But he whose soul's root is of too limited a capacity for this perfect service [on the level of a "chariot]", so that through his service of Torah and mitzvot he be constantly nullified before and absorbed in G-d's light, [he can therefore attain this state] only intermittently and [only] at times of divine favor on high, such as during the Shemoneh-Esreh prayer, which is at the level of Atzilut.

[The four rungs in the ladder of prayer correspond to the four Worlds: The prayers preceding Baruch She'amar correspond to Asiyah; the Psalms of Praise to Yetzirah; the Shema to Beriah, and the Shemoneh-Esreh (Amida) is at the level of Atzilut].

And especially when bowing in [the four designated places in] this prayer, [the Amida], for every such act of bowing represents the level of Atzilut ( [7] as is written in Pri Etz Chayim, in the section dealing with the welcoming of the Sabbath), for it embodies the idea of self-nullification in G-d's light - to be accounted as absolutely naught before Him.

[In the case of he who can attain the level of a "chariot" only at such propitious times], then even at these times, the principal abode of his soul is in the World of Beriah [for we are dealing here with a soul associated with the World of Beriah], ([7] and only occasionally, at a time of divine favor, will his soul rise to Atzilut as "feminine waters," as is known to the initiates of Kabbalah).

   

Notes:

7. (Back to text) Parentheses were in the original text.