Perfection and Relativity
I was listening to a CD the other day and the subject came around to perfectionism. Hmmm I thought, this is interesting as it is one of my most compelling and fatal flaws… I listened patiently, to all the things I have ever heard before, how “magazine perfection” is not real, that no one is perfect, that it is self destructive to pursue perfection, and guaranteed to be a creativity killer… you doubtless know the rap.
I turned off the radio and started thinking about perfection as a relative. Who hasn’t sat around a campfire with a rookie banjo player and been swept away by the perfection of the moment, looking at the stars, hearing people singing along. Okay maybe the banjo was the wrong instrument, but I think you know what I mean. Perfection is so much more than surface perception. It runs like a deep cool river through the hot landscape of our psyches.
Keeping my pursuit of perfection in balance with my ability, I can amass a life time of perfect moments, perfectly executed strategies and perfectly delineated characters. As long as my expectation of what the outcome will be remains in balance with the effort I live in perfection.
I looked around me, the highway between Santa Fe and Taos is long, open and perfectly stunning. For me. It is not for someone who doesn’t like muted tones of adobe, vast expanses of sky, and acres of seemingly barren land. But is for me.