Teens
Perfection is the standard that can be reached only if we get there in the first place. We can fine tune then. Yet the present doesn’t seem to be showing me this perfection. When is perfection going to stop by and show its face? I do have a perfect view of the imperfection, show me this perfection. By the time perfection shows up, I will not be perfect anymore or I’ll have the retrospective knowledge that things were nearing perfection awhile back and I mistakenly held off.
People spend so much time looking for perfection that the time consumption soon exceeds the value of the perfection they might get to. We can free up some time towards looking for the perfect but this approach is on the watch of a ticking clock. The perfect idea can be found in an imperfect book. People have found elation in less than perfection. And sometimes perfection doesn’t get us there but tends to just put things off into a more perfect future, when I’m finally ready. Even if and when you find this perfection, will it echo into the future for you? So the fear remains, alright I surmounted perfections summit, but how long do I get to stay here? I’m finally ready but you everybody else and the day have gone away. I could have brewed an imperfect tea for you and me. I can’t have a perfect swim in the ocean if I don’t get there, to the shore or beach. I might wait my whole life for perfection when I could have done something as opposed to nothing. I can’t have the perfect run if I don’t begin to run. I couldn’t have had the perfect date if I didn’t get the date. So first and foremost we need to get there. That is the goal of the first order, el primer. I can fine tune when I get there. It’s like finding the radio station. First get to the station, and then adjust the tuning. The perfectionist standard might be applied, but the standard itself might be paradoxical. My perfectionist standard being applied beforehand may make the task seem more overwhelming, more monumental, more encompassing, and seemingly difficult and what happens then is that I end up bypassing the whole game. So by trying to be on the cutting edge, I’m off the edge, off the ship, out of the game. I ended up making the wrong call, in fact that all you can do is make the right or the better call. The idea of doing it right, by almost doing it perfectly, is not even the bar we should be trying to leap over in many cases. The real challenge is just getting there. That is the real perfection.
Say you wanted to hear a speaker on a given topic. This is your call. It is really a matter of getting there on time and actually hearing the speaker.
The perfectionist standard doesn’t even come into play really, you want to hear this speaker, and you will enjoy hearing this speaker. In this matter the point of perfection is just getting there. There is no other major concern other than this. It is almost a given that you will enjoy this speaker. So another one of the errors of the idea of doing it perfectly is that we are looking at things that already close to the category or idea of a given. It’s a given that if I get this, I’m going to super enjoy this. So it is just a matter of getting this, or getting there, rather than looking for the untapped opportunities to arise by applying myself towards trying to be more perfect.
It’s the greenest grass and I’m still looking for greener grass. I’m the King for life and I’m still running for office. It’s a given that you will enjoy this movie if you go to it. It’s a given you will enjoy the book if you read it. If you are enjoying a book on a page-by-page basis, it is almost a given that you will enjoy the remainder of the book, or it is at least more than likely. So the perfect thing to do is just read the rest of the book and do it without worries about doing it perfectly.
How about the perfect plan? When can you throw it to the wind? We can make plans of course and try to follow them. But try throwing a piece of paper or balloon into the rising wind. Try to predict its movements. We might be putting our plans into variables and conditions like that, our plans may be subject to forces affected by a multitude of changing factors and variables that might be as shifting as the wind itself can be. In fact a move into imperfection paradoxically can expand our choices, or at least increase our ability to peruse the choices, because it pays to keep light in shifting winds and one of the things that may keep me light is giving up the pursuit of perfection as I try out my ways. Good choices could still be in front of us if we stop stumbling over perfection, or getting stuck over what has formed into one idea of perfection or what can become a fixation, when there might be a million ideas of perfection.
The risk paradox and the quiz with this issue, is that the idea of perfection being a necessary presence may keep us out the area we are trying to get into in the first place. We look at whatever is present, whether it is perfect or not. The standard of perfection seems to have been applied until it actually became an imperative like a dominating theme but subsequently became extinct, extinguished, and because we just never go there and then never got there. If you never go there, how are you going to experience any findings that might have been there of perfection? You may not have seen a sunrise in months, some of which could have been magnificent but you never go there. We didn’t keep the fire going as to what we actually wanted to do.
The standard of perfection doesn’t have true application to all of the possible scenes and scenarios we could encounter. I have the perfect game, the perfect jump shot, but can I bring this with me in any useful fashion to the lounge chair on the cruise ship. The movie with only perfect scenes might be a short movie. The first standard should be a standard within boundaries that you can accept that will tend to get you there in the first place. If you have talent, things will take care of themselves. If you don’t have the talent to start with, and the call can be made on that basis, I’ll call it a day. And even if we are not that talented, that doesn’t mean we aren’t enjoying this to some degree. Can I play tennis without having to be the best in the world or having to actually strive towards this? But also if we have talent, we could look at this as something to which we could have some level or degree of participation in our talent. This relates to allowance, because I have some of this talent, I can allow for this talent to manifest for the reasons that pertain to using talents, whether I meet up with special or more perfect standards or not, a talent is a space I allow myself to occupy not on the basis of perfection but on the basis of using.
