A Paradox of Seeking Sagehood
It seems we ought to seek sagehood, at least asymptotically. If you are a person of a specific type, you understand the force of this ought-claim. Yet the endeavor requires that we take seriously and ponder carefully propositions which, if true, would make sagehood impossible, such as that (a) nihilism is true and hence there are no objective values (and thus no virtues such as wisdom or the other values of the sage) and no objective oughts (and therefore no oughts-to-seek sagehood), or (b) there is no post-mortem life during which one can achieve or at least asymptotically approach the sagehood that is beyond one’s reach in a pre-mortem state.