Do you want to know about an idea that causes much pain and upset in the world?  Perfection is just such an idea.  The idea of perfection causes untold misery as countless people all over the world chase after it.  Have you ever suffered because of the idea of perfection?  If so then it may serve you to dive deeply into the idea of perfection and see for yourself what it really is.  Through understanding of perfection you may free yourself from its illusory power over you and your happiness.

What is perfection?  It’s an idea of something without any flaw.  If someone has perfect skin then it must be without blemish or discoloration.  If a dance routine is to be perfect then it must be performed without any mistake.  If a computer program is perfect then it will never crash.  It seems to me that perfection and flawlessness is the same thing.  If something is perfect then it has no flaws.  If there is a flaw in something then it cannot be perfect.  Perfection is the lack of imperfection.  That seems simple enough.

Since perfection exists only in the absence of imperfection…this begs the question: What is imperfection?  Have you ever answered that question before?  Take some time right now and come up with an answer for yourself.  I’ll wait.  Do you have an answer?  Good!  Keep on reading…

So, what is imperfection?  Perhaps you came to the conclusion that imperfection is the lack of perfection!  While that may be an accurate statement, it doesn’t get us to a clear understanding of what imperfection is.  That will just lead us in circles.  My take on imperfection is this: Imperfection is when something in reality doesn’t match your image of how it ought to be.  In your mind you have an image of how things need to be.  A flaw exists in something when it doesn’t match your image of it.  Imperfection exists when your image of reality doesn’t match actual reality.  Let’s look at some examples to make sure we fully understand this.

In your mind, you have an idea of perfect skin.  Perhaps you learned this idea of perfect skin from television or advertisements or from observing beautiful people.  Regardless of how the idea came to be in your mind, you clearly have it.  Your idea of perfect skin may not match someone else’s idea of perfect skin.  No matter.  You still keep your idea of perfect skin and judge yourself and others based on it.  When you get a zit your image of perfect skin is violated.  When you get wrinkles your image of perfect skin is violated.  If you didn’t have the idea of perfect skin then you’d never know when your skin was imperfect.  Isn’t that obvious?

In your mind, you have an idea of the perfect person.  This image of the perfect person has a lot of qualities.  They never steal, lie, argue or sin.  They’re always polite, kind, gentle and thoughtful.  They always say the right thing at the right time.  They never do anything to hurt you or anyone else.  Perhaps you learned this idea of the perfect person from your religion or through the judgments of others on your behavior.  Regardless of how the idea came to be in your mind, you clearly have it.  Your idea of the perfect person may not match someone else’s idea of the perfect person.  No matter.  You still keep your idea of the perfect person and judge yourself and others based on it.  When you act in a way that violates your idea of perfection then you judge yourself.  When someone else acts in a way that violates your idea of perfection then you judge them.  If you didn’t have the idea of the perfect person then you’d never know when you were being imperfect.  Isn’t that obvious?

The fact that your ideas of perfection don’t match everyone else’s should make clear the reality of perfection.  Perfection is an illusion created by belief in The Image of how things ought to be.  You believe that, to be perfect, things must be a certain way.  This belief exists only in your mind – in The Image.  Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  What is imperfect for you will be perfect for someone else.  Say that to yourself 1000 times until it sinks in.

How does all this cause suffering and pain?  It does so through judgment.  You judge yourself when you don’t meet your idea of perfection.  You beat yourself up for your flaws.  You judge others when they don’t meet your idea of perfection.  You make them wrong and think negatively about them.  It’s the self-torture caused by the idea of perfection that interests me the most.  Most immediately is the self-torture caused by not meeting your own idea of perfection.  Secondarily is the self-torture caused by not meeting someone else’s idea of perfection.  Both forms of emotional torture are self-induced and based on how you see yourself in relationship to the image of perfection.

In reality there’s no such thing as imperfection.  Imperfection only exists when you compare reality to an ideal state that only exists in The Image.  The wonderful conclusion that comes from this observation is obvious: Perfection is all there is.  When you see something that isn’t perfect, look again…it is only your judgment about it that makes it imperfect.  There is nothing in reality that is imperfect.  There is only your judgment about the world that causes imperfection to exist.

If you find yourself locked in self-torture because of the illusion of imperfection then remind yourself that all you must do is to see clearly.  See clearly that imperfection is an illusion of The Image.  All things are perfect in this moment now.  It cannot be any other way.  See clearly that imperfection is a lie that we’ve told ourselves and we use this lie to torture ourselves with bad feelings.  The moment that you see this clearly for yourself will be the moment that you are finally free to be whoever and whatever you want to be.

Here’s an interesting observation: The only power that you have is your power of intention.  Yes, you read that right…intention is your only true power.  I can imagine your protests.  You might ask: “What about my power to read and write?” or “What about my power to speak or to drive or to walk?” or “For goodness’ sake, what about my power to think?”  Even in the face of such objections, I’ll persist that the power of intention is your only true power.  Let me explain how that works and how I see that observation as being useful.

How is it that intention is your only true power?  That’s simple.  Without intention, no other power you would claim is possible.  Let’s consider that for a moment.  What can you do that you don’t first have the intention to do?  Is it possible to do a thing without intention?  Can you think without intending to think?  Can you walk without the intention to walk?  How about speaking or reading or writing?  Are any of these possible without intention?  Of course not…clearly intention is the source of all these powers.  Take away intention and watch how you become a stagnant lump of barely living flesh.

