“His sicha EXPLICITLY says it’s ok to daven to a rebbe directly because of atzmus. ”
Do you think that your blatant lie will become true if you repeat it sufficiently? The Rebbe doesn’t use the word “daven”, and isn’t discussing davening to a Rebbe – something Chassidim have never done – the Rebbe is talking about “betten” in English, “asking, demanding, beseeching”, something Chassidim have done throughout the generations, and across the Chassidish spectrum, it’s not exclusive to Lubavitch. In Yiddish we say about someone who has passed on, “Er zol Zayn ah gutte better” do you know the translation of those words? We ask our Rebbeim to beseech the Eibeshter on our behalf. Which raises the question, how is that ok? Why do we need a Memutzah? Is that not a problem?
(The answer you can now read inside the Sicha.)