Meditative thought #3 - Perfection is the worst thing for the human soul

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

So I meditated yesterday for a while and was spurred to pose/push this thought forward to NT all due to an episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.  
I don't know how many of us are perfectionist's or will become one in the future...either because of their personal nature or an outside force (family, expectations from society, religion) to have all their ducks lined up in a row and are able to get a head shot from 2 miles away.  

I came to realize that as much as I want to be that "dude" who keeps winning his whole life, and this stereotype that has been perpetuated by the media that if your not able to capitalize on every occurrence, every opportunity, every action/reaction that somehow you'll miss an opportunity to be great....and this perfectionist attitude no matter how hard you try will still leave you imperfect.

I believe that our imperfectness is what helps drive our life.  If we were perfect in every way as humanly possible what would be the purpose?  I realized that one of the great joys in life is not being perfect and being able to continually grow, learn and gain.  

Should we feel bad for those who haven't climbed the ladder or those that are always sitting on top.  In a discussion like this I remember the quote "moderation is the key to life".  It's like if your on the top looking down your all alone and you had your cake and ate all of it versus if your on the bottom you have people but no cake to share it around.  It's really a damned if you do damned if you don't situation.

I don't know how many NT'ers really posed or ever asked themselves a question like this or if it even applies to anyone...BUT when I see threads either made by myself or others on problems that occur in their lives I've come to realize that it would be better for us to have problems here and there than none at all.

I think alot of people might initially disagree with me on this because they like myself haven't gotten to that side where the grass is greener but I feel like if we were on that green side for the whole time we wouldn't be able to expand in any direction and I believe that would be a much greater regret when all is said and done.

So basically what i'm saying is...if you got bills needing to be paid,  a girl giving you problems, or not where you need to be in life at the moment revel in it instead of putting yourself down about it and learn and adapt to those mistakes.  Of course not learning from your mistakes is just as bad imo as it is to think your perfect...

anyone wanna discuss?

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

So I meditated yesterday for a while and was spurred to pose/push this thought forward to NT all due to an episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.  
I don't know how many of us are perfectionist's or will become one in the future...either because of their personal nature or an outside force (family, expectations from society, religion) to have all their ducks lined up in a row and are able to get a head shot from 2 miles away.  

I came to realize that as much as I want to be that "dude" who keeps winning his whole life, and this stereotype that has been perpetuated by the media that if your not able to capitalize on every occurrence, every opportunity, every action/reaction that somehow you'll miss an opportunity to be great....and this perfectionist attitude no matter how hard you try will still leave you imperfect.

I believe that our imperfectness is what helps drive our life.  If we were perfect in every way as humanly possible what would be the purpose?  I realized that one of the great joys in life is not being perfect and being able to continually grow, learn and gain.  

Should we feel bad for those who haven't climbed the ladder or those that are always sitting on top.  In a discussion like this I remember the quote "moderation is the key to life".  It's like if your on the top looking down your all alone and you had your cake and ate all of it versus if your on the bottom you have people but no cake to share it around.  It's really a damned if you do damned if you don't situation.

I don't know how many NT'ers really posed or ever asked themselves a question like this or if it even applies to anyone...BUT when I see threads either made by myself or others on problems that occur in their lives I've come to realize that it would be better for us to have problems here and there than none at all.

I think alot of people might initially disagree with me on this because they like myself haven't gotten to that side where the grass is greener but I feel like if we were on that green side for the whole time we wouldn't be able to expand in any direction and I believe that would be a much greater regret when all is said and done.

So basically what i'm saying is...if you got bills needing to be paid,  a girl giving you problems, or not where you need to be in life at the moment revel in it instead of putting yourself down about it and learn and adapt to those mistakes.  Of course not learning from your mistakes is just as bad imo as it is to think your perfect...

anyone wanna discuss?

 

[dts939]

yea i agree, especially how you mentioned being imperfect leads to growth and learning and advancement, i definitely agree with that. If everyone had it made, no one would have the motivation to accomplish anything.

 

[dts939]

yea i agree, especially how you mentioned being imperfect leads to growth and learning and advancement, i definitely agree with that. If everyone had it made, no one would have the motivation to accomplish anything.

 

[teamjordan79]

def. Nevertheless its important to differentiate between needs and wants. 

