When the soul is troubled, lonely, and darkened, then it turns easily to the outer comfort and to the empty enjoyments of the world.
The genius here isn't that unhappiness drives us toward distraction—we all know that—but that à Kempis identifies *spiritual emptiness* as the condition, not mere circumstance. A person might have everything comfort offers and still feel that troubling inner darkness. What's striking is the causation he proposes: we don't merely seek distraction from pain, we actively *turn* toward hollow pleasures because we've lost touch with something sustaining within ourselves. Watch how someone who receives genuine praise or accomplishment (outer comfort) feels oddly hollow an hour later, while another person sitting quietly seems genuinely filled—the difference isn't their circumstance but whether their inner life is tended.