[JohnZ]

I cannot claim credit to the writing below, but I wish I could. This was written in response to a question on another forum. The writer speaks to the imperfections we observe in daily life in what we wish to be a perfect place.


She writes so well:

Why do we see imperfection all around us? Maybe because when we use the word “perfect” we mean flawless to the senses of the body. It has to do with the eye of the beholder. That is, the body’s eyes, ears, nose, and so on, measure what they perceive according to a set of standards developed by and inherited from the egoic body/mind’s parents, friends, teachers, culture, and so on, and the closer a thing comes to meeting those standards, the closer it is to being perfect.

I ask the question, is a rotting apple perfect? It certainly doesn’t seem so at first glance. But think about it. If apples didn’t eventually naturally rot, the world would be up to its ears in apples.

Is a volcanic eruption perfect? When we remember that volcanic eruptions are what created Waikiki Beach, I’d say pretty perfect.

So, a rotting apple is perfect when it’s on the ground beneath the tree, but not when it’s in my refrigerator. And a volcanic eruption is perfect when it occurs umpteen million years ago in the middle of an ocean.

Let’s face it. Very nearly everything we don’t like (and therefore label “imperfect” or worse, like “evil”) somehow threatens the body each of us calls “me” and its things ... its health, its home, its possessions, its nation, and so on.