“The result of one's performance of a mitzvah is of no consequence;
it is the moment of the mitzvah itself which is the victory.
It is the moment in which the King is presented with sparks of holiness from below, and it contains the whole of one's own significance on earth.
A person should see himself as part of a caravan that is climbing a high mountain;
his body and soul are on call, ready to do whatever is needed.
When one is busy with one's hands, one is doing God's actions.
When thinking or feeling, one is occupied with God's thoughts.
When speaking, one is uttering His words.
Such a life is called "soul restoring" in that Torah brings the soul back to its source.
As it is said: "the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart" (Psalms 19:9).
Their capacity to make the heart rejoice comes from the fact that, no matter who the person is, what ever his level, when he does the will of God, he knows that he is redeeming the world and redeeming his soul.
The sanctified deed extends in unknowable ways far beyond the confines of the action.
In such a life, a person forgets the personal accounts of his own self and becomes absorbed in the task of Divine work.”
--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From "Liberation of the Self" p. 209, in The Long Shorter Way by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
