Мусар к Йешайау 33:12

It is related, for example, in Midrash HaNe’elam, Parashas Lech Lecha (Zohar Chadash, 60a): A certain man went to the mountains of Ararat along with two other sages. They saw there openings in the ground from which fire and smoke were pouring forth and they heard the voice of a man crying, “Woe! Woe!” “Surely this place is a part of Gehinnom,” they surmised. Then they sat down there and dozed off. In their sleep they heard the groans of a man who was gathering large bundles of thistles, which he carried upon his shoulders. Two officers from Gehinnom followed after him, igniting the bundles with fire and burning him as he went. “Woe! Woe!” the man cried. But the officers responded, “If only you had taken note of the lovingkindness that the Holy One Blessed is He did for you as He does with the rest of the righteous, granting them two angels to guard them, as it states, ‘He will command His angels to guard you in all your ways’ (Tehillim 91:11). For then you would have been spared this punishment. But you abandoned Hashem your God and did not keep the Torah. Instead you heeded the evil inclination and joined with the company of the wicked known as, ‘cut down thistles’ (Yeshayahu 33:12). It is these thistles that are now burning you.”