Thoughts on Perfection An Essay by G. H. Ritz Everything is perfect. To many, especially to those who subscribe to the blighted view of certain religious teachings that man is a "lowly worm in the dust," this statement must seem the height of foolishness. How can everything be perfect when there is so much suffering in the world? they ask. And the answer is: Everything is still perfect, just not Ideal. To think otherwise is to suffer in the toils of contradiction and, worse, to advocate mediocrity in the area of outward expression. The source of this conflict is the proposition that God is Perfect. So, all that God creates must therefore be Perfect. But if we examine the argument that everything is not perfect, then we are drawn to the inescapable, though never stated, conclusion that God isn't Perfect either. In this regard we are quick to point out that the proponents of the Not-Perfect model endorse the worship of a God who makes mistakes, who demonstrates a lack of normal self control in fits of anger, who is so marginally balanced as to be hurt by the rash acts of thoughtless men, and who claim s the sole (Divine?) right to wreak vengeance on those who offend Him. Something is very wrong. One problem is that Perfection is often confused with its bastard second cousin, Perfectionism - the preoccupation with outward appearances. To be perfect in this context is to be wrinkle-free, spit-shined, without blemish and flawless in every word and deed. Of course no one can live up to that Ideal, so to the spiritually lax this represents a license to act out in less than worthy demonstra- tions, excusing their lapses with the admonition: I'm not Perfect! But there are gracious people in the world; those who are slow to anger; who maintain an even, likeable temperament in even the most trying times; in short, those who might be perceived as Perfectionists. They probably are. There is nothing wrong with Perfectionsism, only the poor press it has received over the generations since the Church built a wall between Perfect God and Lowly Man has given it the taint of hypocracy. When Jesus spoke of every "yod and tiddle" of the Law being fulfilled that is exactly what he was talking about. In John [5:48], he also tells us to "be perfect, as the Father in you is perfect." It's a matter of context. Those who virulently attack the position that All Creation is Perfect speak in broad generalities. To such as these Nothing is Perfect - and never will be! "I'm not God!" they vigorously protest, but by pontificating their depressing message and decreeing that so it will always be - it seems they are in fact "playing God" contrary to their further advice that [we] aren't sup- posed to do that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing God, provided you do what God does. Imitation, after all, is the highest form of flat- tery. If God is Perfect then we too can achieve this state since God is All Things, and we naturally belong to this set. To choose Imitation over Limitation is a matter of scope. Univer- sal God has a much greater range, all of Creation, in which to oper- ate, and God can be no more or less that God. The same is true for any human being. But our scope of activity is infinitely smaller that Universal God's, yet we too cannot be any more or less than what we are. And achieving the Perfection of God entails uniting with God at the only time that it is possible to do so. In the moment. For it is only in this instantaneous sliver of time that we can achieve Perfection. Doing whatever it is we are doing at that moment. Another definition of Perfection may make the subject more un- derstandable: It is the experience of being in a state, performing an act, or achieving a goal which cannot be improved upon. Some ex- amples; Suppose you have a job that requires you to be at work at 8:00 AM each day; if you are there every day at the specified time that's per- fect, since you cannot be any more present at that hour. It's not ne- cessary to arrive at precisely 8:00 AM; you can get there at seven- thirty, it makes no diffreence, as the point is: If you are there at eight then you have fulfilled the requirement - perfectly. The dread of many students is the test, or examination. These are sets of questions designed to evauate the student's grasp on the subject material of the particular course of study undertaken. The number of questions on a test defines the upper limit of possibility for that particular examination. To chieve a perfect score the sud- ent must provide the correct answers to all the questions. Success on the examination will not depend on the student being well- dressed, articulate of speech, have a blemish-free complexion, or anything other than the knowledge required to answer the ques- tions. By the same token, if the student is dressed in the latest fashions, has every hair in place, has the looks of a movie star, the vocabulary of a Shakespeare, and the Intelligence of an Einstein, the best he or she could possibly do is to answer all the questions correctly. But the skeptic would ask; suppose the student didn't get all the correct answers? Surely that couldn't be considered perfect. And that would be true in that context, but only in that context. However, it would undeniably be a perfect indication of how prepared that student was to take the examination. Contrary to the popular perception Perfection is not always ideal or desirable. The laws of momentum work perfectly, so if a child runs out in the path of an oncoming car 30 yards away travelling at 45 MPH the child will be struck down. Pick up a high-tension utility cable after a storm has left it lying in a roadway and you will be electrocuted. Neither or these outcomes is either ideal or desirable, just perfect under the circumstances. Such are the laws of nature; they work the same always and show no partiality whatsoever. Consider that if you hold an object in your hand and then release it that object will immediately fall to the floor. No doubt about it. It doesn't matter whether it is a ball that will bounce harmlessly away or a plate from an expensive set of china that will shatter into a hundred pieces: it's all the same. And that is good. After all, which is better; to live a life based on luck or chance, or to live according to hard, fast, dependable laws that work under any circumstances alike? If you know that a speed- ing automobile requires a certain distance to stop, that careless handling of electrical apparati courts electrocution, that delicate objects will break on impact with hard surfaces, that fire burns, that ice is slippery, and that any number of causes produce effects, desirable or deadly depending upon the circumstances, that are true and consistent, predictable and measurable, then you are better equipped to make sound judgements in these regards. We now close with the admonition that to live a happy, prosper- ous, and successful life, it is absolutely necessary that you "be per- fect as the Father in you is perfect." The caterpillar is transformed into the butterfly according to the same perfect laws. And if you accept your perfection you can have the same kind of transform- ation in your life: from the "lowly worm in the dust" to a vibrant, vital, graceful, true child of your Father.