This interesting and
provocative statement was made by Robert Mapplethorpe, a very successful
and talented American photographer whose photographs are held in high regard as
works of art. He was actually confessing in his quotation that although he
spent all of his relatively short working life in pursuit of the perfect picture,
he never ever achieved perfection. He recognized quite early in his life
that, contrary to all his deepest hopes and intentions, achieving true perfection
was not humanly possible, and that the best he could ever hope to achieve, is
personal satisfaction.
Confucius, one of the greatest
and most respected of the ancient Chinese philosophers whose legendary works have
been held in high regard throughout the ages, and have been acknowledged to be
the foundation of Buddhism and Taoism, recognized at a very early
stage, that while nothing humanly possible can ever be perfect, we can, and
should, however, continue to aspire for perfection. He stated further that while it was possible
to achieve perfection in machines, human beings were never intended to be
perfect, but rather to spend their lives in search of it. He insisted that
striving for perfection was the most effective way to achieve individual
progress and personal growth, and stated this unequivocally:
“The perfecting of one’s self is the
fundamental base of all progress and all moral development
The
concept of the attainability of perfection, originally described by the Greek
philosopher, Aristotle in the 4th century BCE, remains
unchanged to this day. True perfection exists only as an abstraction of our
minds, and is never attainable by any human being in the physical world. He insisted
that the attainment of perfection can only achieved when certain specific,
definitive criteria are satisfied: that the action is complete, without need
for any addition, that it is so good, that it cannot be better, and that it is
so correct, that it cannot be improved. This description still stands as
complete and absolute, as is the belief that absolute perfection can only be
achieved by God Almighty, who by his very nature, must himself be perfect. Arthur
W. Pink, an English evangelical minister considered to be one of the most influential
evangelical authors of the 20th century, expressed this belief in
the following terms:
“God cannot change for the better, for he is already perfect;
And being perfect, he
cannot change for the worse.”
Despite
this however, for as long as he has inhabited this earth, man has sought to find
perfection in every aspect of his living, and in everything he does. He continues
to insist on gauging his happiness, not so much on the attempts he makes, but
only on the result he hopes to achieved. In his misguided desire to achieve
perfection, he chooses to ignore the fact that, since nothing in life can ever
be perfect, then he would be better served to aspire for the best he can possibly
achieve. He needs to begin by first accepting the truth that irrespective of
our desire to the contrary, nothing we do or think about doing can ever be absolutely
perfect. And even further, since our interpretation of perfection is itself
imperfect, we can only hope that by diligently searching for perfection in
everything we do, we aspire to find satisfaction in some of them. Vince
Lombardi, the legendary NFL coach who led the Green Bay Packers to 5
championship finals, and 2 Superbowl victories in 7 years, and was considered
to be among the finest leaders in history, clearly understood this when he
observed:
“There is no such thing as Perfection.
But in striving for perfection, we can achieve excellence.”
Without
question, the greatest failing of our current culture, and society in general,
is the relentless emphasis on achievement and on competing to be the best. We
continue to demand effort to achieve perfection in everything and everyone,
even as nature itself rejects it in favor of accepting the differences of
chance. Deep inside, we are driven to strive toward perfection, not so much
because we deserve it, but because doing so compensates us for our sense of
inadequacy and inferiority. People who are most driven to find perfection are
the ones who tend to harbor the greatest degree of resentment, or an abnormal and
exaggerated sense of their own shortcomings, and an unshakable desire to prove
they are better than others. They are the ones who are so consumed with having
to be better and more superior than anyone else, that are never satisfied with
being just ‘good’ but ‘have to be perfect.’ They are destined to spend their
lives unfulfilled and unhappy, even in spite of the fact that everyone around them
readily acknowledge all the good they have accomplished.
The
search for perfection in anything is therefore unproductive and misleading, and
serves only to increase the person’s frustration and disappointment. It has the
net result of limiting ability, and robbing the person of the sense of vitality
that comes from being satisfied. Uncontrolled striving for perfection therefore
is more likely to lead to a dissatisfaction of oneself and a rejection of
humanity. Humans were never meant to emulate the perfect repetitions of the machine,
but rather to embrace and to accept the inherent imperfections of humanity. This
I believe was the message that an Unknown Author meant to convey in the
following quotation that has received wide circulation:
“Perfection is an illusion, and those who
seek it will find themselves unfulfilled for their whole lives.”
True perfection exists only in the moment, and only in the mind of the individual who executes the action. In that brief moment of time when intention and fact connect to fulfill the hope, perfection appears. For this fleeting instant in time, when everything is as perfect as it was expected to be, perfection existed. But the perfectionist often misses these moments. In his obsessive urge to find perfection in everything, he remains so consumed with analyzing the past failures, and worried about the future mistakes, that he cannot see the success of this moment. Chuck Palahniuk, the very successful American novelist of Armenian descent, recognized this very early in his career when he noted:
“A moment of perfection was worth the effort.
A moment is the most you could ever expect
from perfection.”
The
single most destructive curse in searching for perfection is the overriding
fear of making a mistake and not succeeding. When one is afraid of this
consequence, one always ends up compromising the choices available, and
arriving at an unacceptable position. The answer clearly dwells, not on trying
to chase the elusive goal of perfection, but rather in finding the feeling of satisfaction
and the reality of excellence that comes from giving your best. Only then can
there be satisfaction in the effort, and fulfillment in oneself. Antoine de
Saint-Exupery, a world-renowned French aristocrat, author and humanitarian,
observed the truth of this finding from his own personal experience when he
stated:
“Perfection is finally attained not when
there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to
take away.
This therefore is the true message in the search for perfection:
- True perfection is found not necessarily in trying to climb the highest mountain possible, but rather in the climbing of your own mountain, in the very best way you can!
< >
No comments:
Post a Comment