How can one get rid of satanic thoughts and mental confusion that hinder devotion to worship, especially with a previous intellectual background influenced by communism and the difficulty of accepting the unseen?

What the questioner feels by way of heaviness when performing acts of worship is from Satan, who vowed to mislead the children of Adam and turn them away from acts of obedience. The Sheikh advised him to recite the Quran frequently and remember Allah, to strive against his soul in obedience and maintain the prescribed remembrances (adhkar), to associate with righteous company, and to seek assistance from some scholars to learn what is unclear to him.