We are unconsciously managed by intentions of in order to receive. There is nothing we can do about it since that’s the way we were born. But if we perform the right actions, even if our intention is still incorrect, which means that corporeally we try to be in a circle, in connection, and attracted to mutual guarantee as much as we can, we thus make ourselves suitable for the Upper Light even without the intention of in order to bestow.

We don’t adapt ourselves to the Upper Light itself but rather to its illumination from a distance called the Surrounding Light. This Surrounding Light begins to affect us according to our efforts to reach connection, to reach “don’t do unto others what is hated by you,” “love thy friend as thyself,” in connection and in self annulment. Even if these actions are not accompanied by the intention of in order to bestow, they still bring the Light that Reforms closer to us and thanks to it we gradually acquire the intention of in order to bestow. Thus our actions acquire the intention of bestowal and we begin to ascend the spiritual ladder.

Therefore it is said that “Mitzvot (commandments) don’t require an intention,” and that even actions without the right intentions can begin to correct and bring us to the first spiritual level, to the level of Nefesh of Holiness. The spiritual path begins from this level. Then our actions become more focused, with the intention of Lishma (for its sake), for the Creator, in a more conscious way. We perform 613 corrections on each and every level: 613 corrections on the level of Nefesh, 613 corrections on the level of Ruach, 613 corrections on the level of Neshama, 613 corrections on the level of Haya and 613 corrections on the level of Yechida and then we are rewarded with the great Light, the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity).

Question: Why does it say that “a Mitzvah without an intention is like a body without a soul?”

Answer: It’s about real Mitzvot, but what we do now is not a Mitzvah yet. It says that “a person is rewarded with the goal of creation by keeping the Torah and the Mitzvot.” Torah is the Light that Reforms that comes and corrects our desire with the intention of in order to bestow. Correction is called a Mitzvah.

This means that the Upper Light performs the Mitzvah by correcting the desire, but it is a person who draws the Upper Light. A person who draws the Upper Light does not have the right intention yet, and he only performs all the actions in order to summon the Light that Reforms. When the Light comes, it already performs the corrections that are called Mitzvot. So our role is only to constantly bring ourselves to a state or to stabilize the state that is closest to the Surrounding Light, to the Light that Reforms.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/13

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