DesertLion wrote on 13 Aug 2012 20:38:
Well the semen consists of cerebospinal fluid and a portion of the brain, so every time we masturbate we are literally flushing our brains down the toilet.
Plus we discharge some of our body's electricity during orgasm which makes us feel exhausted, lowering our whole body's vitality.
Then there is the thickening of the spirtual foreskin that decreases our sensitivity after we have masturbated.
The first two occur also when having relations, so it seems unlikely that they should be used as justifications for putting off learning.
I think the problem is the unfounded belief that one is less culpable if one feels guilty, and a person who feels guilty and constantly thinks about his sin doesn't feel entitled to learn.
In fact the rational approach is to go straight to the bays medrash. I can think to myself "just because I feel guilty it doesn't mean I am better in G-d's eyes" and "I am not such a tzadik that when I masturbate I am not permitted to learn."
One night I masturbated then I went to a gemara shiur the next morning and I asked three pretty good questions, so that belief bites the dust.