Three eyesights

We can either see people through lenses of love

Through lenses of fear / hate

Through lenses of compassion

Abraham is the archetype of seeing people through lenses of love

Isaac is the archetype not through hate, God-forbid, but through justice i.e. expecting perfect behavior from everyone, we see how he admonishes King Avimelech for his servant’s stealing his well

And Jacob is the archetype of looking at the world through eyes of compassion

Now we would obviously assume love is the right approach, but it isn’t

For love includes a self-serving tendency, for it feels good to love

Which is why the free-love of the sixties got corrupted and led to licentious

In Abraham we find, his love not only gave birth to Isaac, but also to Yishmoel, the progenitor of the Arabs, who use love, not in selfless but selfish manner; steeped in selfishness, they are never satisfied; this is what’s called the kelipah of love, not where love is about giving, but taking

Isaac gave birth to Jacob, but also to Eisav, in a sense the progenitor of Rome, hence western civilization, now Rome amazingly was highly advanced relative to other barbaric tribes, they had a true democracy – till Julius Ceaser – however, they too inherited this attribute of strict justice – for example, whoever didn’t honor his father, was thrown into a bag with a poisonous snake and thrown into the river, hardly the balanced approach.

Once again, this is what’s called the justice of kelipah, whereas Isaac was about, people shouldn’t hurt others; this was hurting others over justice

But along came Jacob who was a studier of truth “ish tam yoshev ohalim” he spent 14 years day and night studying in the yeshivah of shem and ever; and he chose a balanced approach to life, God’s approach: neither too much love, nor too much justice; as we see how easily corruptible both can be become

Rather, Jacob takes the approach of compassion

What is compassion?

When I look through the eyes of love I can see nothing wrong with anyone, as they say “love is blind”

When I look conversely with the eyes of judgment, I likewise usually can see nothing right with anyone; for similar to how the kotzker said “what’s the difference between one searching for the truth and one who despises falsehood? one finds truth, the other finds what’s despicable” and when you see what’s wrong you cannot love rather despise.

So the true approach is compassion – for compassion never judges anyone – yet likewise, it is not naïve; it doesn’t, not find the faults – compassion would be like seeing a drug addict and realizing, understanding, comprehending the reality of his situation; helping him get food but not giving him money – compassion is understanding the other person’s reality and doing what is beneficial for them.