Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 184

184 - When One Speaks with His Friend in Fear of Heaven

When one speaks with his friend in fear of Heaven, it generates a direct light and a returning light (-or yashar and or chozer; mystical energy flows). Sometimes the returning light precedes the direct light – when the listener has a limited intellect and cannot absorb the speaker's words. In such cases, before the friend receives from him (which is direct light), the speaker first receives from the friend. Thus, the returning light comes first.

In conversations rooted in fear of Heaven, even if the friend does not absorb the words, the speaker still receives arousal from the friend. This occurs through the "striking" of the words as they exit the speaker's mouth toward the friend, causing the light to rebound back to him [this is literally the aspect of returning light, as described in the writings; see there]. It is like striking a wall, where the sound echoes back. Similarly, when speaking to a friend who does not receive the words, the speaker can still be aroused by them through the rebound of the words that "strike" the friend and return. Therefore, if he spoke these words to himself alone, he might not be aroused at all. But by directing them to his friend, he becomes aroused – even if the friend does not – through this aspect of "striking" and rebound [understand: this is the returning light via striking, as explained in the writings].