After deeply considering all this, he can truly plead, from the inmost heart, "In Your great mercies, wipe away my sins..." By then his heart is thoroughly impressed with the pathetic state of the spark of divinity within him, and above, as noted. This plea is to arouse supreme mercies, of the Thirteen Traits of Compassion, which come from the Supreme Will, symbolised in the "thorn" atop the yud, far transcending the flow issuing from the letters of His Name.

Because of their lofty origin these Attributes of Compassion correct all defects, as in the passage, "He bears sin and transgression, and cleanses." With this awakening of mercies following the contrition, there is no further nurture for evil and sitra achra from the life-force emanating from the lower hai, as noted. (The latter hai returns to its proper place, united as before with the yud-hai-vav. This will suffice for the knowing.)

As there is a "restoration" of the hai above, so too below in the divine soul within man, no more do "your sins divide." It is said, "He cleanses"— those who come back to Him, to lave and cleanse their souls of the soiled garments, the "externals" that the Talmud describes as "encrusting ..."

After the cleansing spirit passes over and purifies them, then their souls are enabled to return unto G‑d Himself, literally, to ascend the greatest heights, to their very source, and cleave to Him with a remarkable unity. This is the original unity, the ultimate in union, that existed before the soul was blown by the breath of His mouth to descend and be incorporated within the body of man. (To illustrate this unity: before one exhales, the breath is united with the person; he and his breath are not separable yet.) This is the perfect return, teshuvah. This state of unity and this return are called teshuvah ila'a, the superior return, that follows teshuvah tata'a, the inferior return. The Zohar, in Raya Mehemna on Nasso, explains that teshuvah ilaa is being occupied with Torah study, in reverence and fear of the Holy One ... for this is ben yud-hai or binah ... (Here the superiority of the penitent over the perfectly saintly, as the Zohar states in Chayei Sara, is that "They draw onto themselves with a more intense longing of the heart, and with greater forcefulness, to approach the King...")