Likutei Moharan 18:1/ליקוטי מוהר"ן י״ח:א׳

1Rabbi Yonatan Mishta’iy (Rabbi Yonatan related): One time, we were travelling by ship and we saw this basket into which jewels and pearls had been set. Surrounding it were fish of the type called birsha. A diver went down to retrieve it. He sensed that one [of the fish] was trying to sever his thigh. He threw a flask of vinegar [at the fish] and it fled. A heavenly voice proclaimed: “What have you to do with this basket? It belongs to the wife of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, who will one day store in it tekhelet (sky-blue wool) for the tzaddikim in the World to Come.” (Bava Batra 74a)

2Rabbi Yonatan related: One time, we were travelling by ship and we saw this basket….

3Know! everything has a takhlit (a purpose/goal), and this purpose has another purpose; one more exalted than the next. For example: The purpose of building a house is so that a person has where to rest. The purpose of resting is so that with this strength, he will be able to serve God. And the takhlit of serving God….

4Now, the goal of any thing is more connected to [the original] thought and intellect than the thing [itself] from which the particular goal is derived. The goal is also closer to thought than the thing is; for, “last in deed is first in thought” (Sabbath Evening Liturgy). Thus, the end and the goal is “first in thought” and close to it. And from the goal, the deed evolves.

5For example: When the thought occurs to someone to build himself a house, certainly the house is not erected all at once. Rather, wood has to be prepared; each piece of lumber has to be cut and planed as is necessary. Afterwards, the house can be built and completed. Therefore, the completed house, which is the goal of the construction and its conclusion, was “first in thought.” Thus we find that the goal is closer to the thought than the beginning of the deed.