אות - נו

There are people who appear to be distant from certain great desires — such as the desire for money and the like. Know that even so, he can be worse than his fellow who is immersed in that desire. That is, he has some other desire which he is so immersed in, that even the desire for money and the like — which is a very great desire — is nullified before him on account of that desire. It is found that he is worse, because he is so immersed in some desire that even a great desire for money and the like is nullified before him on account of that desire. And even if the desire he is immersed in were smaller than the other desire from which he is distant — even so it makes no difference at all, since he is so immersed in it that even a great desire is nullified before him on account of it, as mentioned. And as we find that there is a stubborn person — such as a child who out of mere stubbornness can completely abandon himself and bang his head against a box out of stubbornness against his mother, to spite her. Similarly with people — one can abandon everything and set aside all desires for the sake of some desire or stubbornness he wants.