Idealism AND Pragmatism

“The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It’s by the real that we exist. It is by the ideal that we live.

-- Victor Hugo

From my work with people, and from my observations, I’ve seen the two opposite spectrums of idealism and pragmatism. Some have high ideals, but lack of pragmatic approaches to realize their ideals; yet others sacrifice their ideals for what is practical and “real.”

Idealism without pragmatism is like a beautiful house on paper. It is nice to look at and dream of, but it does not manifest itself into physical reality. Pragmatism without idealism is like putting a house together without a design, it serves some purpose in the short run, but does not create lasting values.

As Victor Hugo put it, it is by the real that we exist, and it is by the ideal that we live. As human beings, we obviously need both: to exist and to live. To create a meaningful and fulfilling life, we need both ideals AND practicality.

The ideal: James Allen said it beautifully, “Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.” Many of us stopped dreaming long time ago when we were told, “It is impossible,” “Get real,” “Be practical.” Deep down, we all have our dreams and ideals, no matter how deeply they are buried inside. To create a life that brings us joy and fulfillment, we need to rediscover our dreams and ideals, believe in them, live in them, and embody them.

The real: There are real demands in life that require us to understand the intricate relationships with people, money, business and the society we live in. These demands call for a practical and realistic approach to strike a healthy balance between results AND relationships, values AND profits, short term AND long term.

Live your ideals AND be real: Often people take an “either/or” approach. If I choose one value, I have to reject or give up the other. For example, if I go for my values, I have to give up profit; if I value relationships, I have to compromise results; if I take a long-term view, I have to sacrifice short-term outcomes. If we can hold two seemingly opposing ideas at the same time and allow ourselves to dance between them, like the yin and yang symbol, we may be able to strike that delicate balance between the two. Striking a balance does not mean arriving at the golden mean being perfect, it means that we hold into our ideals and allow room for flexibility, adaptability, change, and negotiations.