“People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it.”- Edith Schaeffer
***
A life of perfection is one often cleverly portrayed as a quixotic state of being. If we were to reach 'perfection' we would be entirely fulfilled and have no need to improve any areas of our lives. In reality, rather than providing us with this sense of gratification, trying to bring ourselves to a state of perfection often hinders us from accomplishing anything at all. We are scared to try things in which we don't have total confidence, for fear of not meeting the impractically high standards set by ourselves or other people in our lives. While some people may see this as an opportunity to save themselves from embarrassment, others see it as neglecting a moment of chance.
Those who have been taught from a young age to despise weakness in themselves and in others will associate imperfection with failure. Because it is physically impossible for a human being to constantly succeed at everything they do, it is almost inevitable that these people will end up despising themselves. This is not to say that the self-hatred cannot be overcome, but the fact that it existed at all will have a lasting impact.
This quote relates in an interesting way to the myth of Achilles: Achilles, as has been stated multiple times, was near-perfect and surely must have felt similar pressures to the ones we feel today in relation to perfection. If anything, the pressure would be more harshly felt by Achilles because he was already so incredibly close to reaching perfection. Knowing that he would never completely attain total flawlessness, no matter how close he came, must have been exceptionally difficult.
No matter how obvious it is made to us that we cannot improve ourselves to an eternal state of perfection, we will continue to try, and fail, time and time again, often destroying or neglecting the things that we do have while focusing intently on what what we lack...
No comments:
Post a Comment