Standards or principles that you believe are perfect and worth trying to achieve or live by, like honesty, kindness, or justice.
From Old French 'ideal,' derived from Medieval Latin 'idealis,' which comes from Latin 'idea' meaning 'form' or 'essence.' The Greek philosopher Plato used 'idea' to describe perfect, eternal forms that physical things only imperfectly copy.
Your brain literally uses ideals as a GPS system—neuroscience shows that when you have strong ideals, they activate the same brain regions as actual goals, which is why ideals can motivate real behavior! It's like your brain treats them as real destinations.
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