Therefore, the deeper one’s teshuvah is, the closer it is to “teshuvah shelaimah” (complete repentance), and in turn, the more barriers between him and Hashem are removed. Then he will feel strongly a palpable sense of Hashem’s existence - which is the depth of the neshamah (the Divine soul) that can feel the reality of the Creator. The more earnest a person’s teshuvah is, the more he removes the barriers created by sin, and he gains greater recognition of Hashem’s existence.
This is the depth of what it means to “find” Hashem during the days of teshuvah. On Rosh HaShanah, a person can attain the first level of closeness with Hashem, and on Yom Kippur a person can find the deeper level of closeness. As we explained here, the level of Yom Kippur enables a person to remove the barriers created by sin, and the more earnest that a person’s teshuvah is, the more the barriers are removed, and subsequently, the more a person will sense the presence of Hashem. But as we emphasized, it will depend on how much one has done teshuvah; of how much purity he has attained.
If one indeed merits to do teshuvah from the depths of his heart, and he palpably feels Hashem more and more - when it is a true sense that he can feel, then, in the words of the Mesillas Yesharim, he will be “pulled after Hashem, like a magnet is drawn after iron, as it is written, “Pull me after You, quickly.” The nature of the soul is that it is pulled after its Source, Hashem. This is not an “avodah” (task), nor does it take exertion; rather, it is natural for the soul.
But as long as the barriers created by sin exist, a person will not feel this magnetic pull after Hashem, and it is like placing something in between the two magnets, or distancing the two magnets from each other, which will take away the pull.
The deeper of a level of purity that one attains on Yom Kippur, and the more he removes the barriers created by sin, not only will this cause a person to feel closer to Hashem, but he will feel a desire for this closeness, more than anything else that he wants, and it will feel blissful and pleasant.
