A Woman's Way

A woman's influence is very different from a man's. A man needs to conquer, to vanquish an opponent. Therefore, his victory is often superficial-he may get the other guy to nod his head, but not his heart.

A woman is able to reach inside a man, so he may not even recognize her influence. He feels as though this was his idea all along.

From where does this talent come? Paradoxically, from the woman's union with a man. So too, from the man's union with a woman, he too can learn to fix the world through nurture.

T. Freeman

Two Minds

When the Infinite Light emanated a world, It did so with two minds, two states of consciousness. One mind sees from above to below -- and so, all is insignificant before it. From above to below, there is no world, only One.

The other mind sees from below to above -- and so all of creation is G-dly to it. From below to above, there is a world to point to the Oneness.

At the nexus of these two minds, at the crux of their paradox, there shines the very Essence of the Infinite Light.

The first mind descended into man; the second into woman.

That is why the man has the power to conquer and subdue, but he lacks a sense of the other.

That is why the woman feels the other. She does not conquer, she nurtures. But her light is tightly constrained and so she is full of harsh judgments.

As they bond together, the man sweetens the judgment of the woman and the woman teaches the man to feel the other. And in that union shines the very Essence of the Infinite.

T. Freeman

A Different Peace

True peace is not a forced truce, not a homogenization of differences, not a common ground that abandons our home territories.

True peace is the oneness that sprouts from diversity, from a panorama of colors, strokes and textures. From the harmony of many instruments each playing a unique part, not one overlapping the other's kingdom by even the breadth of a hair. There, in the most delightful beauty of this world, there shines G-d's most profound oneness.

Those who attempt to blur those borders, they are unwittingly destroying the world. Beginning with the crucial border between man and woman -- for this is the beginning of all diversity, the sharpest focus of G-d's oneness, shining intensely upon His precious world.

T. Freeman