On Reaching an Ideal

The concept of an Ideal is brain-derived, an acquired or synthetic concept that is constructed with time and experience in each individual’s mind. There is no universal Ideal (as Plato believed); there is no Ideal separate from the brain that exists in external reality. We need to arrive at it with a thought process. Importantly, a certain piece of work may temporarily satisfy the individual in a given epoch, but not subsequently — due to the transience and mutability of synthetic Ideals.

Creativity and imagination are a result of us striving to achieve those Ideals, to make our external reality reach the Ideal we hold in our brains. It is the disparity between the physical manifestation and abstract ideation of an Ideal concept that allows continuous effort and mastery. The translation of synthetic thought into a work of creation underpins the process of achieving that Ideal. If these two things unite, the sense of anticipation and striving will be lost.