The Baal HaTanya will return to this idea again in later chapters but already it strikes a stirring
chord: there are essentially no neutral actions, everything either raises klipat nogah up to kedushah or brings it down to tumah. The essence of the matter is the intent of one's actions, if you act for the sake of sanctifying yourself, you do. The one important caveat is that some things are beyond one's power to raise up. It's interesting to contrast this with the Mei HaShiloah, who firmly expresses that even sins can be performed for the sake of heaven.
What I wanted to focus on was simply how difficult it is to internalize the concept that every one of our actions requires conscious intent--perhaps it is a little ironic that mitzwot b'diavad don't require intent, whereas actions that are permitted require holy intent to escape purification of the body in the grave. Let that be engraved in your subconscious mind, it is better to do a mindless mitzvah than a mindless davar reshut. That's a big deal. It means it'd better to always be involved in mitzvot, even if your heart isn't in it.
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