Kuntres Mattan Torah, On the Completion of The Zohar

All this is in theory. In practice, they have not explained anything by interpreting it as cleaving to his attributes. It is tantamount to separating the desire to receive that is inherent in us from the nature of our creation and arriving at the desire to give, which is opposite to our nature. As we have explained, someone drowning in the river must hold on to the rope with all his might. Before he engages in the Torah and the commandments for their own sake in such a way that he will not turn back to folly, he is not considered to be holding on to the rope with all his strength. We thus return to the original question where he would take the energy to labor with all his heart and might just for the sake of giving satisfaction to his maker. For a person cannot make even a single movement without self-benefit just like a machine cannot function without fuel. If there will be no self-benefit but just giving satisfaction to one’s maker, he has no fuel for the work.