The purpose of ancient (classical) ethics was to cultivate excellent human beings; a truth easily and readily bastardized. Aristotle’s eudaemonia, for example, is routinely translated as “happiness,” rather than “flourishing.” As a result, moderns believe that the pinnacle of life is both excess and ease together — standardized into a permanent human state.
But this notion of ease extends beyond academia, since most religious conceptions trade this life’s comfort for an eternal one in “paradise.” The result, on both sides of the coin, are infantile adults.
In the Abrahamic religions there is nothing like a concept of “restoring the Forms,” nor an ethical imperative to Actualize, because they are all — essentially — messianic religions. They hinge on the idea of God returning. When He does, time will end, sin will end, injustice will end, and all things will be finally set right. All that’s left is to wait . . . and abstain. The hyper-focus on avoiding and expunging sin constantly is a byproduct of that need to wait.
We therefore glimpse two metaphysical ideals; one in which the co-creator must become an excellent Man (or Woman), and one in which the imperative is to become a good boy.