Obtuse Angles

Kabbalah Experience was one of many community partners at the Israel Walk and Festival this past Sunday. As we ended a slow walk alongside early morning joggers at Washington Park there was a quiet group of protesters with banners, flags and signs. As I passed them I looked in each person’s eyes and thanked them for coming and expressing, peacefully, their points of view.

A Facebook post of one of my fellow walkers read: Lots of protesters at the walk today, it was kind of unnerving.

Perhaps their quiet presence was unnerving for some. For me, it was uplifting. While our planet is spherical, our worldviews are built on perceptions that come from different angles. At times we may be acute and at times obtuse to another’s viewpoint and that is why our spiritual work this week corresponds to the Sefirah energy of Tiferet—harmonizing opposites to realize the need for a compassionate outlook toward what is foreign to us.

It takes courage to uphold a minority opinion and perhaps even more courage to see an opposing point of view as holding validity alongside your strongly held majority opinion. Make room, as in Rumi’s poem The Guest House, for the arrival of those with differing opinions. Some guests may be your own (as yet unaware) minority opinion.

david