Enclosed By the Infinitely Frail; Permeated By the Immanently Elusive--Part 2

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose
                                                         --e.e.cummings

Prayer can only be rectified when it comes through the thought that in fact the soul is always praying.
Without any stop at all, she soars to and leans on her Beloved. It is at the time of outward prayer that the perpetual prayer of the soul reveals itself in the realm of action.
And prayer's refinement and pleasure, its glory and beauty is that it resembles a rose, opening its elegant petals to receive the dew, or to face the rays of the sun as they shine over her with its light. 
                               --Rabbi Avraham Yitchak Kook

The glory of God is man fully alive; the life of a man is the vision of God.                  --Irenaeus of Lyons


Prayer is zivug (coupling) with the  Shechinah (Divine presence). Just as there is motion at the beginning of coupling, so, too, one must move (sway) at the beginning of prayer. Thereafter one can stand still, without motion, attached to the  Shechinah with great deveikut (cleaving).

As a result of your swaying, you can attain great bestirment. For you think to yourself: “Why do I move myself? Presumably it is because the Shechinah surely stands before me.” This will effect in you a state of great hitlahavut (enthusiasm; rapture).

                                     --The Ba'al Shem Tov, Tzava'at Harivash 68