213. Revealing the Deficiency

I heard

The basic, primary principle is to increase the deficiency, for this is the basis upon which the whole structure is built. And the strength of the building is measured by the strength of its foundation.

Many things compel one to labor, but they do not aim at the cause. Therefore, the foundation impairs the whole structure. Although from Lo Lishma [not for Her sake] we come to Lishma [for Her sake], it still requires a long time before one returns to the goal.

Therefore, one must see that the goal is always before his eyes, as it is written in Shulchan Aruch [Set Table (Jewish code of law)]: “I see the Lord before me always.” And one who stays home is unlike one who stands before the king. He who believes in the existence of the Creator—that the whole earth is full of His glory—is filled with fear and love, and needs no preparations or observation, only to completely nullify before the king from his very nature.

Just as we see in corporeality, that he who truly loves his friend thinks only of the best of his friend, and avoids anything that is not beneficial to his friend. All this is done without any calculation, and it does not require a great mind, since it is as natural as a mother’s love for her child, who only wants to benefit her child. She needs no preparations or intellect to love her child, since a natural thing does not require an intellect that will assert it, but it is done by the senses themselves. The senses themselves are devoted, since this is how it is in nature, as due to the love for something, they give their soul until they achieve the goal. And as long as they do not achieve, their lives are not a life.

Thus, whoever feels, as it is written in Shulchan Aruch, that for him it is similar, etc., he is certainly in wholeness, meaning that he has faith. As long as one does not feel he is standing before the king, then one is the opposite.

Hence, one should see that servitude is first and foremost. One must regret not having sufficient faith, that the lack of faith is his foundation, and he should pray for requests and labor, to feel that deficiency, for if he has no deficiency, it means he has no Kli [vessel] to receive the filling. One must believe that the Creator hears the prayer of every mouth and that he, too, will be delivered in complete faith.