It has been indicated that the essential difference between the Divine soul and animal soul lies not in the soul's character but in the objects of its desire.
If a man can reach a level where he is able to influence the nature of his desires, his animal soul will be changed and become a Divine soul.
In other words, the peculiar essence of the animal soul is basically a matter of its desires.
And if these desires can be changed and reversed, the animal soul is transformed into something else.
What we are considering is not necessarily a sublimation of desire, raising it from a low level to a higher level.
The question is: what is the object of the desire?
If the object of desire can be elevated, then the development of the soul will proceed in good order.
Everything depends on the nature of things to which a particular soul is drawn.
If it is drawn to holiness, then much of its life will be holy.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From “Outbound and Inbound Forces,” in In the Beginning by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz