In Search of a Rose

Where will I wander and wonder?
Nobody knows.
But wherever I'm a'going I'll go
In search of a Rose.

Whatever the will of the weather
Whether it shines or snows,
Wherever I'm a'going I'll go
In search of a Rose.

Don't know where it's found,
But I don't mind.
As long as the world spins around,
I'll take my time.

I'll savour the softness of summer;
I'll wrap up when winter blows.
Wherever I'm a'going I'll go
In search of a Rose.

--Mike Scott/The Waterboys

Idleness and depression are often the direct result of idealism. For some, the Ideal is all that is worth doing. Anything less is not. Idealists quickly find that they have two routes: They can devote their entire being to reaching the Ideal, turning life into a quest for Perfection -- excellence at their job, the perfect mate, the ideal home, model children, the perfect life. Or, they can lay their hammer down and give up the quest, knowing that the Ideal is impossible...
choosing, through inaction, the perfect path of least resistance, perhaps hoping that the Ideal will find you. Counter-intuitively, perhaps, both ways are equally effective.

The "third way" is to choose the Journey over the Ideal, knowing that Truth and Beauty can be discovered along the way. To keep searching for the Rose, not because you expect to find it, but to savor the boundless paths you'll take on the way to Wherever.