Reality at Its Practical (Not Theoretical) Best

There are two ways to look at yourself and reality: a) dualistically -- as either perfect or imperfect, or b) nondualistically -- as neither perfect nor imperfect. You have a choice of psychological software: seeing the world as a discrepancy between "what is" and "what should be," or seeing the world as it actually is.

The following 10 points are a kind of new operating platform to serve as an antidote to the dichotomous/dualistic/all-or-nothing cognitive style that ruins our lives.

1. A state that is so flawless, so immaculate, so error-free, so complete that nothing can be added to it to make it better is a state beyond improvement. That is, theoretical perfection.

2. Practical perfection is a state that is beyond improvement not because it is immaculate, flawless or error-free, but because it has been completed and is now fact.

3. Every moment, by virtue of it being already a fact, is complete. Thus, it is also a state of perfection -- a state beyond improvement. This isn't fantasy. It is reality at its practical best.

4. You are part of this reality. You are neither perfect nor imperfect. "Perfect" and "imperfect" are words. You are not words. You are everything you have ever been up to this moment, and no one moment or word can define you in your entirety and complexity. You are what you are, in your suchness.

5. To believe that what happened should not have happened and to believe that what didn't happen should have happened is a violation of causality.

6. It is understandable to want only "this" part of reality and not want "that" part of reality, to want "this" part of yourself and not "that" part of yourself. But while it's possible to want to divide the indivisible, it's not actually possible to do so. Reality is this and that, in its suchness. Any attempt to cut the indivisible whole in half is a departure from reality.

7. Splitting what is into good/bad, perfect/imperfect, proper/improper, success/failure and so on creates false dichotomies. A false dichotomy produces a perception of alternatives to what is. A belief that the reality does not have to be what it is at any given moment leads to a desire for it to be what it is not. Constant rejection of what is and a desire for what is not is the essence of perfectionistic suffering.

8. To want what doesn't exist and not to want what exists, not to want the reality of the "now" that you have, is a formula for existential suicide. If this reality, as it is in its entirety, is not enough for you, if you feel that you deserve more than this entire universe can summon up at any given moment, then check yourself out in the mirror for a halo around your head.

9. Acceptance of what is isn't passivity. Acceptance of what is means an active engagement in reality. Accept that whatever exists right now is beyond improvement and therefore as perfect as it can be. And, if you think you need to, try to change what is yet to be. As you do so, accept the results of your efforts as the best that you can do. Repeat this cycle of acceptance and change on an as-needed basis.

10. Old Perfectionism: the old-paradigm of perfectionism was an attempt to perfect the imperfect. New Perfectionism, the new paradigm, focuses on perfecting the perfect. The new way of seeing reality (which is just a way of seeing reality at its practical best) begins with the acknowledgement that everything is the best way it can be at a given moment in time (i.e., perfect). Having acknowledged the ordinary perfection of what is, you allow yourself to simultaneously realize that reality can still be better in the next moment. Relax into this idea: the present is already perfect; your work in this moment is done. Now you can look to the next moment and perfect the future.

For years you have defined perfection as a theoretical best. Naturally, by these standards, you have always fallen short of what theoretically could be. You've put into this game far more than you've gotten out. It's time to rethink perfection. Understand: chasing the unattainable perfection is a cultural scam; failing to notice the ordinary perfection (of you doing the best that you can at any given point in time, of reality being the best that it can be at any given point in time) is existential suicide.

It is time to realize that perfection is not only attainable but that it is inevitable.

Celebrate what is. There is nothing else.

 

 

 

Comments

[ravencalling]

11:23 PM on 04/06/2011

Very good article. To me this is looking beyond what we find ourselves encased in. A box that normal thinking produces but is just very limited. It does not experience what is and so misses the point. Always missing what is there, always judging what is - against a picture of what should be and so constantly juggling the resultant emotions rather then just seeing what is. Since we have missed it how can we even begin to judge it?

