This is what a person should take to heart:
The idea of “Gan Eden” is a level of spiritual enjoyment from perceiving “the rays of the Light of the Shechinah (Hashem’s Revelation),” meaning, that it is only the rays of Light of Hashem, but not Hashem’s Essence and Being, and not even the Essential Light of Hashem, only a ray of the Light of Hashem that filters down into Gan Eden.
Now, if when someone only comes to enjoy the “rays of the Light of the Shechinah” in Gan Eden he needs to remove all traces of memory from this physical world so they should not distract him, how much more so if someone comes to connect to Hashem Himself through Torah study and prayer that he must first divest himself from all material thoughts and concerns so they do not distract him!
(This is the meaning of what the Zohar says: “[Every day] they look at themselves [as though the left this world],” meaning, they imagine that they have already left this world, so as to forget about all material matters of this physical world, in order for them to connect to Hashem properly in their Torah study and prayers.)
In other words, a Tzadik does not need to think about death to scare his Yetzer Hara into refraining from sin. Rather, in order to fully connect to Hashem in Torah study and prayer, he first fully divests himself from all material thoughts, as they he has already left the world and all its concerns.
