A Person Only Attains Stature

by Rav Kook

     A person only attains stature from within himself, from his inner, essential core, and not from what comes to him from outside, because circumstantial occurrences do not bring about true happiness.
     But the Torah and the commandments are the core of happiness, yet they come to a person from outside himself.
     However, when we contemplate, we see that every person attains from the Torah and the commandments only that which is hidden in his inner being.
     Moreover, in the totality of things, a person envelops all being, and the Torah and the commandments, which are the core of the laws of being, are incorporated in him. And when he clings to them, he clings to his core.
     And when, through them, he comes to cling to the Divine, he certainly finds his core, because our entire core is only in the source of our being—in God, the Source of all existence—because in truth, in the essence of truth, we truly exist only in Him, and outside of Him we are only an assemblage of circumstantiality.
     “[With] my soul, I have yearned for You at night, indeed, [with] my spirit within me I seek You” (Isaiah 26:9).
     Chadarav​, pp. 20-21