Q: I’ve begun to study Kabbalah and I feel that I’ve become more irritable and less tolerant.
A: Those who study Kabbalah constantly correct their will to enjoy, starting from the smallest desires to the strongest ones. That is also the way of mankind: the “will to enjoy” (the will to receive for oneself alone) grows in time and man grows along with it. The greater his will to enjoy, the greater the power that motivates him. If his will to enjoy is small, he aspires for nothing in this world and certainly not in the spiritual world.
As soon as we begin to learn Kabbalah, especially if we are studying not for the knowledge, but for correction, we immediately begin to feel our corrupted desires, our will to receive everything for ourselves at all costs. When we study, these desires continue to grow until we acquire the greatest possible will to enjoy - the will to take pleasure in the Creator.
Each spiritual degree is greater than its former in that it shows us that there is a greater measure of will in us to receive for ourselves. When we correct that will, we find that this is the only way to climb to the next degree.