HOW TO BECOME ONE WITH HASHEM

In Torah 21 Rabbeinu quotes the famous phrase from "Kuzari": "If I knew Him (Hashem), then I would be Him." The idea there is that it's impossible to truly know Hashem because otherwise we would actually be Hashem, and who can say that about themselves? Pretty depressing if you really think about it.

But Rabbeinu's motto is, "There is no despair in the world whatsoever!" So indeed, he understands this phrase from "Kuzari" quite differently: not as a statement of defeat, but as a very practical way to get out of all our lacks. 

Here is how he explains this: perfection belongs only to Hashem, and everything else in the world is lacking. So the way to reach perfection and to overcome all the lacks is to become encompassed in Hashem. And how does one actually do this? Through attaining daas - knowledge and awareness of Hashem, because if we get to know Him, we become part of Him! 

Of course, such level of awareness cannot be maintained constantly, but only in the manner of "running and returning". Still, I see in this a very good example of how the true tzaddik is different from everyone else: where others, no matter how wise they are, see a closed door, the tzaddik sees the way to go forward. And the main thing is that he can show us the way, too!