[thechat] Term for a main goal?

[Paul Cowan]

On 5/04/2004 11:34 AM +0100 Wesley Mason wrote:
> I've been racking my brains for 20 minutes trying to think of a term I
> once heard, and used, for a seemingly unattainable goal that you spend a
> good portion of your time chasing, and when you finally step back and
> look at things you see the way forward to completing it, and in doing so
> change your perspective a little on everything else.
> I was thinking something like "white horse" or "white eagle" but those
> don't seem right.

Not "white elephant"? A white elephant, usually taken to mean a big 
expensive thing that's more hassle than it's worth, is also sometimes used 
to mean a massive undertaking that ultimately proves fruitless -- like 
chasing the fabled white elephant, I gather.

Paul