Comments on: Practically Perfect in Every Way

By: Jonathan Blake

Jonathan Blake — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:20:06 +0000

Rodney, wabi sabi dovetails nicely into this idea. From the Wikipedia article on wabi sabi: “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”

“The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is ‘imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete’”

Johnny Cash’s video embodies both of those statements for me. Who knew that Johnny Cash was so up on Japanese aesthetics?

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By: Rodney

Rodney — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:33:41 +0000

I have found the Japanese concept of “wabi sabi” to be relevant in discussions about perfection. There are many translations and explanations but the first one I ever heard was that of “Perfection in Imperfection.”

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By: Green Oasis » Practically Perfect in Every Way

Green Oasis » Practically Perfect in Every Way — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:21:32 +0000

[...] The folks over at Main Street Plaza graciously posted some of my recent thoughts about perfection. [...]

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By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:13:22 +0000

No one else is going to say it? Okay, then I will: Happy birthday, Jesus!

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By: Jonathan Blake

Jonathan Blake — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 18:54:22 +0000

I’m beginning to distrust all forms of absolutism. I’m not sure that perfection in the way that LDSism imagines it exists. What would it mean to be perfect?

I assume that a perfect Heavenly Father would no longer be tempted like we are. To be tempted like we are means that he has the possibility of screwing up sometimes. If there is no possibility of failure, then the nature of the suffering of temptation is different and he isn’t tempted like us. But how can he have sympathy for us if he is so above our concerns? If he can perfectly remember being tempted when he was once as man is, then he must still be able to be tempted because to remember perfectly must be something like reliving an experience in every detail. How could God remember perfectly without feeling the temptation? So is God perfect in the sense that he’s never tempted by the things that tempt us, or does he have perfect sympathy for us? I don’t think he can do both. If he can’t do both, then are we justified in pronouncing him perfect overall?

What I’m trying to get at is that introducing absolutisms seems to also always introduce contradictions. If we think the implications of some absolute statement through, there always seems to be a point where it defies logic.

Perfection is just another absolute which cannot have a real existence.

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By: Hellmut

Hellmut — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:24:24 +0000

Thanks, Jonathan. In Mormonism perfection appears to be an instrument of control. By contrast in the Sermon of the Mount, perfection is about extending love even to one’s enemies. That’s a huge difference.

By the way, Kullervo from Sailing to Byzantium has a pretty interesting post about the development of morality as children mature.

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By: Kullervo

Kullervo — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:23:47 +0000

Excellent post. I think you’re spot-on. Jesus’s exhortation to be perfect simply cannot mean PERFECT, as in completely wihtout flaw or blemish or failure.

Even if he does, it’s clearly an impossible commandment. As I understand my new testament, impossible commandments are why we need salvation. We can’t live up tot he law, so we need a redeemer.

At the same time, I don;t know if I’m in a place where I buy that God, if God exists, gives impossible commandments. At least not impossible commandments like “be perfect,” when he created us not perfect. That’s just crappy, and I don’t believe in a God that is crappy.

Perfection as in “perfectly acknowledge our weakness?” “be eprfectly compassionate?’ That I can buy. It sure makes a lot more sense than “perfectly avoid coffee and tea and perfectly fulfill the arbitrary requirements of the programs of the Chruch organization. Oh, and alos nevr think bad thoughts. And don’t be lazy. And plant a garden.”

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