Becoming Familiar with the Concept of Kavana - I

The world of Torah with which we are familiar is almost solely focused on actions and speech. The study of Torah revolves primarily around the revealed Torah which focuses on fulfilling the action Mitzvos, and results in knowledge of Halacha. By contrast, the study of the Inner Torah is intended to instruct the worlds of intent, the thoughts and desires of the heart in the exact same way that the study of Talmud and Halachic codes trains the action limbs in the fulfillment of Mitzvos.
The world does not yet appreciate the broad richness of the worlds of thought and intent. We stand before these inner concepts and they appear blurry to us. We believe what our Sages teach - that thoughts have an effect and intent makes a powerful impression, but within himself the person is not even close to understanding. He thinks that words and actions are much more powerful than thought. He sees thought as a tool for inspiration to action, but not as a force which acts directly.
However, the concept  and knowledge of Kavana is very blurry. What is Kavana in the heart? Is it scrunching up the face and moving rapidly while davening? Is creating wrinkles in one's forehead a means of concentration? We are standing before poorly understood concepts of which we only have the most infantile comprehension.
ויחד לבבנו פ"ד

Quashing the Childish Klipah

When a kernel of grain is growing the shell covering it cannot be removed. At this stage the klipah (shell) protects the grain and its ability to ripen. This teaches us an important principle, there are klipos of the soul that are there to facilitate its growth, and we must take heed not to try and remove them before their time or in an inappropriate manner. Doing so is likely to damage the development of the child's positive traits, that which is within, the fruit itself.
The klipos are the traits that appear in a manner that does not appear to be directed towards appropriate channels. We find children who are full of energy, that are not naturally drawn to expressing themselves in ways that are good and proper. The job of directing them down a good path, that of teaching them how to select the appropriate behavior to separate the good traits from the klipos and direct them on the right path, has to await the growth of the child into a healthy and strong person, only then can he be purified. Trying to separate them from their klipos before they are mature is likely to harm their unique abilities and their perfection. It can create a weak person who is lacking life, as the effort to show them the right path is full of criticism. If the parents criticize the child a lot as he is developing, they are likely to squash his good traits and ruin his fundamental will power.
Therefore, first we must show a child a lot of faith in his goodness, love and strength, so that he develops happy and healthy even as some of his character is drawn to that which is impure. That's all part of growing up. if the parents attempt to rip away the bad character by force, they will stunt his development, and weaken him internally.
לעול"ש ס"ט

Childish Adults

Every person has countless dreams and aspirations, but in order to succeed it is necessary to limit oneself at any given time to one thing and to focus on it. If the person is constantly overwhelmed with many desires he will be unable to fulfill any of them completely. The middah of gevurah directs a person to choose a defined objective, to focus upon it, to begin it and to make the effort to completely finish it and not to jump from project to project. Chesed cannot impact the world without gevurah to constrain it. Chesed can spread its wings in the spiritual realm where there is no need for limitation, and one can spread his wings to fly to limitless worlds, however, this world requires gevurah. In a dream one can desire many things, but practically there is a need to choose, to focus, to prioritize, i.e. to limit oneself.
The bottom line is that gevurah actualizes the greatest dreams. Without it and all that it entails, sticking to a schedule, following a program, focus, giving up on distracting temptations, stubbornness, one cannot rise in holiness. Chesed is the dreams, the great lights, but without vessels, without gevurah they cannot come to fruition.
But even with all of the focus of gevurah it is vital not to lose the freedom of chesed, the sweetness of dreams and broad ambition. In a certain respect childhood is the age of simple chesed, full of love and sweetness, before the person enters the complications and limitations of this world. This is why children are so full of sweetness, joy, and laughter because the bitterness of life has not touched and soiled them.
Adulthood, bagrut in Hebrew, carries the same root as gevurah, and is the age in which a person adds gevurah to his repertoire as he recognizes the limitations of life and acquires the tools to progress in life. Adulthood needs to serve the light of childhood and not to exchange childhood for adulthood. A person needs to remain a child in spirit and to never age. It is important to take heed to not be so impressed with his relationship with vessels and the complications of this world, to think that the simplicity of childhood is naivete and weakness. A person should not feel that adulthood is the time to awaken from the slumber of childhood.
The fact is that childhood is the wellspring of life and sweetness of the dreams, the simple chesed and love and adulthood clothes that in vessels that enables it to come to the world. But be careful not to exchange the light with the vessel, childhood for adulthood and optimism for pessimism.

