Many years ago when I was a college student, my spiritual mentor asked me, “What are the ideals that guide your life?”
I replied, “I have lots of ideas.”
He answered, “I said ideals, not ideas; they are two very different things.”
Ideas are merely thoughts about things, about life. They can be born from our observations, but most often they are just opinions and reflect nothing other than individual and cultural prejudices. By contrast, an “ideal” is a guiding and organizing principle in one’s life. An ideal embodies a good which is supreme, absolute, and universal. Justice is an example of a supreme good; so too are truth, compassion, and charity. We must understand that the purest ideals do not come from us, but to us from God’s designs for humanity. Therefore, an ideal is much more than a mere idea; ideals are the very thoughts of God. As such, they are literal forces that stir into wakefulness our soul’s capacity to live a divine life. What are the ideals that guide your life? What is the ideal that is guiding your life today?
What are the supreme,
Absolute, and universal
Ideals that guide my life?
