Lack of Concentration Stems from Lack of Emunah
It goes even further, and it is very interesting to watch. The definition of a lack of concentration means that a person can’t properly focus his thoughts. Now, some people are born with more difficulty concentrating, and some less so. But when any person has a dilemma on his mind, it will distract him from properly focusing on learning and davening.
You wanted to daven, but it was difficult. Why? Because you had something on your mind. Let us analyze this and think about what is really going on here:
The reason you can’t daven for your problem to go away is because the problem is taking up more place in your mind than does the solution to the problem that will come through davening. But if you really believed that the solution was right there in your davening, would you still be thinking about your problem all that much?
The erroneous thinking goes like this: “Yes, I am standing in front of my siddur right now, but can you tell me what will happen afterward? The “truth” is the problem that is in front of me, and while I am davening... I still need to know what will be l’maiseh.”
He feels the tzarah—the dilemma—much stronger than he feels the truth that HaKadosh Baruch Hu has the solution to that problem, and that it is within reach. Were his mind to be in the right frame, he would understand that all he must do in this moment is to plead with Hashem to illuminate the way forward, to give him the sechel to navigate the problem—even as he is still dealing with it.
Thus, every time a person is drawn to ta’avah...to a lack of concentration on the right things...to bitterness and sadness...it stems from the lack of a proper attitude of emunah. He hasn’t internalized that he has no ability to do anything on his own, and that the only key to the solution is to open a siddur or Tehillim and daven.
When a person feels that “he can do,” and he is preoccupied with “doing for himself,” he becomes disconnected from the reality of Hashem...and then ta’avah can make its way in.
Ga’avah and Ta’avah—A Vicious Cycle
Now, ta’avah will also bring on more ga’avah; it’s a vicious cycle. It works in both directions:
Being overly immersed in mosros, “extras” in gashmiyus, gives a person the impression that he has control to do everything for himself. Ga’avah comes in two stages: 1) Thinking that he can function on his own—and he acts on this thought by acquiring mosros for himself, and then 2) his ga’avah is strengthened, and he becomes further immersed in materialism—and proportionately his feeling of pleasure and satisfaction from davening and connecting with the Ribbono shel Olam is weakened.
When a person is aware of this vicious cycle, he will be motivated to work on himself, diminishing his preoccupation with materialism, with gashmiyus—thereby strengthening the feeling that he cannot manage on his own, he cannot do everything that comes to mind. He must rely on the Ribbono shel Olam. “It’s not worthwhile to invest in gashmiyus, because then I won’t be able to connect with, and rely upon, the Ribbono shel Olam properly.” He understands that this is not a game.
