The service of God is based on a healthy heartbeat of "run and return" – ascent to the sacred realm with passionate yearning upwards, and then return to reality. This heartbeat is expressed subtly in the fluctuations a person undergoes in all areas of Divine service. On a broader scale, it is manifested in the transitions between different spheres of engagement.
In inner terms, the "run" is towards the upper world, the world of Emanation, and the "return" is to the lower worlds – the world of Creation, the world of Formation, and the world of Action:
The essence of the "run" is in the service of prayer, through which the person entirely departs from his own reality and stands "before the face of God." The peak of the ladder of prayer is the entry into the world of Emanation, the world of Divine unity. Standing before the Infinite and turning directly to Him, saying "You," is a tremendously powerful experience that a person cannot sustain for too long. Thus, it is told of Rabbi Pinchas of Koritz that before each prayer, he would separate from his wife, lest his soul take flight in the prayer.
After prayer, one must rest from the intensity of the "run" – go "from the synagogue to the study hall" and engage in God's Torah, with the faith that the Giver of the Torah appears anew in every moment within His Torah. Compared to the soul-stirring demands of prayer, the toil of the intellect in Torah is considered a respite. The "return" to Torah belongs to the world of Creation, the world of intellect occupied with Torah. Regarding this, it is said: "If your heart runs, return to your place" – "Who is wise? One who knows his place" and understands that with all the enthusiasm of the soul in prayer, his own level – which settles in his understanding and knowledge – is his special portion and place in Torah.
An additional level of "return" to reality is the descent to the world of emotion, the world of Formation, to serve God through enthusiasm and delight. However, "Constant delight is not delight." Therefore, within the enthusiasm and delight themselves there are interruptions, descents to times when one must serve God with a small intellect, until a renewed ascent to service in abundant delight and joy becomes possible. Regarding this, it is said: "If your heart runs, return back" – one must retreat from the intensity of the experience so that it can be renewed and strengthened.
But the ultimate purpose of the "return" is to the world of Action – a descent from the realm of 'spiritual' desires of Torah, prayer, and mitzvot to willing engagement with the affairs of this world. This descent stems from the 'weights' – the animal soul, the body, and the surrounding world – that God placed on the soul so that it would not take flight. It can be an orientation from God towards worldly matters. When one merits to fulfill "in all your ways, know Him" – and especially in the Land of Israel, where most of the affairs of the world can be engaged with awareness of the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel – the world of Action is the perfection of the tikkun (rectification), in which one finds God within reality. Regarding this, it is said: "If your heart runs, return to the One" – if your heart runs to find the "One God" above, return to the lower world, to make for Him, blessed be He, a dwelling in the lower realms. It is specifically in this wa that you will encounter His very Essence!
"Return" (shov) is cognate to teshuvah (repentance). The verse "And the living creatures ran and returned like the appearance of a flash" equals twice the numerical value of teshuvah. From this, we learn that as a prelude to true "running," one must initially do teshuvah, which frees him from any hold on the world. Afterward, another teshuvah is required: to actualize God's will in the lower worlds.