When we carry around images of the presence of perfection, we should first consider whether these images are useful. You tell your girlfriend I notice a slight imperfection. How useful is that? Those images of perfection can be useful to help us propel forward or toward, or help us in our considerations and contemplations of courses that we can charter. But if these images act as additional weights, further discouraging us from a given course, it might as well be discarded for all the good it does us. It might be better to send this to the scrape heap of ideas. Imperfect images can also inspire us. Perfection’s presence is a nice neat concept that just doesn’t come across on every board and every listing. Even the perfect situation might not present itself perfectly. No matter how perfect you are, if you are still on a rotating mass that is rotating around a star 90 million miles away, with subjective movements where atmospheric conditions will prevail regardless of what you do perfectly.
This is not to say that certain imagery or images that even arise spontaneously to you should not be carefully heeded as having meaning. In fact these images might be the first connection to what is possibly an unfolding reality.
You and me, we are always on the run. We are either running away or running from and towards. The run, indeed we have to make due on the run.
In fact people pay a lot of money just to be there, to be present at that game, that play, that movie or concert. Perfection can more relate to the immeasurable. But for many and often times perfection is more of a mathematical concept that does have application in engineering, construction and accumulation of revenue, working well often in theory but not always in practice. Of course it’s important that perfections standards are contemplated in building trucks, cars, bridges and so on. The manufacturing of a more perfect product will more often win the consumer and help the safety aspects of the product. But sometimes it seems we are putting the same standards to our personal maneuverings and personal appraisals of ourselves as we put to a machine. Say for example you find out that one of you was a robot competing for the same things. Maybe the robot has the better chance at the girl than you. You would say we weren’t on an equal playing field. We relate ourselves to robotic images or superman images that seem to go beyond. There is no Superman, it was only a show. We can’t get there.
But even for the smartest to advance towards a degree of perfection, first get there, and we will test for perfection afterwards. But the prototype needs to be there. First get to the North Pole and then set out the gauges to test the conditions.
Should we look for prototypes? I think we could at times we could look at someone who we admire and see if we have similar traits that can also become operative as sometimes those traits we admire are mirroring something similar that we may have. The prototype is representative of something you could actually get to. You could get there and it might be in the reachable range. For example, say we have admired a certain teacher and how she dialogues with the class. Maybe we have similar potential and could dialogue at a similar level. I doubt that teacher was ever actually perfect, but the prototypical model this teacher is presenting might be more useful towards giving a realistic example, rather than some perfectionist standard that doesn’t relate to any one person or situation that we already know or can find out about and is out of the orbit I can circle. You don’t look for the prototypical car among the prototypical giraffes. Compare within the proper and suitable range. If you don’t want to make any further attempts at perfection, you can adjust your prototype to look for the optimal. In fact, if this is really just about optimal, what am I waiting for? Thereby for any given course we might attempt, there may in fact be somewhat close examples that apply to us found within given individuals that we could observe. Not that we would copy them, but we could operate in a similar fashion. Likewise, I could do this. For a given game or sport, there might be an individual who has a similar style to us that can be an example for us, a prototype. As we contemplate our prototype, who doesn’t have to evidence perfection but seems to be more ideal, if it is another individual we can also try to see that although we admired this person in this setting, they probably have imperfections of their own that they needed to deal with themselves. We might put a halo effect on people because of perceptions that they are perfect by something as simple as outer appearance. Our understanding of perfection strongly weighs into the visual plane. How little we ever see however. But the prototype situation, person, or ideal that we are trying to emulate might be a more realistic approach in that we can accept less than a perfect scenario while first coming close to the prototype which can even get be exceeded without ever coming near perfection itself. The GM for the basketball team has an easier time finding the proto typical point guard, the Jason Kidd. I might be better off starting my search by looking for a proto typical women or something close to that model, rather than an outright perfect person while the proto typical or something close to it might seem less daunting and certain aspects can exceed the prototype whereas if I look for perfection there isn’t anything that exceeds that.
I might find someone is interested in me and I thought they were perfect. You might go down two steps in my eyes because you like me. I used to think so highly of you. Like George Burns said “ I would never want to be join a club that wanted me as a member."
Perfection of will is another concept. In fact I will more than likely have mixed motives and my own uncertainties as to what my willingness is predicated upon. If we are going to try and play the perfect game, then the question is, why do I want to play the game perfectly? Within the idea of perfection what should we include then if we are going to be honest about the perfection of the will. Is this idea the perfect thing to want? If I’m imperfect it might be the perfect thing to want something less than perfect because it might be a better fit in relation to my own imperfections. And then we can go back to the prototype. Other people may have these imperfect situations or imperfect things and may in fact have wanted them, so why do we feel so selfish or self-serving to seek these things, without having to be perfect about it. Are the lyrics of perfection there? Some point where we can tune in. What are the perfect missions, techniques, wishes, desires, interests?
Without copying, paint a picture somewhat like a Van Gogh and you’re in the good neighborhood for impressionist paintings.
Can I have two wishes, one for perfection, and one for imperfection? If I get both, can I deal with the duality present?
Looking back to the example of the speaker, yes, I did want to hear this speaker. A perfect wish you say. Well then, first and foremost, get there, hear the speaker, and you see if you get what you wanted. Your wish is fulfilled, the perfect wish with the perfect match for the wish. Two wishes are fulfilled, the speaker has her audience and you are glad to hear her. If the speaker gives a perfect speech and you don’t have an ear to her, what good is that?
Another reason to stop looking always for the highest heights of perfection is that there are other views you might like. And if you do like these views, or another view, not seen from the height of perfection, what more are you going to ask for. Like what you like, in whatever way it comes to you, whether perfectly or imperfectly.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 1157 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by Joseph Jagde or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 1157 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.