Thank you Almustafa and Benedictus for your replies. They are both very helpful. I have one further question on this subject. I would very much appreciate it if you can share some insight on it:
How can one distinguish between mental states that are lustful and those that are chaste?
In the gross physical sphere of malkuth, I understand that fornication and chastity are clearly and easily distinguished by the occurrence of the spasm, or lack thereof. More subtly, in yesod, I understand fornication to be any wasteful issue of energy from the vital body. But how does one make the distinction in the mental and astral spheres?
I ask this in relation to my previous posts, because contemplating an image of my divine mother in order to awaken the sexual force feels similar to the kind of imagination I used to use to arouse myself when masturbating. I stopped that habit in the physical sphere but I'm afraid that I might be still be continuing it in more subtle ways.
Perhaps another way of expressing this is to say that, based on your previous replies, I think that I was already contemplating my divine mother when I masturbated in the past, but I was contemplating her in a way that was disrespectful and harmful to her. So I'm wondering, how does one know that his contemplation of her is chaste?