Chapter 9 begins by outlining the basic battle between good and evil in man. The G-dly soul, the conscience dwells in the intellect, while the animal soul, the physical impulses, dwell in the heart. Therefore, all emotional impulses are skewed towards one's self-gratification while the intellect leans towards objectivity and a balanced outlook.
Catching a Ride
Oftentimes, our own physicality attempts to trap us in a web of emotions that seem to be motivated by intrinsic goodness - we become incensed over this Torah issue or the other and we do not practice the same discretion as we usually do in trying to hold back anger and abuse - under the guise that these emotions in this case stem from a "holy" source. The Baal HaTanya is explaining here as he began to describe in Chapter 3, that holy emotions require a great deal of preparation and contemplation to be created. On the other hand, basic and physical emotions will often use "holy" pretexts to allow them to be unleashed in a an unrestricted fashion. Excess anger and frustration are always looking to latch on to ("catch a ride" with) some Torah topic and thereby overwhelm the rational and balanced soul, flooding it with wave after wave of unbalanced emotion.
Every Good Deed has its...
Similarly, oftentimes a person will perform what they know to be a "good" deed without having in mind that all true goodness originates from following the Divine Will, and not the arbitrary goodness of the animal world. When an animal does goodness with one of its kind, it has value, but it is not a connection with the Divine. When a Jew does a good deed because he/she "feels" like it, we're missing out on the deeper connection that our soul came to this world to experience. For example, if a husband were to come home one night and find that his wife had cooked a nice meal and bought new books that he wanted to read. But then he finds that the meal and the books were done because the wife felt like having a good meal and bought the books for herself. The thought behind the action drives its value and determines whether it will connect us with Hashem. The intellect has the power to imbue mundane actions with G-dliness, and direct energy and light towards truly productive pursuits and away from animalistic waste.
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