The idea and desire of perfection has been on my mind a lot recently.  This is what I wrote a few years ago about the plague of perfectionism.  This seems, on the surface, to be a noble goal but can lead to many wrong turns and dead ends in life.  It is a candidate for something to give up in Lent. 

Yesterday afternoon I found a copy of a few pages from a book.  I don’t remember making the copies and it doesn’t identify who the author is or the title of the book, so it is a bit of a mystery at this point.  The title of the chapter the pages are taken from is, Jung on the Life of Christ. 

The author draws on Carl Jung from his work, Psychology and Religion.  The subject of the chapter is addressing our need for perfection.  He addresses the inevitability and value of error:

We all must do what Christ did.  We must make our experiment.  We must make mistakes.  We must live our lives out of our own vision of life.  And there will be error. If you avoid error, you do not live; in a sense even, it may be said that every life is a mistake, for no one has found the truth.  When we live this, we know Christ as a brother, and God indeed becomes man. This sounds like a terrible blasphemy, but not so.  For then we can understand Christ as he would want to be understood, as a fellow man; then only does God become man in ourselves. 

The theological issue of whether Jesus was perfect man in the sense of being without sin, is one which some part ways with Carl Jung.  I believe there may have been times in the Gospel records that indicate that he was close to being in that state.  Perhaps the best example is the record of his despair on the cross.  However, I don’t want to get into that debate today.  The issue that caught my interest is the need that we have for perfection.  As Jung notes, the only way to avoid error is to not live life i.e. live life in a cocoon.  That itself is an error so we cannot win that game either way.

We inevitably fall into error.  As we state in our baptismal covenant that we will sin; it is part of the human condition.  It is what we do when that happens is the journey that Jesus calls us to travel.  If we are to acknowledge to others and especially ourselves, that we are in error, we can know Christ as a brother as Jung states.  Indeed, we will know that Christ does know this about us as he is fully human as well as fully divine.  To acknowledge that we are not perfect is difficult to accept as it is a defeat for our egos; our egos do not like to admit that.

One of the challenges for Christians is to deal with imperfection.  The teaching of the church has been that we should be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.  A few years ago, I found a small book in a bookstore, or I should say, it found me. It is entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation from Aramaic sources of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus. One of the passages that the book addresses is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, that is traditionally translated, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, the translation by this author reads, “Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” I felt my discovery of this book and this passage to be a physical gift from the Divine.

To be honest I do not like to acknowledge that I am wrong.  It is easier to acknowledge my mistakes about things that don’t truly matter to me.  However, for these things which are near and dear to my heart―the things I believe define me―I find it a true challenge to face that part of myself. 

However, I believe that is what we are called to do as Christians.  To be as honest with ourselves is the most important part of carrying our cross.  It has been and continues to be a struggle.  When I am honest, I know that I am not perfect in the important things or even the unimportant ones.  However, I know that I can strive to be all-embracing.  Of course, I won’t be perfect in that either. 

Blessings on your journey and remember, it's okay to run into obstacles and wrong turns along the way.