There are ramifications of using the label “perfect," of designating something or someone as perfect. It has to do with judgment. When we label something as perfect, by extension, that means we are automatically labelling something else as imperfect. And that, is duality.
The idea that there could ever be that which is perfect and that which is imperfect does not work. There can only be one. Within the realm of oneness, ALL is perfect. There is only ONE, All. (everything, every one) ALL is perfect simply by existing. So, this spectrum of perfection and imperfection, that duality, is made up in our human minds.
The act of trying to be perfect, perfectionism, narrows our focus to only what we perceive in our minds as ideal. We end up disregarding the vast diversity of life’s expressions, including our own imperfections. When we’re too focused on trying to be perfect, we miss the wholeness of our experience, the learning and growth that can occur. We miss the beauty of our imperfections. Perhaps you’ve heard the quote attributed to Theodore Roosevelt that says “Comparison is the thief of joy.” We could also say perfectionism, trying to meet a standard that is impossible to meet, robs us of our joy.
If we are living in the truth of our divine wholeness, we would love our imperfections. We would love all of ourselves, even the parts we deem flawed and imperfect. Here’s what’s interesting about that. When we do the work to recognize and love our own imperfections, (and make no mistake, it is work) the natural consequence of that is it helps us recognize and love the imperfections of others. Doing that points us more in the direction of our oneness and our unity, the truth of our divine harmony.
We need to celebrate and love our broken parts, the defects, the imperfections—all of it. God created an infinite variety of life, and all of it is perfect. We hear the word “perfect” a lot in this philosophy. We see it in Divine Science, which is the precursor to religious science and the Science of Mind. The Divine Science statement of being is only 4 sentences long, and the word perfect appears in it 6 times. This is what it says: “God is all, both visible and invisible. One Presence, One Mind, One Power is all. This One that is all is perfect life, perfect love, and perfect substance. Man (and women—a human being) is the individualized expression of God and is ever one with this perfect life, perfect love, and perfect substance.” That’s a lot of perfection! To me, it reads like a logic problem. An “IF/THEN” statement. If God is perfect, and I am one with God, then, by extension, that means I am perfect.
When I first discovered this teaching, I would often hear that we are “spiritually perfect,” and I wanted to shout out: What the heck does that even mean? It’s such an abstract, big concept. One of my favorite quotes from the Science of Mind textbook that touches on this, says: “The Spirit has already ordained that nature shall be perfect. It would be impossible for Spirit to ordain anything else since, in order to be at all, It must be perfect in Its nature.” (SOM, p. 395.1)
Nature shall be perfect. We are nature. We can’t be anything but perfect. Sometimes though, my life does not look perfect or necessarily feel perfect. Can you relate? How do we make sense of this? Think in terms of nature. Imagine you're walking in your neighborhood and in someone’s yard you see a lovely bush with a big blooming flower. Picture that in your mind, a beautiful, colorful, flower—flourishing and vibrant. We might even be inclined to call it PERFECT.
Remember though, that before the flower is a flower, it begins as a tiny seed and spends time as a stalk that shoots up out of the ground, with some little leaves that appear. The flower part of this natural process is really just something hoped for. A flower blooms in its perfection only when it is ready. Sometimes it never blooms. The perfect moment of the flower blooming comes, and goes, if it happens at all. We are nature. We are not just the perfect blooming part, but we are the wholeness of the plant bush, the wholeness of the entire growth process, the seed, the little stalk, the leaves, the blooms—if we are lucky enough to have moments where we bloom.
It’s not possible to celebrate the perfect beauty of a rose without recognizing all the growth that took place before it bloomed. We are the sum of all our life experiences, the sum of all our flaws, our doubts, our mistakes, our setbacks, our failures. And also…our growth, our successes, our accomplishments, our victories, our miracles. All of it is perfect because we are nature, and Spirit ordained that nature shall be perfect.
After many years of studying new thought, I’ve come to this conclusion: Being spiritually perfect does not mean our life experience is perfect from a human perspective: perfect bodies, perfect relationships, perfect jobs, perfect bank accounts. What would any of that even look like? We are promised that we are perfect. Our existence, our presence, our beingness. Through no effort of our own.
We can love all of ourself while working the principles to the best of our ability. It’s like living simultaneously in two worlds. As Pema Chodron famously suggested, we have to be big and small at the same time. Divinely perfect, eternal, whole—a very big concept, and at the same time, humbly human…at times, small and imperfect, with faults, doubts, and insecurities. That’s not duality. Big and small are variations of the same thing—size. I think of my small humanness as fitting nicely inside my big, divine perfection.
Finally, I offer these words by the artist, writer, and performer Angi Sullins:
The next time you refuse to sing because you’ll never fill a stadium
or decline the joy of dance for fear of looking ridiculous…
or you resist risking the new adventure because you’re not entirely ready…
or you dim your shine because you’re not completely healed and whole
The next time you hold yourself suspect because you’re not entirely qualified,
Just remember, a bird doesn’t sing because it’s talented.
A bird sings because it has a song.
The moon doesn’t only shine when it’s whole.
It can show up with a single sliver of itself and still light an entire night sky.
Show up. Sing. Shine. The world needs you as you are.
That is the end of her words, but I would add: the world needs you as you are, and what you are, is perfect.