Gloria Steinem wrote a moving article about women’s scars. Here’s an excerpt. But many of women’s body scars have a very different context, and thus an emotional power all their own. Stretch marks and Cesarean incisions from giving birth are very different from accident, war, and fight scars. They evoke courage without violence, strength without cruelty, and even so, they’re far more likely to be worn with diffidence than bragging. That gives them a moving, bittersweet power, like seeing a room where a very emotional event in our lives once took place.
Thank you, for such insight and inspiration, Jeff — it made me reflect deeply on my own scars and how Kabbalah has helped me.
It is my understanding that there is a teaching in Kabbalah that the Infinite Light expresses itself through ten channels known as the Sefirot (wisdom, understanding, compassion, strength, beauty, endurance, humility, foundation, and sovereignty).
My understanding is that these are not abstract ideals floating somewhere beyond us. They are living forces woven into reality and into us.
In the Kabbalah says in the beginning of creation, the Divine Light was too intense for the vessels meant to contain it. The vessels shattered — not because “G-D” fractured, but because multiplicity was necessary.
Unity had to be concealed so that freedom, individuality, and consciousness could emerge.
So the shattering did not break “G-D,” because Divine Light is never shattered.
It fractured our perception of wholeness.
Each of us carries fragments — sparks of that original Light embedded within desire, conflict, ego, longing, and relationship.
Therefore the work of a human life is not to repair “G-D,” but to refine our inner vessels so they can hold Light without distortion.
When we struggle to understand love, we are not reconstructing a shattered divine mind. We are repairing our capacity to receive and express love without fear, control, or fragmentation.
By loving consciously, we help realign what feels separate — remembering that at the level of soul, we are one.
When we transform reaction into awareness, selfish desire into shared desire, chaos into alignment — we participate in tikkun, rectification.
The unity was never destroyed.
It was concealed.
And every act of consciousness reveals a little more of what has always been whole.
Our scars are part of the Tikkun - not wounds to hide — they are evidence of our capacity to heal and to repair. And that may be the greatest gift of life. ✨❤️our souls purpose sharing stories as you do now that inspire us to find connections to one another -
My scars are both precious and mundane. They are my stepping stones to empathy and understanding of myself and others. Our battle scars are our teachers.
I enjoyed the writing and could create an encyclopedia of my own scars, but disagreed with the shattered mind of God on many levels. I honor your pain, and deeply respect your perspective; and with that, I also extend my whole heart for every one of your experiences. I cannot even imagine, or ever fully understand, but I can hold space for them and try to stand in compassion and empathy.
However, from my own experiences, ( some currently present ) - as a person able to heal with God and who has healed from God in all of the many places I’ve been injured repeatedly and over time, people ask why I age differently and it’s because of His mind, His love and His power working through me, never scattered, cruel, unforgiving or confused - to give me the power to also heal others. I used to think there was a duality to His nature that lead to why I was injured and scarred. A blog post of my own maybe. LOL. I received scars so that I COULD heal others. That is my purpose.
Regardless, thank you for hearing me, and thank you for creating an incredible platform for healing and community.
Always a joy to read your thoughts. Love the idea of re-membered. Have experienced this so many times and in my 70's find myself almost becoming ethereal, or very sensitive to the world around me.
And, what about the emotional scars that we all carry in varying degrees? They hide in our minds, sometimes even from ourselves. What about the scars that we cannot display due to being indecent by society...the female body without a breast(s) or the scar from a partial mastectomy. For the most part, men's scars are viewed as heroic, a right of passage. This is not so for females.
Love this. Marie Kondo talks about kintsugi in her book Letters from Japan. It's such a beautiful way to reframe our brokenness and scars, highlighting them as a special part of our story. I think your discussion on Kabbalah was interesting also. It reminded me of how Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12 compares seeing God to looking through a dim foggy mirror, the image is a distorted reflection, but there is hope that one day, we'll see him clearly face-to-face, along with his many qualities.
