A prayer is work in the heart (Rabash, Article 24, “Three Times in the Work”).

It is because the heart of a person is the root of their egoistic desire. The heart here does not refer to the physical organ of the body, which is merely a pump.

It is specifically the desire located in the heart that must be transformed into a different form where its aim is to bestow rather than to receive. This means that the direction of my actions, my desires, and my thoughts should shift from focusing inward to reaching outward.

But how can this be achieved? I am unable to change my egoistic desire on my own. All I can do is perform certain actions that will draw the influence of the upper light upon me, which will correct me and adjust me to a different attitude toward everything outside of me.

Though I previously thought that the world outside of me consisted of inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and people, I will begin to see that in reality none of this exists as separate entities. It is all but one Creator.

Thus a person has a significant task: to transform their heart, meaning their desire. Since this task is contrary to his egoistic nature, he cannot change himself on his own. A person is trapped within himself, within his egoism. No matter how he turns, acts, or thinks, his actions and thoughts remain self-centered. He cannot escape himself.

Baal HaSulam likens a person to a worm living inside a radish, feeling as if its entire life is one endless bitter radish. Only if the worm manages to poke its head out will it see the sun, greenery, grass, air, and singing birds, and realize that another world exists.

So it is with us. Hence, there is great work involved in transforming one’s desire, one’s heart. Since this work goes against a person’s individual nature, he must request assistance from the Creator, that is, he must appeal to an external force (and the only external force is the Creator) to help him escape his essence, his egoism, which the Creator deliberately created, and enter what is called a state “above nature.”

The state above our nature is called faith—Emunah, which means bestowal. This concept should not be confused with the notion of faith in our world. In our world, faith means closing one’s eyes and accepting something as true, simply believing in its existence.

In Kabbalah, however, faith refers to acquiring the quality of bestowal. It is not just believing in this quality, but actually possessing it within oneself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/19, Preparation for convention in Moldova “Turning to the Creator”

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