It happens often that people view a ruchniyus matter through a gashmiyus lens—and the result is disastrous. For example, a long davening. Looking at it with a material lens, one says, “Am I supposed to stand here until 3:00 in the afternoon? What will I do all this time... What does Hashem want from me... OK, I will come late, and step out for a break in the middle....”
But really, davening is at its core a spiritual experience... a time when one can speak directly to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. A time to become close to Hashem, a time to ask for all one’s needs. But the outer trapping of this experience is represented as difficulty in time, in place, in the many people who are there, etc.
If a person uses a spiritual lens, remembering that it is not his own power and ability that accomplishes anything—then he receives the power and the ability from Above, because he is mevatel himself to the Ribbono shel Olam, becoming His shaliach.