Gloria Steinem wrote a moving article about women’s scars. Here’s an excerpt. But many of women’s body scars have a very different context, and thus an emotional power all their own. Stretch marks and Cesarean incisions from giving birth are very different from accident, war, and fight scars. They evoke courage without violence, strength without cruelty, and even so, they’re far more likely to be worn with diffidence than bragging. That gives them a moving, bittersweet power, like seeing a room where a very emotional event in our lives once took place.
Thank you, for such insight and inspiration, Jeff — it made me reflect deeply on my own scars and how Kabbalah has helped me.
It is my understanding that there is a teaching in Kabbalah that the Infinite Light expresses itself through ten channels known as the Sefirot (wisdom, understanding, compassion, strength, beauty, endurance, humility, foundation, and sovereignty).
My understanding is that these are not abstract ideals floating somewhere beyond us. They are living forces woven into reality and into us.
In the Kabbalah says in the beginning of creation, the Divine Light was too intense for the vessels meant to contain it. The vessels shattered — not because “G-D” fractured, but because multiplicity was necessary.
Unity had to be concealed so that freedom, individuality, and consciousness could emerge.
So the shattering did not break “G-D,” because Divine Light is never shattered.
It fractured our perception of wholeness.
Each of us carries fragments — sparks of that original Light embedded within desire, conflict, ego, longing, and relationship.
Therefore the work of a human life is not to repair “G-D,” but to refine our inner vessels so they can hold Light without distortion.
When we struggle to understand love, we are not reconstructing a shattered divine mind. We are repairing our capacity to receive and express love without fear, control, or fragmentation.
By loving consciously, we help realign what feels separate — remembering that at the level of soul, we are one.
When we transform reaction into awareness, selfish desire into shared desire, chaos into alignment — we participate in tikkun, rectification.
The unity was never destroyed.
It was concealed.
And every act of consciousness reveals a little more of what has always been whole.
Our scars are part of the Tikkun - not wounds to hide — they are evidence of our capacity to heal and to repair. And that may be the greatest gift of life. ✨❤️our souls purpose sharing stories as you do now that inspire us to find connections to one another -
Thank you 🙏
My scars are both precious and mundane. They are my stepping stones to empathy and understanding of myself and others. Our battle scars are our teachers.
Old Tattooed Woman - About scars https://blueroebuck.com/photo_poetry/old_tattooed_woman.htm
I enjoyed the writing and could create an encyclopedia of my own scars, but disagreed with the shattered mind of God on many levels. I honor your pain, and deeply respect your perspective; and with that, I also extend my whole heart for every one of your experiences. I cannot even imagine, or ever fully understand, but I can hold space for them and try to stand in compassion and empathy.
However, from my own experiences, ( some currently present ) - as a person able to heal with God and who has healed from God in all of the many places I’ve been injured repeatedly and over time, people ask why I age differently and it’s because of His mind, His love and His power working through me, never scattered, cruel, unforgiving or confused - to give me the power to also heal others. I used to think there was a duality to His nature that lead to why I was injured and scarred. A blog post of my own maybe. LOL. I received scars so that I COULD heal others. That is my purpose.
Regardless, thank you for hearing me, and thank you for creating an incredible platform for healing and community.
Always a joy to read your thoughts. Love the idea of re-membered. Have experienced this so many times and in my 70's find myself almost becoming ethereal, or very sensitive to the world around me.
Beautiful 💖
And, what about the emotional scars that we all carry in varying degrees? They hide in our minds, sometimes even from ourselves. What about the scars that we cannot display due to being indecent by society...the female body without a breast(s) or the scar from a partial mastectomy. For the most part, men's scars are viewed as heroic, a right of passage. This is not so for females.
I love my scars and find them beautiful. A reminder of what I have gone through.
Love this. Marie Kondo talks about kintsugi in her book Letters from Japan. It's such a beautiful way to reframe our brokenness and scars, highlighting them as a special part of our story. I think your discussion on Kabbalah was interesting also. It reminded me of how Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12 compares seeing God to looking through a dim foggy mirror, the image is a distorted reflection, but there is hope that one day, we'll see him clearly face-to-face, along with his many qualities.