Perfection

Something finally dawned on me tonight as I lay in bed-- Our misconception of perfection can trip us up just as much as our imperfection.

In my last post to this blog I mentioned my connection with God and my connection with other people had to be static free in order for me to feel like I could write anything further in this blog. I want to come from a position of absolute perfection. If my motive is from clarity, of concentration on a perfectly practical message, then it's understandable, if a bit naive. If my motive is from authority, then obviously my sneaky ego is at work again.

But regardless of the process that brought me to this juncture, the idea that things have to be perfect in order to proceed is faulty. It purports to inspire betterment, but only succeeds in applying the brakes to any progress.

How can my relationship with God, and my prayer life with God, be perfect, if I am still not yet fully mature? Do we wait until we have full maturity, and only then pray to God? Of course not!

Similarly, how can my relationships with others be perfect when they and I are all at different maturity levels, and all of us still not yet fully mature? Should I wait until I have my act together (to the point where it is not 'an act') before I try to cultivate a delicate little seedling of a new relationship? Of course not!

We are all still on our path. We are still running the race (competing only against ourselves though).

In this life we do have problems, setbacks, and we feel those losses as suffering. If there is something to learn (and there most always is) then we grasp onto that, so that hopefully we don't have to repeat the lesson. If, as in the case of Job, there is no obvious reason for our problem, then we have to accept that life is like that more often than not.

No tree branch grows perfectly straight, and neither do we, but as the tree branch is perfect in its free-form growth, so are we.

Grasping after wisdom itself can become a burden too, as none of us was ever meant to become an encyclopedia, or curator to a virtual museum of rhetoric.

If you asked the tree branch what it's philosophy of life was, it would probably say to trust that the tree will gather and send the needed water and nutrients, and to search out the Sun.