The story of Lot and Abraham and Guarding the Eyes
(translated from torah.us.fm)

Gazes and looks are mentioned a few times in the story of Abraham and Lot (between Genesis 13:10 and 19:28). Abraham used his eyes to look at good things, the promised land.  Lot used his eyes to gaze at Sodom. Lot was tempted by the beauty of Sodom and decided to live there. As a result he lost much, but was saved by the kind deeds he learned to do from Abraham .

❶ Lot and Abraham differed in their gazes. Lots looked towards Sodom, city of sin. Abraham looked towards  Canaan, the Holy Land.

Lot was enthusiastic about the beauty of Sodom and decided to live there. After a few years Sodom was destroyed  and Lot lost of all of his property and his half his family.

Genesis 13:10 And Lot raised his eyes, and he saw the entire plain of the Jordan, that it was entirely watered; before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you come to Zoar.

Abraham on the other hand looked only at the Holy Land.

Genesis 13:14 And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Please raise your eyes and see, from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward.

❷ In one thing Lot was similar to Abraham , they both used their eyes to do kind deeds.

Abraham in the land of  Canaan

18:2 And he lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing beside him, and he saw and he ran toward them from the entrance of the tent, and he prostrated himself to the ground.

Lot in Sodom

19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and Lot saw and arose toward them, and he prostrated himself on his face to the ground.

and lot saw etc:. — From the practice in Abraham’s house he had learned to look out for strangers (Genesis Rabbah 50:4). Rashi

❸ The power of sight

In order to save Lot from the people of Sodom who wanted to kill him, G-d struck the people of Sodom with blindness.. This was a temporary blindness due to a very strong light shining on the eyes.

In a commentary by Orit Turam and Leah P it was pointed out that this could signify spiritual blindness, from over exposure. To be able to physically see but not understand mentally. I would say this is a good description of an addict, especially a promo addict. He can see but he cannot see the destruction that he is causing himself.

19:11  And the people who were at the entrance of the house, young and old, they struck with blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.

❹ In merit of his good eye, Lot was not punished together with the people of Sodom, though he lost his possessions and heaven forbid half his family, he succeeded in escaping with his two daughters. During the flight from Sodom G-d taught Lot about the power of sight and how to control it.

19:17 And it came to pass, when they took them outside, that he said, "Flee for your life, do not look behind you, and do not stand in the entire plain. Flee to the mountain, lest you perish."

do not look behind you:, the evil would catch up with you as soon as you interrupt your march away from it. This is precisely what happened to his wife when she ignored the instructions and looked behind. (verse 26) Sforno

In a lecture by R Abraham Twersky on addiction to promo it was said that it takes but 4/10  of a second of exposure to possibly get addicted. I believe most people have had the experience of only looking for a fraction of a second, even by accident and experiencing a strong response.

❺ But his wife lot did not listen to this  instruction:

19:26 And his wife looked from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

and she became a pillar of salt: Why salt of all things?

She yearned for Sodom therefore she became what Sodom was turned into , salt. They were forbidden to look back at so that they would not be take in , absorb Sodom and their evil culture.

Salt is also symbolic of a barren land where there is no lust. This verse teaches us how severe  the punishment can be for not  guarding the eyes.

Only after Sodom was destroyed and made ashes, and there was no longer anything tempting in it, it was permitted to look at it, as did Abraham:

19:28 And he looked over the face of Sodom and Gomorrah and over the entire face of the land of the plain, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the earth had risen like the smoke of a furnace.

And he looked:, a hostile kind of looking, motivated by their excess wickedness. Sforno

To sum up this article we see that being tempted by immodest physicality can lead one to troubles. Kind deeds can save one. The power of sight is an incredible gift but it is delicate and must be guarded. There could be stiff punishment for those who do not eventually decide to stop gazing at immodest images.

Another important question is: how does one quit such a strong and pulling habit?

The Talmud answered this question long ago:

Even so did the Holy One, blessed be He, speak unto Israel: ‘My children! I created the Evil Desire, but I [also] created the Torah, as its antidote; if you occupy yourselves with the Torah, you will not be delivered into his hand."

Occupying oneself with Torah has the effect of elevating the mind and filling the heart with good substance. In this way one counteracts a natural tendency to turn to such destructive things.