The problem seems to me to be that ideals are not absolutes.

Truth, beauty, platonic forms are ideals.

The core codes, creeds, heroes, narratives at the center of every culture are ideals.

The universal, on the other hand, is the elemental. So a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell.

The light shining through the film, than the stories playing out on it.

Science looks to the elements.

Art looks to the ideals.