The energy of air and the energy of bodily force in the human.
The letter alef represents the energy of balance and mediation between opposing forces. For that reason, it is composed of two letters iud, one above and one below a letter vav. The upper iud represents the unmanifested world, and the lower iud, the manifested world. It is designated by the number 1 and is a silent letter.
Air is the mediator between fire and water, thus the channel of Chesed-Gevurah is the path of balance not simply between Chesed and Gevurah but between the upper triad (shin) represented by fire and the lower triad represented by water (mem). For that reason, those who place the aleph in the channel of Kether-Chokmah make a serious mistake, because the aleph does not symbolize the first channel, but the channel of the balance of the entire Tree of Life. In the energy channel of the Aleph we must operate on the two types of consciousness that exist, both the Chokmah type consciousness and the Binah type consciousness.
א
Chesed-Gevurah
The only way to properly reveal mercy (Chesed) is through sending information to the Gevurah. The Gevurah (the emotional restraint of the "I") must know that the limitations do not have to be severe, but justly merciful. Mercy must inform the Gevurah that its restraints must be in the service of light, not darkness. The function of the Gevurah is not to bring darkness, it is to concentrate the light of mercy. The information that the Chesed has to influence to the Gevurah is to be aware that limits must be flexible, that one must yield in the face of mercy and not be inflexible. The Chesed must send gentleness to emotional limitations. The only way for love to develop is for the Gevurah to do its job in the right way. Being aware of our limitations (Gevurah) should not be an excuse for not helping, for not exercising our mercy with our neighbor and with me.
Gevurah-Chesed
When the energy of restriction shifts to Chesed, it is informing of the limitations that exist. From Chesed we would always want to do more for ourselves and others, but Gevurah informs us that this is not possible, that we are limited human beings and must act in a limited way. If the Chesed expands without limit, we can cause a terrible tiredness of the "I", because it does not achieve the desired results. On the contrary, a Chesed that does not know the limitations of the soul can cause the person, on the lower levels, to never accept to receive and to believe that he must always give. It is not possible to give without receiving. The Gevurah informs us that we must know how to receive. If we do not know how to receive, we will have no more energy in the Chesed to continue giving. Chesed can waste energy and be left with nothing. At this point this energy is activated and warns us that Chesed cannot be in the position of giver at all times, because he who does not know how to receive, does not know how to give. This is the great energy of this channel, to ensure that the Chesed can save energy to move forward. For the Gevurah, life is a long-distance race: every year, in this material plane in which we find ourselves, we must reveal light. The desire of the Chesed to give to others, to the point of running out of energy, is a mistake. That is why we have to activate the energy of this channel. We have to save energies to continue to grow.