 

[teamjordan79]

def. Nevertheless its important to differentiate between needs and wants. 

 

[BranchLifestyle]

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

 

[BranchLifestyle]

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

 

[koudie from brooklyn]

Originally Posted by ShadyKay NT

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

niceee

 

[koudie from brooklyn]

Originally Posted by ShadyKay NT

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

niceee

 

[balloonoboy]

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

 

[balloonoboy]

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

Originally Posted by dts939

yea i agree, especially how you mentioned being imperfect leads to growth and learning and advancement, i definitely agree with that. If everyone had it made, no one would have the motivation to accomplish anything.

exactly.

def. Nevertheless its important to differentiate between needs and wants. 

This is pretty important especially to our age range (15-30's) because we can get so caught up with trying to 1-up someone or stunt in order to get chicks or what have you that we lose focus on our true priorities.  Of course happiness trumps all...but at the end of the day I would rather struggle now for just the mere glimpse of a life long happiness than to just have some happy moments occur depending on the moment....THAT IS PLANNED.

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing. 




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

Truth.  I see now that "perfectionists" are different from people who "strive".  The latter is in a state on continually getting better, the previous imo are grasping at something that will never be there because they feel a gun is to their head.  Way to much stress to deal with and it I would figure it would turn out to be a roundabout way to go about things.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be. 

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

Yes, I think the way we try to measure up to these ideals that we see on t.v. or read in magazines has skewed our perception of what it means to be happy.  Given a night out partying is fun don't get me wrong, but the pursuit of this same lifestyle over a long period will leave you with no time for personal achievement because your always trying to just live for the moment.  I feel that if you want to be happy in life you need to sow some seeds now and take the hardship that comes with life in order to really flesh out what it means to be a person/human.  I'm not trying to say that life should be one big boring strive that you'll reap when your too old to do anything with it, i'm just saying that if you place your control on external sources (partying, 1-up other people, materiality) that IF these things should leave you for whatever reason that hole you dug will just bury you.  Of course it may not turn out like this and you may party for the rest of your life but I would like to have as much internal control to my happiness as possible.

Perfection probably isn't the worse thing for our soul, I probably just said that for extra dramatic effect...because I have not read, heard or met someone who was ever perfect so your right...there are probably other things that would take a toll on our soul much more than perfection.

 

[Gill Baka Esq. LLC.]

Originally Posted by dts939

yea i agree, especially how you mentioned being imperfect leads to growth and learning and advancement, i definitely agree with that. If everyone had it made, no one would have the motivation to accomplish anything.

exactly.

def. Nevertheless its important to differentiate between needs and wants. 

This is pretty important especially to our age range (15-30's) because we can get so caught up with trying to 1-up someone or stunt in order to get chicks or what have you that we lose focus on our true priorities.  Of course happiness trumps all...but at the end of the day I would rather struggle now for just the mere glimpse of a life long happiness than to just have some happy moments occur depending on the moment....THAT IS PLANNED.

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing. 




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

Truth.  I see now that "perfectionists" are different from people who "strive".  The latter is in a state on continually getting better, the previous imo are grasping at something that will never be there because they feel a gun is to their head.  Way to much stress to deal with and it I would figure it would turn out to be a roundabout way to go about things.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be. 

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

Yes, I think the way we try to measure up to these ideals that we see on t.v. or read in magazines has skewed our perception of what it means to be happy.  Given a night out partying is fun don't get me wrong, but the pursuit of this same lifestyle over a long period will leave you with no time for personal achievement because your always trying to just live for the moment.  I feel that if you want to be happy in life you need to sow some seeds now and take the hardship that comes with life in order to really flesh out what it means to be a person/human.  I'm not trying to say that life should be one big boring strive that you'll reap when your too old to do anything with it, i'm just saying that if you place your control on external sources (partying, 1-up other people, materiality) that IF these things should leave you for whatever reason that hole you dug will just bury you.  Of course it may not turn out like this and you may party for the rest of your life but I would like to have as much internal control to my happiness as possible.

Perfection probably isn't the worse thing for our soul, I probably just said that for extra dramatic effect...because I have not read, heard or met someone who was ever perfect so your right...there are probably other things that would take a toll on our soul much more than perfection.

