Labor of the Heart

Prayer is the labor of the heart. It expresses desires coming from the heart. Yet man has no power over these desires themselves. He has been created in such a way that he never really knows what to seek or what his own true intentions are. Therefore also the essential nature of his prayers is ungraspable.
Conversely, everything expressed in the prayer book is what man must learn to want. If man works on himself to direct and control his desires and thoughts he will reach the level of desires and requests of the authors of the prayer book, the members of the Great Assembly (who wrote the Jewish prayer book two thousand years ago during a long exile).
In order for a person to harmoniously match his desires to those of the authors of the prayer book, several preliminary steps are required. He must understand the nature of evil and what it brings about, namely, that man is essentially egotistically inclined. He must understand that egoism is the source of evil. Furthermore, all this must be realized and felt at the deepest and most intense part of his soul.