In a very general way, consciousness is itself neutral.
It does not belong to any special realm.
Thus, by involving consciousness in the holy, in studying Torah, the mind and the objects of the mind are united.
This experience does not necessarily evaporate when one ceases to study.
It remains in the memory at least–if not as a lingering substance in wakefulness.
Therefore, when one learns a single chapter of Scripture–"In the beginning…”–at that instance, his soul is no longer a part of a known objective reality, but becomes a part of the spiritual reality of what is being made known to him "in the beginning."
And this knowledge, becoming part of his soul, has something of holiness in it.
It is possible that the same person may be a great sinner, but no matter how hard he tries he cannot erase from his being this fragment of holiness absorbed into himself by the study of Torah, the knowledge that "in the beginning …."
Another reason for the study of Torah lies in the fact that the positive mitzvot can be seen to be like the 248 “organs" of the Divine.
Thus, when one performs a commandment, one is making it possible for something that was a part of the world to become a part of God.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From The Long Shorter Way by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz