Question: What happens to the animal desires and what should my attitude toward them be?

Answer: Our attitude toward our animalistic desires for food, sex, family should not change. As with all other desires, we should not fight them at all or fixate on them. We should simply acknowledge that they exist.

How much I want or do not want to use them depends on the degree of my correction. I should not lock myself in a monastery or become a hermit in life, go on a strict diet, or anything of the sort.

The truth is that the rule “there is no coercion in spirituality” applies throughout the entire hierarchy from top to bottom. If your mind is focused where it should be, then your heart will follow your thoughts, and your actions follow your heart. For example, there is no need to worry that sometimes you perform actions that do not seem particularly good to you, following the impulses of the body. It is fine; everything will be resolved and corrected.

As the saying goes: “The mother will come and cleanse what her son has done.” That is, correction will come, and either the behavior will cease or it will happen in a different, corrected form. Don’t pay attention to anything else; just keep your mind in the right place, in thoughts shared with the group all directed toward the Creator.

If you begin to ruminate and lament about how bad you are, you will become immersed in these thoughts. But at least after some action or incident—no matter what, you return to the Creator again.

Not regretting the past for even a moment but moving forward is the rule that we must implant into our patterns of behavior. Otherwise, you will sink into despair and devour yourself, as it is said: “The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh”: “Am I really like this? Who am I after all?”

Leave yourself alone, connect with the group in striving toward the Creator. Forget about yourself; you must come out of yourself and not think about “where I am and who I am.” You do not yet know who you are. You will still discover this, and then you will truly tremble. There is nothing to think about here; it is simply bad; it stops your advancement.

In general, one never thinks about the past moment, only forward. One must not turn around and look at something behind oneself. This is done only if the group, or a person sets aside a specific time to examine what happened to him and how he related to it.

Rabash gave his grandmother as an example. When he did some mischief, she would say to him only: “Baruch, be careful.” And two days later, she would call him over: “Baruch, come here. Do you remember your offense? Now I am going to give you a beating.” Try doing the same.

The accounting is done, if it is necessary at all, without the participation of nerves and emotions—in the mind, when you have already completely emerged from the feeling of the past.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 10/5/26

Related Material:
Erasing the Past
It Is Pointless To Regret What Was Swallowed In Ein Sof
The Magnitude Of Spiritual Desires

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