Q: I feel that there are a great many pleasures and that people around me are having fun. Are these pleasures considered small or great, compared to the spiritual pleasures you speak of?
A: Man is born to our world with very small desires that gradually grow: soon there is a desire for a family, power, respect, and knowledge. Yet, these are only experiences of this world. The desires demand of the brain their necessary amount of development. In other words, the mind evolves to the degree that is necessary to satisfy one’s desires.
But if we should desire spirituality, if we suddenly feel that we want something not available in this world, then we begin to search for it.
We are directed to Kabbalah from Above. (Quite often we are directed elsewhere, toward other “spiritual techniques” which means that we must go through still other phases of development. It might take several more lifetimes before we arrive at Kabbalah).
Finally, when we begin to study Kabbalah, our every desire begins to grow within us. We become more egoistic, and therefore smarter. Greater worldly desires are born, especially sexual ones.
As the sages of the Talmud say: “After the ruin of the Temple, the taste of intercourse was left for the workers of the Lord alone.” This means that the true taste of sexual pleasures remains only among those who grow spiritually.
To a person who is not proficient in the structure of the worlds and who does not know the Upper Guidance, it sounds like the complete opposite, but to disciples of Kabbalah it is clear that in our world, the pleasures and desires are tiny. In fact, the higher we rise toward the Creator, the greater our desires and pleasures become.