"You shall follow G‑d, your G‑d, fear Him, keep His commandments, heed His voice, worship Him, and cleave to Him." (Deut. 13:5)

The first words of this verse: "You shall follow G‑d," can also be translated, "[Toward] the back of G‑d, you will walk." According to this interpretation, the Torah here is describing the following successive rungs on the ladder of spiritual growth:

"[Toward] the back of G‑d, your G‑d": you must first realize that all existence is created and sustained by G‑d "turning His back" (so to speak) on reality. G‑d’s presence is so overwhelming that if it were to be revealed openly in the world, the world could not maintain its self-awareness as being discrete from G‑d. This, in turn, would undermine the purpose of creation, which is for it to serve as a setting in which we seek G‑d’s hidden presence. The more you realize that all you perceive of Reality is just a façade for the underlying Divinity that sustains it…

"You will walk": the more you will progress toward successively more intense levels of loving G‑d and you will come to realize, He is the only true reality. This will ultimately bring you to the brink of rapturous death as you yearn to unite with G‑d, but –

...humiliated by your own puniness, you will be afraid to approach G‑d.

"You will fear Him": humiliated by your own puniness, you will be afraid to approach G‑d. Furthermore, you will realize that true unity with G‑d means submission to His will, specifically, His will that you remain in the physical world and fulfill your Divine mission and potential. However, you will also come to realize that in devoting yourself to your Divine mission in this material world, you will be putting your inspiration at risk, since you will be exposing yourself to influences contrary to Divine consciousness. Therefore…

"You must safeguard His commandments", ensuring that you continue to perform them with enthusiasm and inspiration. In order to do that…

"You must heed [lit. hear] His voice", which you hear by learning the Torah, for G‑d’s presence is more openly felt in the study of Torah than in the physical performance of the commandments. Therefore, through Torah study, you can maintain your conscious connection to G‑d while still engaging the material world. You will then realize that it is not sufficient to approach G‑d out of love; in addition…

"You must worship [or: serve] Him" as a simple, faithful servant, for only by so doing do you express your absolute renunciation of your ego in your desire to truly merge with Him. Thus…

"You will cleave to Him" in thought, speech and action.

From another perspective, this verse means:

...submission to the lowliest form of relationship to G‑d.

"Follow G‑d, your G‑d" (lit. "walk after G‑d") by submitting to His will. Just as walking is the most prosaic form of human endeavor, so is submission to the lowliest form of relationship to G‑d. Once you have submitted yourselves to G‑d’s will, you can also…

"Fear Him": that is, perform His commandments out of fear of Him as well...

"Keep His commandments" out of love for Him. Having refined yourselves by performing His commandments, you can…

"Heed His voice" by cultivating profound sensitivity to G‑dliness. This sensitivity will illuminate your heart, inspiring you to…

"Worship Him" by putting into practice the inspiration inherent in this sensitivity. This inspiration and its fulfillment in practice will cause you to…

"Cleave to Him".

Thus, we see here that despite the prosaic nature of simple, submissive, devoted self-discipline, it forms the basis of our relationship with G‑d and is the foundation upon which we subsequently build our loftier, more sophisticated levels of relationship with Him.

Adapted from Likutei Torah (by Rabbi Shneur Zalman, 1st Chabad Rebbe) 4:19b-20c; Sefer HaMa’amarim Kuntresim (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, 6th Chabad Rebbe), vol. 2, pp 475b-476a (Sefer HaMa’amarim 5697, pp.305-306
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