In his Tanya, The Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, describes a perpetual struggle between the spiritual and the material in man and in creation.
Within the human being, this conflict takes the form of a battle between the "animal soul" and the "G-dly soul." The animal soul is our physical self -- the drive to be and exist, the instinct for self-preservation, self-fulfillment and self-enhancement. The G-dly soul is the source of our spirituality -- our drive for self-transcendence, our yearning to escape the confines of our material existence and connect to the infinite and the eternal. Life is the war between these two opposing drives: every act we do, every word we utter, even every thought we think, is an outcome of this inner struggle, representing the victory of one of the two selves vying to express itself and further its aims via the body and faculties which they share.
The Tanya charts a program for life to achieve the dethroning of the material self from its natural station as the prime motivator of everything we do, and establish our spiritual self in its place; to transform our every deed from an act of self-perpetuation to an act of self-transcendence. For example, to sanctify our eating by eating for the purpose of utilizing the energy we derive from our food to serve G-d. In this way, the act of eating becomes a holy act -- an act that expresses the exclusivity of the Divine.
"The foundation and root of the entire Torah is to raise and exalt the soul over the body."
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