The 40th day of the Counting of the Omer begins as Shabbat ends on Saturday night. Tonight we count fIve weeks and five days of the Omer.
This is the day of Hod within Yesod, humility within connection. On this day, I think about connecting with other people in a way that really allows me to see who they are. I remember how easy it is for my ego to cloud the way I perceive others – thinking first about my interests, my desires, and my assumptions before I bother to see the world through the other person's eyes.
Letting go of ego is one of the most difficult spiritual challenges we face. We live our whole lives locked into being just one person. We never get to take off the lens of our ego to try on the experience of the world from another person's point of view. It is so difficult to get out of our own way. Yet, there is hardly anything that is more richly rewarding in life than connecting so deeply with another person that we see the world as if it were new, as if we had never seen anything else before.
In order to achieve a connection to another person that is that deep, it is necessary first to let go of our ongoing fascination with ourselves. In order for me to rise to the heights that are possible when I identify with another, I first have to have the humility to recognize that not everything is "all about me."
On this 40th day of the Counting of the Omer, I commit to keeping my focus and attention on others. I commit to noticing my preconceptions about others and to let go of those images and thoughts. I commit to trying to see the world through the eyes of another.
May this be a day in which you find blessing in the true and selfless connections you form with other people. May the experience open for you worlds beyond your imagining.
For the introduction to the Counting of the Omer, click on this link:
The First Day of the Counting of the Omer
This is the day of Hod within Yesod, humility within connection. On this day, I think about connecting with other people in a way that really allows me to see who they are. I remember how easy it is for my ego to cloud the way I perceive others – thinking first about my interests, my desires, and my assumptions before I bother to see the world through the other person's eyes.
Letting go of ego is one of the most difficult spiritual challenges we face. We live our whole lives locked into being just one person. We never get to take off the lens of our ego to try on the experience of the world from another person's point of view. It is so difficult to get out of our own way. Yet, there is hardly anything that is more richly rewarding in life than connecting so deeply with another person that we see the world as if it were new, as if we had never seen anything else before.
In order to achieve a connection to another person that is that deep, it is necessary first to let go of our ongoing fascination with ourselves. In order for me to rise to the heights that are possible when I identify with another, I first have to have the humility to recognize that not everything is "all about me."
On this 40th day of the Counting of the Omer, I commit to keeping my focus and attention on others. I commit to noticing my preconceptions about others and to let go of those images and thoughts. I commit to trying to see the world through the eyes of another.
May this be a day in which you find blessing in the true and selfless connections you form with other people. May the experience open for you worlds beyond your imagining.
For the introduction to the Counting of the Omer, click on this link:
The First Day of the Counting of the Omer
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