Mercy, Severity, and the Resurrection
By Debbie Peluso
Discover More About Renewal and Spring
Happy new life cycle! Funny, we all wish each other a Happy New Year on January 1st as we make resolutions, form intentions deciding to liberate ourselves so that we can then recreate. But actually, the new cycle of life begins with spring, and is a perfect opportunity to look at the interactions we have in our daily lives with mercy, severity, and beauty. It is the time to emerge from the darkness of night (winter) into the dawning of a new day!
In spring, we celebrate Easter and the resurrection of the Christ. But what does resurrection mean? Is it a physical resurrection, or is it a liberation of the self through the rising of consciousness? There are many interpretations for what the resurrection means, but one thing is certain: We all “feel” its energy in many aspects of our lives on a daily basis.
But how is consciousness physically manifested in our lives? We all experience relationships, whether they be harmonious or challenging. We all experience events that give rise to the myriad of emotions that we as humans experience. But how do we understand and learn from them?
Kabbalah is a mystical, spiritual philosophy referenced in many ancient texts as an in-depth system of creation and life. The definition of the word, kabbalah, is “to receive” and “to accept.” It instructs on the balancing of life and how it plays a role in our evolution by keeping us in awareness of spirit, connecting and following our intuition and applying it to our physical lives for manifestation of our highest aspirations. We receive the light and guidance of the divine by noticing and listening to the many messages we receive via synchronicities we encounter daily.
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is like a road map, if you will, that if followed can show us how our thoughts and emotions play an integral part in the life we create. When we “listen and follow,” we gain understanding of how every event, relationship and suffering is an unfolding of our consciousness. The tree is a bridge that links us to our spiritual and physical worlds, or spirit to ego.
The ten spheres of the tree are like energy bodies very similar to the Hindu chakra/nadi system that encourages soul evolution through the flow of kundalini. However, the spheres are not physiologic centers. They are more like the different subtle levels of our consciousness that are triggered by various life events. Each has a challenge for our soul’s evolution and a lesson to teach as we move from one sphere to the next. One could say they are our spirit that goes through the process of growth to then manifest as our soul/body. The tree is the metaphor of the physical body bridging spirit with body.
The Interactions of Mercy, Severity, and Beauty…
Let us get back to resurrection. There are three spheres on the Tree of Life that one could say are the “pistons” of life (the tree) that when unbalanced can cause the whole tree (life) to fall apart. They are the spheres of Chesed (Mercy), Geburah (Severity) and Tiphareth (or Tiferet – Beauty).
Mercy (Chesed) is the energy of compassion, unconditional love, and forgiveness; the grace of God, if you will. It addresses life events that are triggered by our internal emotions. Severity (Geburah) is action, judgment, and liberation and is our externally-driven emotions. Beauty (Tiphareth) is the vision of harmony, balance, and the Christ consciousness. It is our heart and where we sacrifice and resurrect: our light!
What does this mean? We all contain within us love, compassion, forgiveness (mercy), and what brings peace to the soul. These are the qualities the soul strives for, and, in a sense, its mission in the physical plane for bringing unity and harmony among us all. However, without boundaries it could be our biggest suffering, as we could become victims of abusive behaviors by others who take advantage. Along comes the next sphere of severity, which corrals all those internal emotions and brings judgment, discernment, action, and liberation. It severs that which is no longer needed. Mercy needs severity and severity needs mercy.
Examples in daily life would be police officers or those in the military. Their external actions (severity) are based in compassion (mercy) by serving and protecting for the bigger picture. However, if severity is not properly balanced with mercy, you may have cases of police brutality or torture. If mercy is not properly balanced with severity, you may see non-action in serving and protecting, possibly cowardice.
Severity is also manifested as our irrational behaviors. Lately, we have seen a lot of turmoil at political rallies. Again, this is an example of severity not being balanced with mercy, allowing for the externally-driven emotions such as anger and violence to be triggered.
And then we come to beauty (Tiphareth—the heart)! This is the halfway point of the tree, the Cross of the Tree, where heaven and Earth connect. Here we balance our internal emotions (mercy) with our externally-driven emotions (severity) bringing us to our heart, to our Christ consciousness. But first….we must sacrifice in order to resurrect.
When we look at the last days of Jesus, we clearly see the imbalance of mercy and severity ending in the ultimate sacrifice, that of the crucifixion. The irrational behaviors of others (severity) being triggered by the manipulation of those who lacked compassion, love, forgiveness (mercy); but, through sacrifice, there is resurrection.
In the accounts of Moses, we see his mercy was compassion for his people and severity was liberating his people by traveling through the desert with the responsibility of feeding and keeping his people safe. But this sacrifice was for liberation, resurrection.
We all experience this in everyday life, whether it be in our marriages, our work, or other challenges. But if we listen to the Tree of Life and the spheres of Chesed and Geburah, we may see the path towards our own heart, sacrifice, and resurrection in Tiphareth.
Where is your mercy? Where is your severity? Where do you need to liberate yourself and resurrect?
About the Author
Debbie Peluso obtained her Bachelors degree from the University of Metaphysics in association with the University of Sedona in Arizona. She is a certified practitioner in meditation, metaphysical/spiritual counseling, facilitator of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, working astrologer, and co-owner of Zion Yoga in the Washington, D.C. area. www.zionyogastudio.com
