Almost everyone has ideals. Some follow humanly evolved ideologies in search of a perfect state of existence; others idealize achievement, power, possessions, or persons. But all too often these temporal ideals crash at one's feet, leaving one disillusioned and frustrated.
Materialistic ideals, with their resultant emptiness and futility, were despaired of by the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes. After he had acquired great power and possessions he wrote (2:11), "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun."
There are right ideals, however, which bring one certain progress, satisfying attainment, and joyous, harmonious living. These true ideals are spiritual. They spring from an enlightened understanding of God and His eternally perfect creation as revealed in Christian Science.
