“Reflections: Human Imperfection”- Andrew Peters
Some may argue that God defines what is perfect, or that God is the definition of perfect. Because religion consists of a set of beliefs which do not have grounding in observed reality, or at least only in forms that can be interpreted in different ways by different people, it is therefore impossible to argue in this matter and cannot be included in a debate on the idea of perfection. Human imperfection therefore, while seemingly an easily justified concept, is a result of nothing more than mental confusion resulting from the false substantiation of an abstraction.
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Many people struggle with the idea of perfection, because it is difficult to know what, exactly, is the definition of a perfect person: some religious people use God as their idea of a perfect figure, but since people's interpretations of religion will never be the exact same, this theory is not infallible. Because we have no concrete examples of perfect people, and thereby no definition of what true perfection is, it is fair to say that perfection doesn't exist, but is rather a fanciful idea that humans conjure up.
I believe a lot of the time the mind's creation of 'perfection' stems from a dissatisfaction with oneself. When we find flaws in ourselves, our work, or our relationships with other people, the natural instinct is to try and get rid of these flaws; sometimes, this cannot be done and so we turn to the hope that one day we will attain perfection in these areas. If we are able to create this ideal state of being where flaws don't exist, we give fuel to the belief that we will eventually become part of this consummate world.
If we can come to terms with the fact that perfection does not really exist, is it not then fair to say that imperfection is also nonexistent? We are able to define imperfections simply because they are not perfect, but if we shed the idea of perfection, we lose the basis for our definition of imperfection. If people are able to accept these two concepts, we would be left with a population that is able to be satisfied with what they are rather than what they think they should become. Shortcomings would be accepted as nothing more than completely normal and we would stop trying to measure up with this nonexistent 'perfect person' we have built up.
This was a concept that Thetis, Achilles's mother, struggled largely with: although Achilles had already gone as far as was possible in terms of reaching 'perfection', she was not satisfied; “Not simply content to offer her son the gift of protective armor, she vowed that she would make him immortal.” After a failed attempt at rendering Achilles immortal, Thetis wished to protect him from any form of harm whatsoever. It is a natural wish of a mother to protect her child from harm, but Thetis did so in a way that bogged Achilles down and prevented him from accomplishing anything; she disguised him as a young girl and sent him away to live under the protection of King Lycomedes. Had Thetis simply recognized that she couldn't shield him from the inevitable harshness of the world, he might, in fact, have been kept safe longer and not been so inclined to go fight in the Trojan war.
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