Perfection:

Posted by David Emeron on

I admit I tire of hearing a certain meme repeating endlessly: continual repetition stating that there is no such thing as perfection and/or that perfection cannot be attained, and/or that we are only human after all, and hence, not perfect.  Although I feel compelled to write more about this, I will simply state that perfection is all about us.  So much so that we need only open our eyes to it.  Once we have done so. we might wonder why we did not realise it had been surrounding us all the time–that it should have been impossible not to have seen it.

Perfection is not simply a way to exaggerate a compliment–a way to say something is very very good.  Perfection as the unattainable ideal is simply an erroneous concept.  It is a way to further cement a false dichotomy of the ideal vs. the real.  I realise I am not making a logical case for this in so short a post, but simply making a claim.  But… if you give it some thought on your own–and just look about you–I am sure you will see it, unless you have some deep seated dogmatic resistance to the idea (and hence, the truth.)

Just try it.  You will see.

6 responses to “Perfection:”

    • They are quite vexing, these words of yours. Not in quotes, yet they seem like a quote. Google has been no help at all, yet at the very outset, my grey matter told me it was from the Animé Bleach. It sounds very like Byakuya Kuchiki to me. Very much as something he might say.

      But if not Byakuya, I would almost swear I have heard or read these words before.

      Or are these words yours alone? Either way, they read like poetry:

      perfection is seen reflected
      in the blade of my sword

      greens and golds
      melt on the blade
      with a thin edge of blue

      an ever changing picture
      less than two inches wide

      Prithee offer me another clue?

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    • Here is the clue and the answer….it is what I saw reflected in my swords as I was doing forms. Plain and simple. Of course, being immersed in anime, manga, Japanese movies and such for years, may have had influence I am sure. But I merely reported what I observed. Sometimes I unconsciously talk in poems or haiku. I think you’ve noticed this before. But henny way (or is it Henny Youngman?), there is a new post. Maybe it will help.

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    • …And as I read this post again, I realise that–although of course I made no logical case for what I assert above–much of the confusion regarding perfection as a concept comes from the nature of the word itself.

      This one word has more than one meaning. As such, it may be used in several different ways. The problem arises because some, if not all, of its meanings are very, very similar.

      To refer to Bleach once again, the scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi makes a speech about perfection in a very different light. As a scientist, perfection means your work is done–there is nothing more to do. But the truth is that there is always more to discover, even about that which one has already devoted much study, even about that which–in the sense that I mean above–is perfect in and of itself: A way in which all things may be said to be perfect.

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    • Yes this is exactly the point I would have tried to make! That is, if I had actually tried to make one. I am glad you have seen the point I would have tried to make had I been less lazy. You are my sweet girl, after all.

      It is as though Mr. Mandelbrot has had a talk with Browning, or God, or both. Or maybe it is that all three regularly take tea together?…

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