You see, the yetzer harah, the evil urge, is rooted in klipat nogah. Klipat Nogah is the only klipah that isn't entirely detrimental, but is rather mixed of good and bad. Refining the good of klipat nogah (as I understand it) is actually the rectification of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
So, the Notzer Hesed explains that first we have to drive out the yetzer harah in its entirety. Only once we have cleansed ourselves of its influence, only then can we return and reclaim the holiness that has been trapped in it.
My Rav said this idea is based in סור מרע ועשה טוב - first it says turn from evil (sur m'ra) and only then it says and do good. (v'aseh tov)
Today I only just understood that the reason we first have the beracha of למינים (la'minim - against the r'shaim, the transgressors) and then we have על הצדיקים. (al haTzadikim - upon the righteous) The two berachot are talking about before and after. In la'minim we pray that God removes the רשע - the yetzer harah from our midst, and only then we pray that he grants good upon the righteous, that he restores the holiness that was trapped in the yetzer harah back to the now-cleansed person, the Tzaddik.
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