"When a man is employed in those duties in which both the heart and limbs
are
involved such as prayer and praising God, blessed be He, he should empty
himself
of all matter appertaining to this world or the next and he should
empty his
heart of every distracting thought.... Know that so far the meaning
of prayer is
concerned the words themselves are like the husk while
reflection on the words
is like the kernel. The prayer is like the body while
reflection on its meaning
is like the spirit, so that if a man merely utters
the words of the prayers with
his heart concerned with matters other than
prayer, then his prayer is like a
body without a spirit and a husk without a
kernel, because while his body is
present when he prays his heart is absent.
Of people such as he, the Scripture
says, 'Forasmuch as this people draw
nigh, and with their lips do honour Me, but
[they] have removed their heart
far from Me.; (Isa., 29:13)."
Bahya ibn Paquda
_The Duties of the
Heart_, 8.1
in Lewis Jacobs
_Hasidic Prayer_
Oxford: Littman, 1972, pp.
71-72
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