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The kabbalah of your personality

Reaching high while staying grounded

Extract from “The Four Elements Of Your Personality”, a 4-part Seriously Souled class by Rabbi Aron Krongold. Click here and learn more about Seriously Souled.

Fire, wind, water, earth and you

There are four elements to our world – fire, wind, water and earth, but did you know these same elements are part of your personality?  Fire is all about growth, reaching higher. Wind is all about movement, moving around this world, getting stuff done and trying new experiences. Water is about vitality and connection. Earth is about stability, foundations and consistency and being grounded.

There is a special nature to earth, in contrast to all of the other three elements and it’s something deep and mysterious. I’m going to dive right in and quote from the Zohar, the mystical writing of the kabbalah, written thousands of years ago. The Zohar says that earth is unique among the elements because it is common to all the other elements of wind, fire and water. It says that the earth is the vessel for all of the other three elements.

The Kabbalah of earth

So let’s bring that down. What does that mean? You need earth everywhere in life, to facilitate any of the other three elements. Fire needs a fire pit to burn on it, it can’t exist by itself. Wind needs mountains and valleys to flow over, to create pressure systems and to have space to occupy. Water needs the riverbeds, the valleys and the oceans, for it to flow.

All the other elements can only exist where there is earth to contain them. Another way of saying this is that the other three elements exist in potential or theory, but you need earth to actualize them and bring them into reality.

So we see that earth is the power of actualization, that brings ideas, concepts, lofty things into fruition. So how does that manifest in terms of character traits? 

Fire is our passion to grow. 

We all aspire to reach hire, just like fire. But just because a person wants to grow, does not mean anything tangible will happen. It’s all theoretical. It needs earth to bring the dream into reality. Earth is the plan, the steps, the logical, practical, structural elements. 

Wind has energy, it has dreams. 

It’s when we want to achieve, and accomplish things in life. But again that’s all theoretical until you can nail it down and put some earth into that and actualize it and navigate the mountains and valleys to actually get moving.

Water is flowing, connecting.

We want pleasure, connection and deeply meaningful things in life. But how do we translate these aspirations into reality? We need earth. We need to carve out the technical steps, the route, the direction in which the water can flow. Healthy relationships, successful marriages and meaningful connections all need structure within which they can flow.

A little more action please 

So we see that already thousands of years ago, long before psychology and life coaching became everyday terms, our deepest thinkers and mystics understood that in order to create the life we really want, we have to turn ideas and thoughts into choices and actions. The fire of passion and aspiration, the wind of change and movement forward, the life-giving waters of joy, pleasure and connection all need to be grounded and rooted in this physical world. So, ask yourself, what are you doing – practically – to harness the energies of your personality so that they can have the greatest impact on creating the life you want? 

Extract from “The Four Elements Of Your Personality”, a 4-part Seriously Souled class.
More about Seriously Souled