In every worthy human endeavor there is an ideal that calls us forth. And there is the reality of the here and now: our very real human weaknesses and struggles. The danger is that we cling to the ideal, not accepting the real, and never settle, or we let go of the ideal and settle for the present “real,” going nowhere—a very stagnant and disheartening way to live. The exciting challenge is to cling to the ideal, letting it ever call us fourth, even as we embrace the real and bring it lovingly and gently toward the ideal.
M. BASIL PENNINGTON The Monastic Way
