Ideals
Tom Morris
Philosopher. Yale PhD. UNC Morehead-Cain. I bring wisdom to business and to the culture in talks, advising, and books. Bestselling author. Novelist. 30+ books. TomVMorris.com. TheOasisWithin.com.
Ideals are to inspire us, not frustrate us. They're aspirational and motivational, not at all meant to be perfectly realized in our lives, day to day. Least of all are they to be taken as burdensome judgements on our best efforts. Some people don't get this and simply abandon ideals as oppressive or unreasonable, as if they're utterly illegitimate demands imposed on us by pseudo authorities, or warped worldviews, and they then as a result descend into forms of life that don't represent what we at our best can be, and perhaps essentially are intended to attain.
The ideal is, ideally, a goad and a lure and a promise regarding avenues of potential growth and improvement. It's meant to plant a spark, not to incinerate what else is real. It's a gift, not a burden, and is a faraway star by which to guide our inevitable ramblings in this foggy, uncertain world. The ideal is, in its own way, the most real of the real.