Rav Kook was faithful to the world of both the Vilna Gaon and the Baal Shem Tov. Is the tachlis of Torah dependent on the intellect and understanding Torah for its own sake OR is Torah the means for reaching a higher goal which is dvekus (cleaving) with Hashem? Nefesh haChaim clearly states that learning Torah lishma is not devykus. If tachlis is devkus, then we should say tehillim all day long. If learning Torah brings us to dveykus, then we should choose one section of Torah and just learn that. But we have a mitzvah to learn all of Torah. When we are truly immersed in a gemorrah, it is almost impossible to be in a state of dveykus.