Inner Doors of Listening

במדרש שמוע תשמע לכנוס דלת לפנים מדלת לשקוד על דלתותי כו'

In the Midrash on the verse "Shamoa tishma" ("If you will surely listen"), it is expounded as referring to entering door within door — "to be vigilant at My doors" (Mishlei 8:34), and so forth.

The Sfas Emes brings the Midrash that reads the doubled language of "surely listen" as the image of passing through one doorway and then another, deeper one — drawing on the verse about standing watch at Hashem's doors.

כי צריך האדם לידע שכל הפתיחה שנפתח בו איזה פתח בלבו כמו כן נפתח בשורשו למעלה וכל המכוון צריך להיות על פתח השורש שהשמיעה תגרום שמיעה פנימיות אח"כ כנ"ל:

For a person must know that whatever opening is opened within him — that some doorway is opened in his heart — correspondingly an opening is made in his root Above; and all of one's intent must be directed toward the doorway of the root, for the listening will bring about an inner listening afterward, as explained above.

He teaches that every spiritual opening a person experiences in his own heart corresponds to a parallel opening in his soul's root Above, so a person should aim his avodah at that root, since outer listening draws down a deeper, inner listening.

Summary: The Sfas Emes opens with the Midrash that reads the doubled phrase "if you will surely listen" as the image of a doorway within a doorway, tied to the call to be vigilant at Hashem's doors. From this he draws a foundational principle in avodah: whenever some doorway is opened in a person's heart down here, a corresponding opening is simultaneously made in the root of his neshamah Above. Therefore a person must direct all his intent toward that supernal root rather than toward the surface awakening alone. When he does so, his initial act of listening draws down a deeper, inner listening in turn — door leading into door, as the Midrash hinted.