This, then, is the important principle regarding the Divine Service for the benoni: The essential thing is to govern and rule the nature that is in the left ventricle [of the heart] by means of the Divine light that irradiates the divine soul in the mind. That is to say, to rule the heart by means of meditation in the mind on the greatness of the blessed En Sof, whereby his understanding will beget a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord in his mind, to make him turn away from the evil condemned by the Torah, or by the Rabbis, even from a minor Rabbinic prohibition, Heaven forbid; and [at the same time arousing] the love of G‑d in his heart, in the right part, with a fervour and desire to cleave to Him through the fulfillment of the precepts of the Torah and of the Rabbis, and through the study of the Torah which is equivalent to them all.

Furthermore, one must know an additional important principle in the service of the "intermediates." This is that even if the capacity of one's intellect and the spirit of one's understanding do not attain to the level of producing a revealed love of G‑d in one's heart, to make it glow like burning coals with a great desire and yearning and heartfelt passion to cleave unto Him, but the love is hidden in one's brain and in the recesses of one's heart,

Note: The reason for this is that the vitality of this person's intellect and ncfesh, ruach and neshamah is derived from the so-called ibbur ("gestation") and concealment within the [Supernal] understanding, and not from the quality of birth and revelation— as it is known to those familiar with the Esoteric Discipline.

that is to say, the heart comprehends, with the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the brain, the greatness of the blessed En Sof, in relation to Whom all else has absolutely no reality, for which reason it is due unto Him, blessed be He, that the soul of every living creature should yearn for Him, to cleave and be absorbed in His light; likewise is it fitting for the nefesh and ruach within him to languish for Him, with a fervent desire to emerge from their sheath, which is the body, in order to cleave to Him; except that they dwell perforce in the body and are bound up in it, like deserted wives; and no thought of theirs can grasp Him at all, except when it grasps, and is vested in, the Torah and its commandments, as in the example of embracing the king, mentioned above; therefore, it is proper for them to embrace Him with their whole heart, soul and might, which means the fulfillment of the 613 commandments in act, speech and thought, the last being the comprehension and knowledge of the Torah, as explained above.

Consequently, when [the benoni] ponders this subject in the recesses of his heart's and mind's understanding, with a unanimity of mouth and heart, in that he upholds by word of mouth that which has been resolved in the understanding of his heart and mind, namely to direct his desire towards the Divine Torah, meditating on it day and night in oral study, while his hands and other bodily organs carry out the commandments, in accordance with the resolution of his heart's and mind's understanding, then this understanding is clothed in the act, speech and thought of the Torah and its commandments, providing for them, as it were, intelligence, vitality and "wings" wherewith to soar on high. It is the same as if he practised them with real fear and love as revealed in his heart (with a desire, fervour and passion that are felt in the heart and soul thirsting for G‑d, by reason of the glowing embers of love in his heart, as mentioned above), inasmuch as it is this understanding in his brain and heart's recesses that is instrumental in leading him to engage in them, and had he not so delved in it, he would not have occupied himself with them at all, but with his physical needs alone. (And even if he is naturally disposed to be an assiduous student, nevertheless he would naturally love his body more.)

Our Sages, of blessed memory, hinted at this when they said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, unites a good thought to the deed." One would have expected them to say, that the Torah regards the good thought as if it had been put into practice. The explanation, however, is that it is the revealed fear and love in the heart that are clothed in the act of the commandments, giving them vitality to soar on high, inasmuch as the heart is also corporeal, as the other parts of the body which are the instruments of the action, except that it is internal and their source of vitality; therefore it can clothe itself in their act, to be their "wings" wherewith to ascend. However, the above-mentioned fear and love that are in the intelligence of the brain and the recesses of the heart are of an infinitely higher order than that of "action" and they cannot clothe themselves in the performance of the commandments to become their intelligence and vitality, as it were, to uplift them to soar upwards, were it not for the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, fuses and unites them together with the action; hence they are called "good thought," for they are not actual awe and love in a revealed state in the heart, but only in the intelligence of the brain and in the recesses of the heart, as mentioned above.

Note: Thus it is also written in the Zohar and Etz Chayim, that תבונה (intelligence) contains the letters בן ובת ("son and daughter"), referring to awe and love; and sometimes it descends to become the intelligence in the feminine principle ze'er anpin, represented in the letters of the Torah and the commandments, as the initiated will understand.

But the Almighty produces this coalescence in order to elevate the performance of the commandments and study of the Torah— which are carried out under the influence of the said good thought— into the world of Beriah, the abode to which ascend the Torah and commandments that are performed through intelligent awe and love which are truly revealed in the heart. But even without this they still rise to the World of Yetzirah, by means of the natural fear and love which are latent in the heart of all Jews from birth, as will be later explained at length.