Purity of Mind and Heart

1) The main cause of attacks of lustful cravings is depression. You should therefore make every effort to be happy at all times.

Even if you fall into thick mud and find it extremely hard to escape, just scream and scream and scream.

Some people also worry over the very fact that they have such thoughts. But "Trouble is bad enough when it comes" (Berachot 9b). There is no need to let the fact that you have such thoughts disturb you, whether because you have had an attack of them in the past or because you fear they may strike again in the future.

2) You cannot always prevent bad thoughts from entering your mind. However, you do have the power to reject them once you become aware of them. This is very important, because this is how you can make amends for sins you may have committed earlier on in your life. Perfect repentance has to balance the original sins exactly, and this is literally what happens here. Before, when you sinned, it was because the desire entered your mind and you succumbed to it. Now the same thought is in your mind, but this time you reject it.

Do not let yourself become discouraged if you constantly find all kinds of desires and fantasies pressing in on your mind. They actually provide you with the opportunity to repent and make amends for damage done in the past. Today you have the power to master your thoughts and temptations. When you do so, the sparks of holiness that fell because of your earlier transgressions are released and you can purify yourself. Your mind and your voice will be purified and you will find harmony and peace.

3) Someone who fills his mind with lustful thoughts is a fool.

Even a simple, ordinary person would not want to be caught doing this. Even if he has no fear of sin, he would still not want the shame of being caught with a strange woman.

Why engage in lustful thoughts? Why trouble your soul for nothing? Man has the power to control and direct his thoughts as he wants.

4) Sexual temptation is man's main test in this world.

5) As soon as a person conquers his lustful desires he can easily control all his desires. This is why the remedy for sexual impurity is called the general remedy. The more a person distances himself from lust, the closer he comes to the radiance of Torah. The converse is also true.