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LIFE LESSONS | PERFECTIONISM | BUDDHISM
Being perfectly imperfect in an imperfectly perfect world
(a ten-point program of consolation for failed perfectionists)
Perfection is the tyranny of the should
The question whether we should be perfect is a question that should never arise. I live in East Asia, where perfection is firmly engrained in parenting and education, and I witness its sometimes destructive power on an almost daily basis. In my programs on Meaningful Youth Engagement I meet a great number of young people — and there is hardly anybody who doesn’t complain about the constant pressure of parent-and-society-imagined perfection. If people feel locked-up, constrained, crammed, caged, unappreciated, lastingly discontent, and generally unhappy — it is the constant hammering of the nail to perfection that brings them there.
The perfect imperfection of language
Even in Buddhist philosophy, the idea of perfection is all over the place. The literature on perfection is a vast body of texts and teachings culminating in…
