Shavuot, Megilat Ruth & The 10 Sefirot Part Two
Transcribed by Daniel Goldman from a lecture recorded on 4 May 1999: But before we can work back to the “World to Come,” we have to work on and understand the seven lower influences. The first of these is Chesed – Primal life force. God created the world to do good to another. Therefore, the primal life force of creation is Chesed.
The next influence to be created, which will interact with Chesed, define Chesed, and in turn will be defined by Chesed to a certain degree is Gevurah – Strength, which is referred to as din, or Judgement. (“If I, God, create this world, and I am going to give the human being free choice, then he will have to understand that what he does matters.”) After the primal life force of Chesed was introduced into the world, the first Chesed was Gevurah.
The next influence to be created, and interact with Chesed and Gevurah, was Tiferet meaning Beauty, or Balance. Tiferet balances the previous two influences.
Next is the influence of Netzach – Eternity, or more accurately, an awareness of something that is so eternal and so true, you have to fight for it. This is Netzach, coming from the word Netzachon, or Victory.
Hod is the Influence of Inner Beauty, or Glory. For example, there are times when someone will go out and will risk his life and save the lives of others, and people will say, “Ah! This is what his life was all about.” Something that no one ever saw. That moment was his Hod, his Shining.
The next influence was Yesod – Foundation. Everything is built on one foundation.
Next came Malchut – Kingship. Chesed alone needs the other six to work. So Chesed defines itself, Gevurah defines Chesed; Tiferet defines Chesed, etc. They all define each other and therefore you have 49 combinations. But none are complete until you have the very last one – Malchut. They all need each other in order to function.