Is It True That No One Is Perfect?

Before you respond to the title, consider the following.  If you observe the universe, it’s perfect.  The same is true for nature on our planet.  The collaboration between the celestial planets and stars allows life to thrive in great abundance.  With that said, if you look at human beings, we are part of nature.  In fact, it could be said we are, like all animals, nature.  If nature is perfect, that makes people perfect.  But…..

We have been

conditioned to believe we are not perfect.  As a result, we spend enormous amounts of time examining our own imperfections as well as flaws of others.  How can nature be so perfect and us humans defective?  That’s an oxymoron! 

As it stands, if we were an operating system in a computer, we would spend more than 75% of our time looking for something wrong.  That would make us an inefficient operating system for the computer.  We would spend so much time constantly looking for something wrong that we would not be able to meet the demands of a computer user.  Our operating system would be preoccupied with finding something wrong, even if there was nothing wrong.

How did this happen?  We have been conditioned to protect ourselves.  We inherited a mental model that worries about physical and psychological danger.  For example, although nature is perfect, when a volcano erupts, we call it a natural disaster.  Yet, when the lava cools, it becomes extremely fertile soil.  Nature knows exactly what she is doing and she has a plan.  We are not privy to her plan; or so we believe.

Perhaps it is our incessant desire to judge, assess, give opinions and view life with a fear that impedes our ability to see the perfection in nature and ourselves.  If I were to remove every human from earth and put you into a rocket ship that orbited the earth for 1 million years, you would see the perfection of nature on earth and how she dances with the universe.  Over the course of 1 million years, you would see cycles that happen once a year or every 100, 1,000 and even every 100,000 years.  During that time, there would be many floods, earthquakes, meteors, hurricanes and other phenomena that are categorized as disasters.  You would also see animals go extinct and new species arise.  Icebergs would melt and reappear.  At some point, you would begin to distinguish signals that a volcano is going to erupt or a tornado is coming.  In time, it would no longer be chaotic.  It would be a symphony.  Instead of a disaster, it would be phenomenon that occurs in cycles.  That phenomenon would be perfect, even though it appears to disrupt the existing flow.

If we could step back and see the natural cycles in life that occur as part of the process, we could be free to dance with it, instead of fear it.  As long as we judge those cycles as wrong or disasters, we will have fear.  The same goes for the way we dance with other human beings.  Perhaps our judgments and assessments of one another are so heavily influenced by the fear of something being wrong, we are unable to see the beauty and perfection in each of us. 

While it may sound as though I have oversimplified a way to approach life, I have not.  The most difficult part is unlearning inimical behavior.  The biggest challenge to that occurs because some of our thought processes that we believe are our strengths are the ones that create the biggest blind spots.  For example, the idea of being tough presupposes you are weak and you have to prove that you are not.  This is a self-judgment that impedes developing empowering relationships with others. 

The process of unlearning in order to discover how perfect you already are requires a huge commitment.  Perhaps the best way to unlearn is to do it with a coach.  It would have to be someone who could help you distinguish behaviors that derail you.  At the same time, that person would have to supply you with tools that keep you on track.  Ideally, it would be best for the people in your community to join you on this journey.  That way your community would support your transformation, instead of work against you.

Creating a life without judgment, assessment and fear would be more pleasant.  And that would make it much easier to enjoy the beauty life offers, even in the face of disruption and uncertainty.   

What do you think? I’m open to ideas. Or if you want to write me about a specific topic, let me know.