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

02:39 PM on 04/07/2011

Well summed up. Be well.

[phnxrth]

05:44 PM on 04/04/2011

With all due respect, "violation of causality" as it relates to human behavior isn't an intimidating sounding phrase. It is a solvable problem.

Everything that is, is and has to be? Sorry, too much like my dogmatic Catholic upbringing. Illogic that's good only for creating dupes. If everything that is has to be there's no right and wrong. Let's all be complete heretics, shall we? Fire all police, get Machiavelli back here and lets call him God. It's all good.

The perfection is in the reality of the law of absolute right. People are supposed to get wrong results in reality when they do the wrong thing. It's permanently, absolutely decreed by reality. You're suggesting no one can ever do anything about it.

Perfection is indeed inevitable AFTER all the changes from wrong to right take place that each individual must make.

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

09:03 PM on 04/04/2011

Thank you. And be well.

[french queen13]

09:09 PM on 04/03/2011

Perfection - cat. Or dog. :)

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

08:04 AM on 04/04/2011

Yes (on cat). Yes (on dog). Yes (on any animal, including human one). Yes (on stones, rocks, lakes, sky, you name it). Thank you.

[Arithrianos]

04:31 PM on 04/03/2011

indeed pitting ones will gainst reality is always a losers game, reality is already victorious, either join the perfect reality or die in the futile effort to change what you have no power to ever change. as an artist accepts hesheits tools and materials, accept the canvas of reality and create, theory is for those who are too terrified to do their best and so look for a fait accompi, theretical perfection that relieves the burden of perfecting NOW, if you start with the best there can ever be it would be suicide indeed, how can you add your own flavor of perfection to the cold and heartless theoretical, practically speaking.

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

08:02 AM on 04/04/2011

I agree with the overall vector of your comment, Arithrianos. Yes, theorizing is fear-based, we look ahead in hopes of certainty and control. I am not so sure about your statement "either join the perfect reality or die in the futile effort to change what you have no power to ever change." I don't see this as an either/or issue. We can both accept and change: accept that the reality does not shortchange and do try - if it is personally relevant - to change what can be changed. Could you, kindly, elaborate on the idea that we "have no power to ever change" reality? Are we not reality ourselves? Thanks, as always, for your provocative comments, rascal sage.

[Arithrianos]

10:17 AM on 04/04/2011

we have the power to change the next iteration of reality, we have no power to change reality as it is now. i was just reiterating your point that the NOW is open only going "forward", the present is set, the ongoingness or openness of being is "further", like the buses "destination" in the electric koolaid acid test, that is where change happens, in the ongoing WOW as speed levich calls it. sorry for any confusion.

[avicenna]

08:00 AM on 04/03/2011

Although comforting, I don't know enough about reality or states of perfection to speak to the argument's validity. Thus, I will continue to wallow in this state of imperfection rather contentedly - as I can state that there is some truth to the observation that ignorance is sometimes blissful.

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

09:00 AM on 04/03/2011

Thank you. More thoughts on the matter: http://www.eatingthemoment.com/mindstream/2010/2/1/mindfulness-is-ignorance-bliss-on-demand.html

[avicenna]

02:27 PM on 04/03/2011

Vielen dank in return for the almost perfectly seamless exchange in the supreme mindfulness of ignorance - almost like it was predetermined.

[martman1]

07:45 AM on 04/03/2011

Some would say that there is only One Reality and that That Reality can rightly be intuited as Absolute Being Itself, Uncaused, Self-Existing, and Eternal. Furthermore, all that arises (the totality of existence, including one's own body-mind) is merely appearing to modify That One Reality which, in Truth, is Unchanging and, in fact, cannot ever be modified. Perfect Being Itself is always, already the case even before we think about "perfection".

[Pavel Somov, Ph.D.]

09:00 AM on 04/03/2011

Dzogchen, indeed.