A prayer before studying Likutei Moharan

Master of the World, I am now opening the book Likutei Moharan. I know that its words are deep, and that I will not always understand them on a first reading. There are hints in it, verses that connect in surprising ways, and ideas that are hard for me to hold together.

Give me patience with the words. Let me not despair when I do not understand, and let me not settle for a shallow understanding only to reach the end of the teaching. Let me go over the passage again, ask, search, until something lights up for me.

And let me look for myself in the words. Not only to know what is written, but to ask what it says to me, today, in the situation I am in. Where am I within this teaching, and what does it ask of me.

And if I reach something that seems far from me, too lofty or unrelated to my life, let me not rush to dismiss it. Perhaps precisely there the point I need is waiting for me, and I simply have not reached it yet.

Help me turn what I learn into prayer. After the learning, let me be able to turn to You and ask You to help me live these things, and not only understand them.

And let me learn with joy and humility, and not in order to argue, to be proud or to feel that I already know.

And let me rise from this learning with joy and vitality, with one point that will go with me all day and remind me to strengthen myself.