Mishpetei HaRav Kook / The Sin and Its Punishment

When we commit a transgression, we perform an act that is contrary to the command of the Holy One and to the lawfulness of the world. This is true also of transgressions we commit against society and the world. The transgression and the act that are contrary to the world's proper way create a corruption and a distortion that give birth to difficulty, which is expressed for us as punishment. For example — if we consciously harmed another person, something within us becomes corrupted at that very moment. If we feel it and are aware of it, the corruption is present in our sensation; and if not, the corruption lies in the fact that we become dulled to the harm we cause another. And so too between a person and the Holy One.