579. I Will Remove the Stony Heart
Purim, 14 Adar, Tav-Shin-Lamed-Zayin, March 4, 1977
The stony heart means that a person wants to understand if it is worthwhile for him to engage not in order to receive reward. A person cannot understand this because it is against our nature, for we were born with a will to receive for ourselves. Hence, a person must work in faith above reason, meaning even though he does not understand how it is possible to achieve this degree, but it is rather a gift of the Creator.
This is called “Unless the Creator helps him, he cannot overcome it.” This is called “I will remove the stony heart.” That is, only the Creator can give him that power so the body will agree to work not in order to receive reward. But from man’s perspective, he must only begin. That is, if a person yearns to achieve this degree and performs acts of Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], and prayer so as to achieve this, the Creator helps him.
But before this, if there is no awakening from below, one does not receive help from above for this. This is called “man’s work,” meaning what man should do, since answering a prayer pertains to whether there is a prayer from below, which is called “raising MAN,” meaning that a person raises the lack that he has and asks the Creator to satisfy his lack.
Hence, if he has a lack that he cannot work not in order to receive reward, the Creator gives him the Mayin Duchrin [MAD], which is the filling of the lack, namely the Creator gives him that strength. However, if a person does not ask for this, meaning about not being able to work not in order to receive reward, then we cannot speak of filling a lack.
In order for one to feel that this is called “a lack,” there must be special education about this. Otherwise, we do not feel that this is called “a lack.” A person feels only the lack of diminution of light, meaning that he has no pleasure in Torah and prayer the way he understands it should be. But the lack of a Kli [vessel], and that this is the real lack, not everyone is given this feeling.
This is why the world is educated only on a lack of light, and not on a lack of a Kli, since for the light to shine in him, he has a Kli because the will to receive feels only the absence of pleasure, as this pertains to the vessels of reception. But the absence of a Kli is the opposite of the vessels of reception. Hence, a person does not feel this naturally. This is why it is impossible to educate the general public on this lack, but they are rather educated on the lack of light.
For this reason, this lack requires special education, and not everyone can be educated in this manner. Rather, only people who have the quality of truth can be educated.