The Pursuit of Excellence
It is not a new idea. Excellence is just the “distilled spirits” of any kind of human activity, other than sloth. I think the pursuit of excellence should be understood as a moral imperative. Aristotle developed his ethical system with the pursuit of excellence as a major concern, and it is a theme that runs through all of the world’s religions.
So, what is excellence? Beauty? Being the best that you can be? Doing things with the greatest economy and efficiency? The shortest distance between two points.
We all know what excellence means when we see it, even if there is not a ready formula in English. We certainly know the opposite of excellence. Some important concepts, for example “Truth,” are very hard to define but their antonyms, e.g. “Falsehood,” are easier to identify. This is the central process in testing hypotheses against empirical evidence, at the heart of the scientific method.
In social situations, excellence is harder to specify, but its opposite is often more clear. You might not know how to please someone, but you can guess what might offend them. We have a sense of what is orderly and what is disorderly. Whenever I see inefficiency, or litter on the ground, I feel an impulse to put it straight. I do pick up random litter in a parking lot or some common area, and police it to the trashcan.
[ Often? ]
I wonder if anyone who has proposed new religious or spiritual ideas has made the pursuit of excellence a prime directive? There are versions of social gospel that say you re supposed to work to change things for the better. In other words, “better” means the pursuit of excellence. Jesus would pursue excellence, wouldn’t he?
But Aristotle said it best: “If we are to