As a person develops, he gradually begins to feel emptiness within the animalistic vessels because the point in the heart shows him the absence of fulfillment. He may fill himself with food, bodily pleasures, money, honor, or knowledge, yet beside all of these there is a higher vessel that shows him that he is empty.

A person feels that whatever he has filled himself with is not enough. This happens even before he begins studying Kabbalah.

When he does begin to study, however, different difficulties arise. New conditions are arranged for him internally. Suddenly he once again starts receiving pleasure from food, relationships, work, and other worldly pursuits. This comes as “help against him.” Before he began studying Kabbalah, the process was natural and came from Above. But according to the amount of effort he invests in study, an inner imbalance begins to awaken within him, each time in a different form.

Suddenly, instead of a longing for spirituality, a person receives a longing for corporeal things, usually sexual desire, because according to its spiritual root, it is the foundation of all pleasures. Or a desire for money, honor, or knowledge may reappear, although this happens less often, since those pleasures are connected to society.

A person advancing spiritually is gradually detached from society and becomes preoccupied with his inner work. Therefore, he generally does not struggle as much with money, honor, or knowledge; rather, animalistic desires arise within him. But this is already a completely different process. These disturbances are awakened in him from Above according to the effort he invests in his studies.

How does one cope with such disturbances? A person decides intellectually that he must “erase” his own reasoning and harness himself like “an ox to the burden.” He says: “I do what I am told. Why? Because they apparently know, while I am confused and know nothing.” Or: “I must not listen to my own thoughts.”

If only I had listened to what Rabash told me! Only now can I understand how many months and years I would have saved. But it was impossible. It is easy to say, “If only I had listened!” But I could not hear it at the time.

Additional disturbances bring additional Aviut (thickness of desire) if a person accepts them and truly works with them. By using them correctly, he increases his Aviut and eventually rises to the next degree: He falls deeper, and then ascends even higher.

But if you do not want these disturbances and try from the outset to shield yourself from them, you descend to a lower degree and become more “subtle” or weaker. This is called being left aside. They may return to you from Above at some later time, but no one knows when.

Therefore, when difficult states come to a person, it is preferable to use them as opportunities for advancement.
[357411]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/26, Rabash, “These Are the Generations of Noah”

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