But it’s so easy for us to forget. From the perspective of God-consciousness, the world is one gigantic distraction. This is the reason for the inscription mentioned above, and for dozens of similar reminders in Jewish life. Our senses have a powerful tendency to run away with the objects of sense.

Thus the warning contained in the third paragraph following the SH’MA: "Don’t pursue the tendencies of your eyes and your heart, after which you habitually whore." It is strong language, but an accurate description of reality. However, the warning begs a question: why should we oppose something as natural as the pursuit of desirable objects of sense? Why, for example, shouldn’t a man look at an attractive woman (or vice versa)? Why shouldn’t we look at a beautiful home, and want to possess it? Why shouldn’t we want a better job, a better income, a better position in society?

In fact, these desires are all important parts of life as we must live it in this world. The brilliant comment of the rabbis is, YETZER HA-RAH, HU TOV M’OD—"the will to possess (and potentially to misbehave) is actually a very
good thing."

The Talmud tells a story in which the leaders of the generation pray to have the YETZER HA-RAH delivered into their hands. God grants their request, and they imprison the YETZER for three days. What happens? Everything is very good, except that the chickens (and presumably all other creatures) stop laying their eggs. In the end, they were forced to let the YETZER go.

In other words, the YETZER HA-RAH is the force of physical, material life. Without it, say the rabbis, people wouldn’t build houses, start businesses, or have children. Chickens wouldn’t lay eggs. Life in the material world would grind to a halt. There is, however, an extremely important caveat, and that is "nothing to excess."

It is all too easy for the legitimate desire to possess, to become the illegitimate desire to dominate. It’s all too easy for the illegitimate desire to own, to become illegitimate greed. The legitimate desire to earn a good living, might tempt us into illegitimate violations of the principles of justice and compassion in pursuit of it. Lying, stealing, murder, and most other serious mistakes are all rooted in excessive desire.

How then do we avoid the tendency to go to sensory extremes, and the mistakes that they carry with them? This is what "knowing before Whom you stand" is all about. There is a powerful magnetism that the objects of sense exert upon us. This seems to be the way that God created us. There is, however, an even more powerful magnetism that God exerts upon the Self. It is this more powerful, spiritual magnet that acts as a counterbalance to the tendency of the senses to be lost in the objects of sense.

The only difficulty is that this more powerful magnetism isn’t as easy as the sensory magnet. For the senses to be magnetized, you only have to open your eyes. But for God to magnetize the Self, one has to intentionally close the eyes, and look within. Figuratively, this is what Jewish spiritual practice is meant to accomplish.

Tallit, Tefillin, Davennen, Kashrut, Mezuzah—all are restraints on the desires of the YETZER HA-RAH; reminders to stop, to listen, to look within, and to find that we are, in fact, not merely physical beings, in mad pursuit of the objects of sense; that we are, in fact, creatures in God’s creation; and that in the midst of the torrent of our desires, we are, in fact, standing in the presence of God.