nature of the human body changed from complete transparency to translucency through the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge Good and Bad.
• When choice (Bechira Chofshis) is exercised poorly, the 'Jacobean cord' is pulled down within the coarseness of the material world with a corresponding effect at the other end of the cord, causing the 'exile of the Shechina'. The spark of soul becomes further enmeshed and entrapped. Contemplating this arouses compassion for the soul.
4. Jacob Kissed Rachel
• The forefathers and mothers also represent higher spiritual entities and energy forces.
• Rachel represents the Shechina, the source of all Jewish souls Above. In Kabbalistic terms she is the level of Malchus of Atzilus. Yaakov represents the source of compassion. This is the level of Tif'eres of Atzilus.
• Jacob kissed Rachel Kabbalistically means that the compassion aroused for the spark of soul within -- the Shechina was elicited by profound contemplation, not merely through words.
The next and final session of this series on Love will analyze the nature of Reciprocal Love -- How to Evoke the Love of Another.