I've spent some time trying to figure out exactly what made me uncomfortable, and I'm having a hard time putting it into words. I know that I'm missing something in my understanding, and that's what's causing my discomfort. He seems to say that as far as the soul is concerned, this world is meaningless, except in the sense of achieving for the next world. People who came from the southern gate departed via the northern gate. They would not return back through the gate they entered, for they would depart opposite it.
Familiarity is the great enemy of every feeling of holiness and elevation.
When a man stands facing the most elevated and lofty state, and sparks of holy fire are ignited in his spirit, familiarity steals into him and extinguishes the holy embers, one after another, until the fire is wholly crushed. Even natural feelings, like friendship, are crushed and annulled by familiarity. Beyond this, disgust replaces that friendship, and the object of that friendship becomes ugly to him, and his soul is disgusted by it. You need not live locally to be added to this mailing list.