 

[cutasdiamondz8]

Originally Posted by balloonoboy

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

I commend your knowledge and gargantuan idioms brutha

 

[cutasdiamondz8]

Originally Posted by balloonoboy

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

I commend your knowledge and gargantuan idioms brutha

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

Originally Posted by ShadyKay NT

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

Perfect!!

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

Originally Posted by ShadyKay NT

I feel the strive for perfection is different . No way in hell I'm going to settle for a mediocre life, therefore I always strive for something better, which is what keeps me pushing.




The ladder never ends man, therefore I am never satisfied.

Perfect!!

 

[an dee 51o]

Balance > Perfection

I know I'll never be perfect, but I can achieve happiness with a balanced lifestyle.

 

[an dee 51o]

Balance > Perfection

I know I'll never be perfect, but I can achieve happiness with a balanced lifestyle.

 

[limonyfresh]

"Strive for perfection, settle for excellence"

 

[limonyfresh]

"Strive for perfection, settle for excellence"

 

[sneakerheadtrini1]

Originally Posted by balloonoboy

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

another time N.T. comes thru for me.
this is pretty much what has been driving me crazy lately, being 21 and working 40 hour weeks since ive graduated. yeah all the people that care about me tell me school is the way to go, but ive seen way too many people that spent so much time and money just to havr nothing.

But lately my mind has been busy trying to understand why it seems i am going to spend way too much of important time in my life working and basically be expected to be robot like, ans seeing everyone around me just living it like this is how things are supposed to be and it drives me crazy .

Everything in my personality screams get out of here and do what makes you happy, but im trapped by expectations.

Its sad that it seems we are all fooled into thinking that this is the way life should be, wasting our time away slaving for the profit of our country...we may be told were free but i do not feel free at all.

 

[sneakerheadtrini1]

Originally Posted by balloonoboy

I can feel you OP. We don't have any human representation of perfection so it's really easy to get caught up on this ideal. Some do say Jesus was perfect, but I'm sure this post is more secular-driven.

Thinking about it, we have all of these ideas, emotions, and feelings that are themselves non-empirical. We can't really see anger, sadness, contentment, joy, sorrow. They are just heuristic tools used to standardize and describe a certain subset of the human condition. The same goes for perfection, success, underachieving, and overcoming. They aren't defined so much in how they look to the eye, but moreso as how someone else views them.

Perfection is no different. There is nothing in the world that is without flaw or perfect, so maybe this ideal "perfect" that everyone strives for isn't really as important as we make it to be. Or maybe it is. If we can't possibly see what this looks like, we can only depend on ourselves to delineate what perfection is to us. So, while you may not live in that mansion or sail the seven seas or bask in the Miami nightlife, you can still be a perfect individual unto yourself. As you said, we set ourselves up for failure when we naively try to live out our means - this goes financially and just personally.

Is perfection the worst thing for the human soul? I wouldn't say it is. It is always great to have mini personal achievements here and there throughout life. Setting and achieving short and long term goals does re-assure us that we are on the right track - one that's paved not by what outsiders think, but by we ourselves think of where we are in life in relation to where we want to be.

Living within ourselves and being true to ourselves can really allow perfection to blossom in our lives. It's when these ideals of what life should be and not how it really is creeps in that we get caught up in going above and beyond what any human is possible of that takes a toll on the psyche.

another time N.T. comes thru for me.
this is pretty much what has been driving me crazy lately, being 21 and working 40 hour weeks since ive graduated. yeah all the people that care about me tell me school is the way to go, but ive seen way too many people that spent so much time and money just to havr nothing.

But lately my mind has been busy trying to understand why it seems i am going to spend way too much of important time in my life working and basically be expected to be robot like, ans seeing everyone around me just living it like this is how things are supposed to be and it drives me crazy .

Everything in my personality screams get out of here and do what makes you happy, but im trapped by expectations.

Its sad that it seems we are all fooled into thinking that this is the way life should be, wasting our time away slaving for the profit of our country...we may be told were free but i do not feel free at all.

 

[sneakerheadtrini1]

Originally Posted by GrimlocK

So I meditated yesterday for a while and was spurred to pose/push this thought forward to NT all due to an episode of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.  
]

how exactly do you meditate, i feel i have the wrong idea...i planned to practice it to have enough clarity to put real focus on my hobbies (poetry/art/etc) but i cant even got past the 1st step, any tips?