by Reb Aharon Rubin, author of Eye to the Infinite on Mystical Paths

(An extract from the book Eye to the Infinite, updated edition, chapter States of Conciousness.)

Sin, basically, strengthens ego, which strengthens the barrier, or sword, between the conscious and unconscious minds. Pu­rity, holiness, altruistic behaviour and cleaving to G-d, on the other hand, create unity in the mind, al­lowing the Neshomoh and the subconscious’ in­fluence to spread throughout the entire mind. The Neshomoh then has its own protec­tion[1] to the mind that actually works better than ‘the sword’ in protecting the mind: it cre­ates its own shield, or aura, over the entire mind and person, sheltering even the conscious mind from hearing, seeing, or ex­periencing, anything that would act to the Neshomoh’s detriment.

However, whilst the sword is operational, we have to learn how to cir­cum­vent it, or at least understand what might easily and effectively dis­sipate its affect, so as to access the inner mind and even the Neshomoh, to harness the mind’s poten­tial and heighten our aware­ness, to com­bine con­scious focus with the infinite depth and perception of the subcon­scious.

[1] Called Chashmal.