Perfection vs. Perfectionism

Perfection vs. perfectionism.

Here's my assessment:

I think the bible actually translates the word perfection as “wholeness”.

I will start from there.

What do I need to be whole “like Our Father in heaven”?

I will look to the Lord’s prayer for a clue.

I think that forgiveness is the key to understanding the Fatherly perfection that we seek.

"Forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us"

I contend that if you want to be “whole” or perfect like Our Father in Heaven,

you must seek forgiveness from Him

as you forgive those that have sinned against you.

One follows the other.

I can’t forgive until I am forgiven.

How does that make me whole?

As I contend in my book, we cannot exist in a meaningful way by ourselves.

It is only through healthy and pure relationships that we are able to find the meaning and purpose which allow us to be perfect in the eyes of God and neighbor.

I also contend that the key to finding and maintaining healthy and pure relationships is to seek first the Kingdom of God and then to bring about that kingdom on earth by forgiving the people that have hurt you in some way.

Receiving and practicing forgiveness actually perfects us and is the reason that this story is called the Gospel, or Good News.

How does this differ from perfectionism?

Any "ism" is a mere system of belief. It is formulaic and assumes that one thing necessarily follows another like the laws of nature or something.

Receiving and practicing forgiveness is not like that in that it entails one main element of healthy and pure relationships that cannot be reduced to a formula and that is the element of freedom.

The freedom of one person to say yes or no to another person.

Whether that person be God or man, freedom is what allows healthy relationships to flourish and freedom is what makes us essentially human.

***

Thought experiment.

Ask yourself the following:

How am I not free?

I am economically not free.

I am socially not free.

Two major problems.

I will be freed economically when I become an earner.

I will be socially free when I find my peers with whom to work.

How does this scare me?

That I will be cast into hell again and go backward from my present state of being.

That the only way for me to find these things is to give up what I have already.

Maybe I have no choice.

Which would imply that I have no freedom.

Which would imply that I cannot be perfect as my heavenly father is perfect.

***

So do I contend that economic freedom, the freedom to be an earner, comes before being socially free?

I do.

So does money buy freedom?

It does.

But freedom does not imply or “buy” forgiveness.

It does however make it possible and social freedom, or healthy and pure relationships, cannot exist without that possibility.

***

So why do I remain enslaved?

Warning: Don’t answer that merely as a formulaic scientist. Despite what our modern day society may claim. Life, is not primarily a problem to be solved but rather a mystery to be lived.

Live your life and live it well.

That is the best revenge if that is what you seek.

As for me, I believe that vengeance is best left to God.

I am not and never will be God.

I will be like God however, and I am satisfied with that.

***

What is the difference between being God and being like God?

Humility.

What is humility?

Humility is the ability to acknowledge the truth.

By admitting that I am not and never will be God, I in fact become like God Himself.

A paradox.

A mystery.

The essence of freedom.

The essence of life.

And what does all this have to do with perfection, or "wholeness"?

Simple: "Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect."

How is he perfect? How is he "whole"?

He FORGIVES.

The WHOLE point of that most PERFECT BOOK, the Holy Bible.

God bless! (I know this one rambled a bit here and there but I hope that it helps someone think a bit more about forgiveness and perfection.)