It is written in The Zohar (Veyikahel, pp. 32-52): “Each day a voice calls upon all people in the world, ‘This depends on you. Separate a part of yourself and devote it to the Creator.’” At some point in life, thoughts and desires to draw closer to the spiritual come to every person, and it depends on us whether or not we heed that inner call. The voice reassures man that by casting aside his needless, transient, and earthly desires, by ceasing his endless chase for their appeasement, he will attain true and eternal happiness.

From this we can understand the secret meaning of prayer: he who fears the Creator and directs his heart and desires in his prayer, carries out great and exalted corrections. If one wishes to enter the spiritual realm and feel the Creator, the only thing he must do is pray, i.e., ask the Creator to correct his nature, to transform it from the nature of our world (egoistic) into the nature of the spiritual realm (altruistic). He will then enter eternity and transcend the boundaries of our world. Being completely enslaved by his egoism, man is unable to change himself on his own.

To correct himself, man needs to receive the strength that exists outside of him, beyond the bounds of his egoism. He must ask to receive this strength; hence, the only thing man must do is pray.

However, prayer is not uttered by one’s mouth. Rather, it is the desire in our heart, for the Creator reads the desires in our hearts. Therefore, man’s only task is to transform his heart’s desires – for his heart to wish to change its own desires. Yet, even this man is unable to do it by himself; he must ask the Creator for it.