The Duties of the Heart

Gate Five: "Dedicating Our Actions to God"

Chapter 2

There are a number of truisms we'd have to internalize if we're ever to dedicate everything we do to the service of G-d. Ibn Pakudah terms them the "very pillars of our Divine service" and advises us to make them the impetuses behind everything we do.

Not only will internalizing these truisms enable us to dedicate our actions to G-d, they'll also give us the wherewithal and inner fortitude to "turn to no one else but Him" when in need, to "hope only in Him" rather than in His agents, and to "mean to please Him alone" and no one else.

We've discussed some of these truisms already, like the fact of G-d's Oneness, His constant favors, and the wisdom in trusting in G-d alone. But there will be other truths to internalize as well which we'll delve into later.

They start off with the fact that neither help nor harm could ever come to us without G-d's willing it so, and they include the idea that it would do us well to accept praise or insult from others with equanimity; to stop flattering others; to ignore material things when engaged in spiritual ones; to develop a sense of fear and deep humility before G-d; and to heed the advice of reason when our impulses try to convince us to sin.

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