ZSK – Going off topic here, but necessary to mention:
Nobody “prays to Sefiros” ח״ו and no sane person who isn’t a Shabbetai Tzvi cultist perverts the words of the Zohar the way you did. Seeing as you repeatedly reference Rav Kook זצ״ל, you probably know that in his time there was a Yemeni Rav who convinced himself that he knew better than all of Klal Yisroel and was חולק on the Zohar, mainly using your purported arguments, and a Sefer was written to counter his arguments with a lengthy Haskamah and introduction by – Rav Kook בכבודו ובעצמו – explaining why that Rav (and you) are wrong. You claim to have read Rav Kook, and I have no reason to doubt that, so you probably are aware of his fondness for Zohar and Kabbalah. What the Zohar really means is way beyond the scope of “The Coffee Room”, but if you want you can learn the following Sefarim:
ספר אילימה רבתי and שיעור קומה of the Ramak.
All of the כתבי האריז״ל. (Read carefully the Hakdamah of R’ Chaim Vital.)
The works of Ramchal, especially קל״ח פתחי חכמה. He also wrote an entire Sefer called קנאת ה׳ צבאות specifically debunking the kefirah of Shabbetai Tzvi ימ״ש and explaining correct pshat in the Zohar in many of the places they distorted.
Sephardic: דעת ותבונה of the Ben Ish Chai, especially his long Hakdamah, is an excellent source. There is also a lesser known Sefer called אמונת חכמים written in Italy about 300 years ago by R’ Aviad Sar Shalom Basila, which deals entirely with the issues you raised.
Litvish: Biur HaGra on ספרא דצניעותא, as well as נפש החיים of R’ Chaim of Volozhin. פתחי שערים of R’ Yitzchok Isaac Chaver, talmid of R’ Chaim Volozhiner.
Chassidish: שערי היחוד והאמונה by R’ Aharon of Shtrasheleh, יסוד האמונה by R’ Boruch Kossover, and of course the many works of the בעל התניא. Try also נתיב מצוותיך of R’ Isaac of Komarno. The works of Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, and especially ליקוטי הלכות of his talmid R’ Nosson, are very helpful.
There are even explicitly RZ sefarim by contemporary authors written on this subject too, if you want…
If you think that ONLY you are the REAL מאמין, and ALL of these גדולי עולם were even POSSIBLY kofrim ח״ו, then you have a bigger problem than I can help you with.