The Global Conversation

Tag: perfection

  • Perfectly imperfect

    If there was one word in our language that I wish we could eliminate, or at least redefine, it would be the word “perfect.”  Actually, not the word itself, but rather the idea that we are somehow inherently less than or in need of being improved upon,  and that the only way to experience a life of happiness, joy, and freedom is to be, do, or have something different than we are already being, doing, or having.

    The irony is that in our quest for perfection, as we have largely come to understand it, we are blocking our own ability to see ourselves as who and what we truly are, which is – ironically — perfect.  The expectation bar has been set mighty high by many of us.  And buried deep beneath its many complicated layers of judgment and insufficiency lies the opportunity for each and every one of us to experience our natural state of wholeness and completeness.

    For many, life has become a distorted sort of treasure hunt, a mission, a goal-oriented conditional experience:

    If only I had more money, then I would be able to buy the big house on the hill and have designer clothes and even that bright red sports car…because that would bring me happiness.

    If only I had thinner thighs or larger breasts, then I would attract a partner who would desire me and finally have the relationship of my dreams…because that would bring me love.

    If only my house was always clean and organized, then I could finally relax and read those books which are collecting dust on my bookshelf or have the time to take that yoga class…because that would bring me peace.

    If only I had a better job, then I would make more money so I would be able to buy the big house on the hill and have the designer clothes and even that bright red sports car…

    If I had all these things, finally my life would be perfect.

    And the cycle is perpetuated – want, strive, push, want, strive, push, want, strive, push – which still does not produce the outcome we think we are supposed to have, which causes us to push harder and strive more, leaving us utterly exhausted and mentally drained and completely detached from any notion or concept about who we really are.

    Does a state of “perfection” exist?

    What would it actually look like if it did?

    Why do we yearn to be more?  To be better?   And why are we willing to trade in our happiness in exchange for a concept that demonstrates itself over and over and over again to be unrealized?

    Is “perfection” something that we are capable of experiencing beyond perhaps the exact moment we are born into this world?   There are some who would say even a newborn baby is not perfect, that they, too, come into this world flawed, in need of fixing or improving upon, to the degree that they are actually in need of forgiveness.  Is that conceivable or even possible?

    I sense that there is some level of perfection woven into the universal tapestry within which we find ourselves a part of, some purposeful fluidity that encompasses each and every one of us, even though the collective cognitive grasp of what that might be seems to lies just beyond the boundaries of our understanding.  But I also believe that we are provided momentary glimpses into this realm of deeper understanding, demonstrated by numerous occurrences in my own life where an experience of overwhelming sensation of goodness and joy fills me and reminds me that there is a harmonious energy at play here in the seemingly random happenings in my life.

    So today I will celebrate my imperfections, I will laugh at the choices that feel like mistakes, and I will be grateful for all the “wrong” turns I make and awkward or embarrassing things I might say.  I will stop wishing I was that and feel appreciative because I am this.  I will open my heart to extend the same appreciation and kindness to all those who share this life journey with me, knowing that these are the moments that I believe are best described as, well, perfect.

    “If a snowflake is utterly perfect in its design, do you not think the same could be said about something as magnificent as your life?”
    ~ “Conversations with God” 

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • If everything is perfect, why bother?

    “If everything is perfect, happening in Divine order, why bother doing anything?”

    This question was recently posed to the audience of The Global Conversation’s Facebook page in an effort to find out what people think about what may be one of the most asked about — and perhaps most misunderstood — concepts in the new-thought community.

    If there is a larger spiritual design to all of this — that is, all of life — if our ultimate outcome is already guaranteed, why in the world do we need to worry about changing or creating anything during our time on earth?  Can’t we just sit back and enjoy the ride?   Let the chips fall where they may?

    Our Facebook question triggered some wonderful and diverse responses from people around the globe.

    Yoga Wahyudi says:  “because there’s no such thing as perfect.”

    Could that be true, that we actually are less than perfect?  That nothing is perfect?  Is much of the world striving and struggling and reaching for what they may never be able to attain?  Is it true that there is no higher purpose or all-encompassing perfection involved here?

    There are religions in our world today that support the idea that we are flawed from the moment we enter into the realm of physicality.  If we embrace that belief system, one that requires us to believe ourselves as separate from God, upon what then do we base our decision of whether or not to become active participants in the happenings in our world?   Is it merely an exercise of atonement for our perceived defects, earning or receiving credit for our “good” deeds?

    Tony Meade shared a quote from Albert Einstein:  “Nothing happens until something moves.”

    And Deanne Steinbeck offered this thought:  “Even divine order requires action, every action you make has a butterfly effect and it may be one of your actions that inspires someone else and so on. We are here to learn, grow and love and for us to action our best self…..divine order requires each of us to action love into the world.”

    So perhaps it is within our actions, our doingness, our creativity that we are experiencing the perfection of our choices?  Would we ever be able to know who we are, to declare who we are, or express who we are if we never engaged in demonstrations of who we are?

    The answers to these questions will depend largely upon what your belief and understanding is about why you are here, on this planet, to begin with.  Conversations with God shared this powerful message with us:

    “My divine purpose in dividing Me was to create sufficient parts of Me so that I could know Myself experientially. There is only one way for the Creator to know Itself experientially as the Creator, and that is to create. And so I gave to each of the countless parts of Me (to all of My spirit children) the same power to create which I have as the whole….My purpose in creating you, My spiritual offspring, was for Me to know Myself as God. I have no way to do that save through you. Thus it can be said (and has been, many times) that My purpose for you is that you should know yourself as Me.”

    And it is within this message that I believe we are offered an understanding that most clearly explains the dichotomy that exists between “everything being perfect” and the call for creation.  It comes to us not in the form of a commandment, but rather in the form of a gift from God, so that we may experience ourselves as the Divine and so that the Divine may know Herself experientially.

    So when we are at the choice point, and we find ourselves being given an opportunity to decide, the important questions to ask ourselves are:  Who am I? Where am I? Why am I where I am? And what do I intend to do about that?  When we purposefully transform our thoughts into actions, we become powerful creators and active participants in the evolution of life…not only for ourselves, but for everyone.

    – Rosa Parks experienced this when she chose to stand up to legally imposed racial segregation and faced her own arrest.

    – Hotel workers at theTaj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India, experienced this when they placed their own lives at risk in efforts to protect guests during the deadly terrorist attacks in 2008.

    – Nancy Lublin experiences this in her capacity as CEO at DoSomething.org, one of the country’s largest nonprofit organizations championing for young people and creating social change in the areas of bulling & violence, environment, homelessness, and human rights, just to name a few.

    – Cassandra Curley experienced this when she walked 50 miles in each of the 50 states in 50 weeks in conjunction with her 50th birthday, spreading the message to anyone who would listen that peace is our natural state and that conflict is generated by fear.

    So I pose the question again:  If everything is perfect, happening in Divine order, why bother doing anything? 

     (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)