Indeed, we all would like to be perfect if we knew what it means. What is it like to be perfect? Ms. Or Mr. Perfect, will you please stand up and be acknowledged and applauded? I am still searching for answers to questions like this one. I have some thoughts, though, which I am sharing here.
All the time, we are told that the Divine is perfect and humans need to rise to that level.
“Perfect” is, to me, at best, a very subjective concept. Are geniuses perfect? Are International Celebrities perfect? Is a Nobel Prize or Pulitzer prizewinner perfect? Don’t they have several imperfect moments?
Then comes the basic question, am I perfect?
Immediately, I am going to get into a comparative mode to determine where this elusive word called “perfection” fits the bill. For example, when we go to an Art Gallery to see the painting of well-known artists, we suddenly stop near the one, which impresses us, and can’t help saying, “this is perfect”. In whose eyes is it perfect? According to your aesthetics, it is not lacking in anything. Therefore, it is perfect. But someone else in the room can declare the painting you don’t like at all as perfect. So, is there a common benchmark that defines perfection?
Magazines often conduct a poll about the ten or twenty most beautiful women in the world. Have they gone into remote interiors to see how many beautiful women live unrecognized? So, they are actually limiting themselves to those women who have become popular and successful. Are they then, really the acme of perfection?
People eulogize about film stars and ape them all their lives, wanting to become like them. Do these people see perfection in them? Or, do they feel that if they succeeded in becoming like them, they would not need to strive for anything else? This is the vision of a perfect life they carry with them.
So, if we think about it, we are actually acknowledging moments of perfection in others as we see them, such as a brilliant performance, an arresting painting, an impressive talk which touches the heart, a little child which spells perfection to a mother, and so on.
So, if perfection is only comparative, is it only to be recognized in others? Are moments of perfection not visible in our own lives? It could be the simplest moments but as valuable, such as, when we cook a perfect dish or make a perfect cup of coffee. We don’t really need to world to recognize our moments of perfection. They are for our eyes only, for our hearts only.
The one pillar that all perfection rests on is that of contentment in being who we are. To people, I might be mediocre but if I am perfect for myself, what tags people shower me with do not matter. I am perfectly aware even in my imperfections that my journey of life will teach me to be my own yardstick, my own benchmark in everything I think and do. I know that I have a lot of work to do. I just need to be aware of the laws of the Universe and work towards my goals without impinging on others while recognizing that they are also on their own journey.
Therefore, I am, like others, the perfect imperfect who is striving for my kind of perfection that makes me unique and perfect in the way I understand my journey. For, only I can do that.
Surekha Kothari
surekhakothari.wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment