Yechi, I do not think that chasidus is a sea of kabalistic ideas that confuse people. I said that a bochur learning too much chasidishe seforim – or too many intense mussar seforim like kav hayashar for that matter – can and does obfuscate basic yiddishkeit. No other group of chasidim has their bochurim (and their aleph-bais-ignorant baalei teshuvah) learn chasidus anywhere near as much as neo-chabad. In most chasidusen, they learn from shiurim, and maybe once or twice a week they’ll learn sefas emes, but most don’t learn Tanya (especially the first half) until they’re older.
Because it can be confusing. And do you want proof? Has there ever been a movement in modern day Judaism which struggled with defining the divinity of a man and his supposed status as the essence of god wrapped in a body, which permits people to pray at his grave, as the last lubavicther rebbe said? Do you know of any other group which struggles with a question of why they do mitzvos; is it because the rebbe said so or is it because G-d said to? And do you know any other group of chasidim who believe that their rebbe can hear their thoughts from the olam ha’emes, that you should pray to him, that he will answer you, that he (not his zchusim) protects you?
I haven’t.
Any limud besides gemara, shas and poskim, is secondary, and should be kept for mussar seder. I spent 30 minutes a day on chasidishe seforim. The rest of the time I learned gemara. there’s a limit to how much you can skew gemara. There’s no limit to how much apikorsus you can make from kablalah, chas veshalom.