Well Praying

Praying is like digging a well in that you need to dig into the depths of your soul where there is flowing water, thirst and pining, deep desires that are befitting like clear, clean water.
Initially, all you find is clumps of dry dirt, then the ground begins to become moist from the waters of the depths, subsequently water begins to trickle out, mixed with mud and dirt. Finally, there is pure, clear, flowing water. The same is true with the gates of the heart which are initially stopped up by lots of dirt, but they are always full of clear water deep within. Prayer consists of peeling away the dried and dirty layers to seek out and reveal what is flowing within, which is totally clear and pure, full of will and desire, connection and great pleasure.
בראשית שס"ז

Daas

Unlike Chochma or Bina (wisdom and understanding) which are acquired through logical analysis of general principles and details, Daas (knowledge) is achieved through finding that  the life force within oneself is in synchronicity with that which is being comprehended. Dass is not superficial contemplation of the matter being comprehended in the manner in which the intellect works, rather it is one's essence connecting with it. It is not expressed in knowledge about, but is united with. It is a life's experience which cannot be expressed verbally and is not delineated by thoughts. Daas is connection, a living meeting between the knower and the known. It creates an essential unity between them. Daas means to blend, to dissolve the external walls which separate and to touch the life force within which is the unity and identification of the knower with the known. Daas neutralizes multiplicity and reveals unity.
תפלה שנ"ז

Resurrection - Where is it to be Found?

I saw something very fascinating in a lengthy piece that HaChalban quotes from the Baal Haleshem (ספר הדעה ב ב ג). This does not sound like the typical kind of idea that you will see in Torah sources. While it may not surprise you the the source is a significant Kabbalistic work, its author was not from the Chassidic movement, on the contrary, he was the leading Lithuanian Mitnagdic Kabbalist of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Despite that, what I share from him here may sound a bit New-Agey. You'd be surprised what you find if you are not too scared to delve deeply into the sources of truth.
As I often do, I will not be translating his ideas word for word, but restating them in my own way, and in this case adding a bit of my own. That said, feel free to consult the original source and you will see that I am true to his message.
The Talmud teaches us that there are three people who are considered to be dead: one who has tzorass, one who is destitute, and one who has no children. Why is this? It would seem because in each of these cases people often wonder what is the value of their life given the situation they are in. A life that is lacking in meaning is essentially death.
Resurrection happens around us all the time. Every person, every object, every idea, every moment that seems to have no meaning and no purpose, and then we discover its value is an act of resurrection. People mistakenly think that the resurrection of the dead is something that will occur in some futuristic Messianic time. They think it only entails dead bodies rising from the earth and coming back to life.  The truth is that it is a process which is ongoing on a moment by moment basis throughout existence.

Every time a scientist discovers a new power of nature that was unknown beforehand, he is resurrecting the dead. He is giving meaning to something that was not yet understood. If an inventor taps the forces of nature to create something new, he is resurrecting latent abilities within Creation that had been dead until now. If a person feels that his life is meaningless, whether for the reasons mentioned above or some other reason, and then finds meaning in her life, she has now been resurrected. If a person spent time pursuing a project that ultimately failed and feels that all the time expended was wasted, that time is dead to him. When he later uncovers the value of that experience another resurrection has occurred.
The only difference between our times and the Messianic Era is that at by that time the meaning of everything will be revealed, all the dead will have been resurrected. But resurrection itself, is always with us.

I

Occasionally a person will go to an extreme and think that his "I" is just something that is evil and must be erased. He chooses to live a life of asceticism and despises his God-given abilities. He thinks that more he crushes himself the better person and servant of God he is.
This is a great mistake. God did not give us great abilities so that we should waste them, but that we should use them in His service. We cannot destroy the abilities and aptitudes which God instilled within us, on the contrary, they should be used in divine service. If God gave someone strength or intelligence or other skills it is a sign that God wants the person to serve Him with those abilities and not to push them aside or erase them.
Occasionally a person must push aside his abilities if they are leading him on an evil path, but that is no reason to completely destroy them. He should push them aside for a short period of time until he can cleanse them of the evil which has grabbed onto them. Subsequently, he should return to them and use them to serve God for which purpose they were created.
The "I" is the entry point to "you." If there is no "I" to stand before Hashem, then there can be no "you" directed towards Hashem.
תפלה ק"ע