People say: “Perfection is unattainable.”  And yet they chase it.  What a psychologically toxic set-up!  What a self-fulfilling destiny of dissatisfaction!  Chasing theoretical perfection is like hunting unicorns.  Good luck.

Dare to consider: reality is (already) perfect and perfectible.  This “and” is the hardest “and” to swallow for a dualistic mind.  Reality is already the best that it can be at any given point in time and it can still be better.

Notice the ordinary (real-time) perfection of what (already) is.  There is no other reality than the here-and-now reality that right now is: everything that right now can be already is.  The rest is fantasy.  So, take a break from hunting non-existent unicorns and notice the cornucopia of the present moment.

Imagination is always at least one step ahead of reality.  When we appraise the world, ourselves, or others, we compare what is (the real) with what theoretically could be (the imagined).

Say you got a B on a test.  You look at this grade and you think that you could have done better, that you could have gotten an A.  But that’s theory.  The reality is that you got a B, not an A, and this B represented your practical (not theoretical) best.

With this in mind, let me ask you this: what do you mean by perfection—the theoretical best or the practical best?  When you think about perfection, are you thinking about the imaginary perfection of what could be or about the perfection of what actually is?  Of course, this is something of a rhetorical question.  I know the answer: as a perfectionist, you define perfection as a theoretical best.  That’s exactly why you are never satisfied with reality as it is.

End of the world?  No big deal!  The world ends every day.  And begins every day, in all of its ordinary perfection.  No reason to fear this continuous ceasing-and-arising.

Have a swig of mind rinse (of the Pattern Interruption series):

Life is hardware with software.  Hardware without software is dead matter.  Hardware with software is living matter.  But hardware and software are not two.  Software is when hardware softens.  When hardware softens to enable self-reflection it becomes software.  Software is just self-aware hardware.

Hardware that is aware of self is also aware of other.  Life runs on self-other duality: to know other is to know self; to know self is to know other.  But, of course, self is other and other is self (since this world knows no true separateness).

Confused?  Enlightened?  Doesn’t matter as long as this reading served as a neural cleanse of sorts for your mindware.  When you started reading this you were mentally at point A.  Now you are mentally at point B.  Your mind moved on (even if your body hasn’t).  It’s always like that: mind rinses itself.  What’s next?  C for yourself.

Postscript: When lost in flow, find flow to rediscover yourself.  Whether it’s from A to B or from B to C or from A to C is irrelevant.  No need to get hung up on the informational specifics of the content that flows through your mind.  Flow itself is the anchor.

Related:

Circle of Choice

Architecture of Pattern Interruption

Pattern-Bound?  Take a Detour

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Acceptance is the difference between neurosis and nirvana.  A single u-turn covers the entire journey from neurosis to nirvana.  What u-turn?  A choice to accept what is, one moment at a time.

Resources: Present Perfect/Lotus Effect

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Meaning is an association of what is now with what once was…

Take a look at any object in your immediate environment: say, you are looking at a “so-called” (I’ll explain the “so-called” parenthetical in a few moments) cup. Say, I picked it up from your desk and asked: “What is this?” You’d say: “A cup.” And I’d say: “No, what is this?” After a moment of bemusement, you might offer: “A mug?” And I – with the best of the poker faces – would stay firm: “No, what is this?”

After a pause and/or after a little friendly prodding from me, you might suggest: “A container for liquids?” To welcome the emerging looseness of your associations, I’d kick the door of your mind with a more clue-like question: “Yes… What else could this object be?” With this prompt, you’d likely fire off a series of ideas: “A paper-weight, a weapon if you throw it, a small hand-held shovel…”

So here we are: what used to be a cup now has acquired some additional meanings, by virtue of re-association…

Where am I going with this? Okay: let me reiterate the thesis: meaning is an association. When, as kids, we first encounter a new object, we ask: “Mom/Dad, what is this?” “It’s a fork,” Mom/Dad programs our mind… “And this (fill in the blank)?” Mom/Dad: “This is (fill in the blank).”

There is an “om” in Mom. 

Remember to chant it today.

At least once.

The fire of presence is still burning among us!

We used to live all day, every day, non-stop; now we work and wait, work and wait, as we live for the weekend.

We used to forage and hunt, now we gather information.  Here’s a glimpse of the Hadza Zen, a glimpse of your past, Informational Hunter-Gatherer.

Who are the Hadza?

Location: northern Tanzania; “About a thousand Hadza live in their traditional homeland, a broad plain encompassing shallow, salty Lake Eyasi… Genetic testing indicates that they represent one of the primary roots of the human family tree – perhaps more than 100,000 years old.”

Language: “not closely related to any other [language] that still exists”

Dorion Sagan writes in Biospheres:

There is no history… nor future… but only always the language-filled present.  Linguistic convention creates the illusion of time’s arrow… We are steeped in the medium we discuss.

There was a time when I wouldn’t’ve had a clue as to what Sagan means to say with this thought.  But, thankfully, with ceaseless introspections and meditations, I have figured it out.

Have you?

I hope you have.

Insights such as these – in my opinion – cannot be taught.  These revelations have to be personally and immediately discovered.  And once personally understood, they are forever crystallized and deepened.

You know what I am saying?