Similarly, the order of the daily prayers was designed to subdue the natural inclination and desires of the animal soul and lead one to feel a love for Hashem during the recital of the Shema that is actually to the degree cited in Shema, “with all your heart and all your soul”.
In the Zohar, this is called (Vol. 1, 117a): “to be drawn in to the body of the king,” which means a yearning to lose oneself in Hashem out of such an intensity of love that one is no longer concerned with one’s own heart and soul.
This process of transforming one’s animal desires is described by way of analogy by what is says (Shir HaShirim 5:1): “I (Hashem) have come into my garden, (i.e., the Mishkan, built by the Jewish People who are like) My sister and My bride. I gathered in (the inaugural offering of ketores-incense that included) myrrh and other spices. I consumed them, even though ketores is not usually offered on the Outer Mizbeach (altar), like someone who eats a sugarcane with the sugar inside because he is so hungry, even though normally one sucks out the sugar and throws out the cane.
We see in this verse that Hashem accepting offerings on the Mizbeach is compared to eating. The offerings are transformed into something holy when they go up in the fire, just as when one eats food, it becomes digested and transformed into part of the person. Similarly, through the fiery love of Hashem during prayer, the desires of the animal soul become transformed to a desire to serve Hashem.
