We tend to see things in black and white terms; right and wrong.  Subconsciously we feel that ‘perfect’ is right and that falling short of perfection is ‘wrong’. 

Imperfection means that we are broken and still in need of work.

Whether it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual perfection we seek, we set our goals high and are crushed when we fall short, looking for someone or something to blame.

It isn’t simply our billion dollar search for the perfect body.  It’s our search for the perfect marriage, the perfect life…even the perfect spirituality.  Nothing is safe from our obsession with getting it right.

Life is so rarely perfect, yet it can be perfection.  How so?  How can the paradox stand?

“The legend behind the phrase “Persian flaw” goes that in ancient times, Persian rug makers were deeply religious and believed that only God could make something perfect. They would deliberately drop in a small faulty stitch, a flaw, into each Persian rug. In doing so, a “Persian Flaw” revealed the rug maker’s devotion to God.”

We would never look at a rug with a Persian flaw and think “this carpet is wrong, a mistake“, yet that is exactly how we think of ourselves.  We don’t view an imperfect piece of art and deem it defective; often the ‘flaw’ adds depth to a piece, transforms it. 

And sometimes an imperfection makes an object even more precious, more valuable.

You Are Not Perfect

Let go of the idea that you need to be perfect, that you are a broken being who needs to be fixed.  When you are filled with love – for your children, your spouse, your parents – it is because of who they are, their essence; not their perfection.  And so it is the same for your self.

Though you are not perfect, you are perfection.

There is no spoon.

Your goal is not to become perfect in form or thought, in love or prayer.  There is no outside objective that you need to accomplish, nothing that you have to transform or change or substitute or rework or modify or acquire to achieve perfection. 

What you seek is to uncover  your truest self, to remove the fallacies of your existence.  Coming closer to perfection means edging ever closer to the truth of who you are, your being. 

Remove the veil of seeking ’skinny’ from before your eyes.  You are  thin; you’ve just hidden that from yourself with food or escaped the truth of your beauty with television.  You have literally  hidden that truth from yourself.  You don’t need to seek what you already have.

Remove the veil of seeking ‘love’ from before your eyes.  You are  love, and before that truth can be reflected in the hearts of others it has to well up from the depths of your being.

Remove the veils of seeking ’success’ from before your eyes.  You are  successful; you just don’t know at what.  You are the answer to the unasked question.  The closer you are aligned with your purpose, the more ’successful’ you are, but it won’t even matter. 

And perhaps, the very flaw you berate yourself for is the ecstatic exultation of the universe at the variety of your soul and being, the very part of the purpose which you will express.

You Are As You Are

What have you been hiding from yourself?  What have you been afraid to face?  What is your fear?

Start to face your fear and you will start to face your truth.  As you move in line with the truth of your being, all illusions – persistent they may be – will start to fall away from you.

And you will not feel a need to force whatever you are left with into a preconceived notion of who you should  be, because you are as you are.