The Outer Altar was used for offering three types of animals: cattle, sheep, and goats. The animal sacrifices we offer up in our personal, inner sanctuaries are the various facets of the “animal” side of our personalities. Our inner “cattle” are our impulses to be confrontational, to oppose the directives of the Divine side of our personalities. Our inner “sheep” are our impulses to conform, to follow the crowd in pursuit of creature comforts because we are too weak to assert our Divine nature. Our inner “goats” are our impulses to be stubborn, brazenly refusing to budge from our preconceived notions.
We “slaughter” our inner animal by renouncing our animalistic orientation toward life. We “sprinkle its blood” and “place its fat” on the Altar by re-orienting our enthusiasm (warm blood) and sense of delight (fat) toward G‑dliness. We “burn up” our inner animal on the Altar by allowing the Divine side of our personality to consume our animal drives.
The fact that the sacrificial Altar was situated outside the Tabernacle, in the Courtyard, teaches us that refining the animal side of our personalities is prerequisite to entering the realm of holiness and Divine consciousness, represented by the Tabernacle itself.1
The animal soul originates in the sitra achara. The tzadik has no trace of sitra achra. The beinoni is the one who struggle to keep away himself from evil. And the rasha is the one submersed in the sitra achara. The forgoten one is the rasha who sinned once and never commited that sin again, so great was his shame! It happen the same to Adam. He ate that apple and, according to my knowledge, never ate it again, but we all are paying for his demeanor.