A Matter of Quality of Life | Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

So you're walking down the street and you're faced with a temptation to look, to gaze at something indecent, something immodest. And the Yetzer Hara is persuading us: You know, you should really look. You know why this is such a difficult challenge? You know why it's such a hard temptation? Because the Yetzer Hara tells us, You're really not going to look? You're going to be missing out on life. You're going to live the rest of your life without experiencing this pleasure? The Yetzer Hara says: This is a quality of life issue. I want to improve the quality of your life, the Yetzer Hara tells us. But you know what kind of technique we could use to combat this Yetzer Hara? We have to give him a taste of his own medicine. But we have to understand the psychology of how תאווה works. Our sages teach us, Chazal say, The eye sees and then the heart desires. Which means, if we don't see it, we're not really going to desire it. We only want it when we see it, but if we don't see it, we don't really want it that bad. We could turn around on the Yetzer Hara and say, Hey, Yetzer Hara. You think I'm going to be losing out on the quality of my life? Just the opposite. You're looking to destroy the quality of my life. Because if I'm going to look now, I'm going to have to deal with my desires, and it's going to cause me stress and inner turmoil and I'm going to have a challenge, and I'm going to be fighting you. My life will be so much more pleasant and so much more enjoyable and so much more peaceful if I don't look. Because if I don't look, I don't need it and I don't want it and I'll be happier. So, Mr. Yetzer Hara, I prefer not to look because it's a quality of life issue. The quality of my life will be so much better if I don't see. Because then I don't need and I don't want and I will be so much happier. So thanks, but no thanks. For me, it's a matter of quality of life.