Perfect Awe

B"H

Mishlei (Proverbs), Ch. 2:4-5 reads:
אִם תְּבַקְשֶׁנָּה כַכָּסֶף וְכַמַּטְמוֹנִים תַּחְפְּשֶׂנָּה אָז תָּבִין יִרְאַת השם


In pshat simple reading, this quote can be translated loosely as follows:
If you seek her (=understanding) like silver and search for her like treasures, then you shall come to understand the awe (also = fear) of G-d.

I was reading this today and rendered it like so:
If you seek כַכָּסֶף with love, (etymologically related to כסופים, נכסוף נכספתי - meaning love),
ְמַּטְמוֹנִים to correct and refine your midot (comes from 'מט forty-nine, מונים we count - referring to the 49 days we count the Omer, to refine our midot -- 49 character traits and attributes).
Then you shall reach יִרְאַת השם (awe of G-d) at the level of תָּבִין, that is to say you shall reach an higher level of awe (יראה עילאה).

Explanation:
This type of fear (יראה) is not the "lower level" fear (יראה תתאה) that a person feel when he/she is at the position to transgress. But simply because of the punishment he/she is destined to received (and other possible repercussions to him- or herself) he/she shows restraint and avoids the transgression.

For if there was no punishment there would be no impetus to avoid transgression -- there would be no repercussions. Because this level of fear is predicated on punishment avoidance, it is considered a lower level of fear.

Rather, because of מט' מונים with כסופים, a person reaches a higher level of awe (יראה עילאה). This is the type of awe that a person feels when he/she contemplates the awesomeness, greatness and infinity of G-d Almighty, the fact that G-d is incomparably greater than the entire universe (שלא בערך לעולם) and the fact that the Almighty fill the whole universe (מלא כל הארץ כבודו, כבודו מלא עולם). And ultimately there's really nothing other than G-d (אין עוד מלבדו) i.e., all of creation is really a manifestation of G-d through countless concealments and there's no independent existence from G-d.

When all this contemplation is done using a person's בינה (viz. תָּבִין) i.e., intellectual faculty of understanding, it causes him/her to avoid transgressions, not out of pure fear of punishment (as in יראה תתאה), but rather from a deep feeling of shame before the creator -- to transgress against an all-seeing, all-knowing, omni-present, omni-conscient G-d would be simply unfathomable! Impossible! Indeed, this is the level of יראה עילאה.

Good Shabbos.