The story of King Arthur and his search for the Holy Grail never gets old. The idea is that this noble King, who wanted equality in leadership–the round table–puts all his resources and bravest men on the job of finding this one sacred object.

If only he could find the Holy Grail!

Yet, it’s not even clear what the Grail will do for anyone. And when I watch those movies or read the books I can’t help thinking that the quest has unnecessarily put everything on hold.

Didn’t Arthur have a kingdom to unite? Wasn’t he supposed to focus on building equality and bringing prosperity for his people? What a massive waste of time and resources to have a quest for this one object, which may or may not be achievable or even exist.

Perhaps King Arthur manufactured the whole grail quest to keep his restless knights busy. Sounds very likely. The greatest danger to his power was his knights. The powers that be have known to do this since before history began.

Maybe the whole thing was just a distraction.

The Holy Grail has become a metaphor in common usage. It’s something out there, a quasi-hopeless goal. A magical thing that will make everything all right.

I’m done with it though. I have spent years looking for the right approach to solve personal problems. If I were having trouble with a particular person, I would convince myself that there was a perfect solution. If only I could find the perfect phrasing to explain that my point of view is correct!

It’s another grail quest. Maybe the trouble with that person is that I need to cut off connection. If it takes repeated tries of perfect magic sentences, then perfect magic sentences aren’t the answer. The answer is to look elsewhere.

However if I stay stuck in my quest for the perfect thing, I never get around to looking elsewhere. Just like King Arthur, I’m in a rut of choices and actions that get me nowhere.

Perfection doesn’t exist. The right answer is not one thing. It’s a series of beliefs, actions and choices all working together–constantly updating and changing that get me to an approximation of happiness and satisfaction.

I don’t need some extra-terrestrial woman in white to give me one sacred object. I was given what I need when I was born. I don’t need to meet some standard of purity to be granted my heart’s desire.

My heart’s desire is my heart’s business. If I can avoid wasting time on impossible quests and requests, I can get to that important business.