How is this observation useful?  I find these kinds of first-principle observations useful because they help me to focus on what really matters in my life.  I use this observation to clear away all of the mental rubbish that drains me of vital energy and keeps me from my goals.  What kind of mental rubbish?  Thoughts like “How will I ever get that done on time” or “That’s too difficult for me” or “Will I be successful”.  In the light of this observation, the true value of each of these thoughts is made clear to me.  Such negative thinking is clearly useless and self-defeating.  More importantly, just like every other thing that I do, these thoughts only arise when I intend for them to.  So, I use the observation that intention is my only power to be extremely purposeful about what I think and do.  If something is happening to me that I don’t want then I see clearly how I caused it to exist through my intention and choose again.

Like so many things, there’s a subtlety here that may be easily missed.  While it’s clear to me that intention is the source of all power – and, by extension, your only true power – there’s also a matter of habit that must be understood in order to take advantage of your power.  Habit is an extremely easy way to live your life.  To do something by habit is to work from a playbook of options based on past experience.  To do something habitually means that you do the same thing you’ve done before in similar situations.  For mechanical things like breathing and walking, habit seems to be the best way to handle things.  I mean, imagine if you forgot to breathe one day!  That would be disastrous.  However, when it comes to intention, habit is terribly destructive.

If your intention is habitual then you will react to situations based on how you’ve reacted to them in the past.  You will miss the wonderful opportunities for self-creation that appear before you every single day.  Habitual intention is the same as robotic living.  Do you want to be loved out of habit?  Of course not… you might as well have a robot saying and doing the things that are called “loving”.  Do you want to work by habit?  If you do then you will soon find yourself in a dead-end job that takes you nowhere fast.  Do you want to be a robot?  If not, then see the dangers of habit when applied to your intentions.

The only thing keeping you from achieving your goals is your intention.  Your life is exactly how you intend it to be.  It cannot be any other way.  If you want your life to be different then change your intentions about it.  Be aware of your habitual intentions and stop giving them energy.  Drop the intentions that you currently hold and choose the intentions that will bring you to the life that you desire.  Intention is your only true power…so don’t waste it on destructive pursuits.  Intend with consciousness, not habit, and you will finally see the limitlessness of what you can achieve.

Watch your choices and you will see the underlying intention.  Be aware of your intention and you will understand the incredible power it represents.  Understand the power of intention and you will love the life that you create with it.

Have you ever heard the saying: “Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight?”  When I think of the plasticity of belief, that saying immediately comes to mind.  Not because it’s been hidden by someone, but because it’s out in plain sight yet so few people see it!  So few people notice the plasticity of belief, it might as well be hidden at the bottom of the deepest ocean.  One of the quickest ways to take conscious control over your emotions and your life experience is to use the plasticity of belief.  Harness the plasticity of belief and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish!

What exactly do I mean when I say plasticity of belief?  I mean that your beliefs can be changed.  Beliefs are changeable… malleable… flexible… alterable… rewritable… controllable... selectable.  I mean that belief is like mental clay…it can be molded into whatever shape you choose.  Your beliefs are your clay and you are the artist!  Are you happy with your sculpture today?

Do you see the plasticity of your beliefs yet?  Every belief that you have in The Image has been created by you and you alone.  It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that some beliefs are not your creation… but that simply isn’t true.  You may have created them unconsciously or lazily or out of habit, but each and every belief in your mind is your creation.  Even the belief that your beliefs are not changeable is your creation!  What I am asking of you is that you take responsibility for your beliefs.  Take responsibility for your creations.  Be the conscious creator of your beliefs…not the victim of your unconsciously chosen beliefs.

Your mind is filled with all kinds of beliefs that you don’t remember choosing… that you take for granted… that you never question… that you never change.  You believe that you are an American, or an Indian or a Christian or a Jew.  You believe that you are handsome, or ugly or fat or funny.  You believe you are smart or dumb or creative or helpless.  You believe you are successful or unhappy or fearful or victimized.  Do you realize that each unquestioned belief is a weight on your soul?  Don’t you see that each unconscious belief is a nail in your coffin?!  You are living life in the land of the dead… without clear understanding of why you believe what you believe or how you choose what you choose.  You are literally drowning in a sea of unquestioned beliefs.  All of your misery… all of your unhappiness… all of your discontent is born of these unconsciously chosen beliefs that you hold dear.

Consider this: Have you ever seen an adult elephant tied to a tree with a thin rope and wondered why it is that the animal does not free itself?  The rope is so thin that the elephant could easily break free.  Well, when the elephant was young, it was bound with heavy chains that could not be broken.  It tried and tried to free itself without success.  After awhile, the elephant created the belief that when it’s bound there is no way to free itself.  So, it gave up trying.  The elephant now has an unquestioned belief that binds it to the tree.  Do you see?  The rope does nothing but remind the elephant that it is trapped.  The elephant’s belief is so strong that it can be bound by a pitiful bit of rope.  This is a perfect analogy for you and the prison you have created for yourself with your own unquestioned beliefs.  Just like the elephant, you are trapped by your thinking… by your beliefs… not by that which you imagine is trapping you.

Do you see the plasticity of your beliefs yet?  Stay alert and you will see.  How is it that you came to create the beliefs that you have?  You chose them based on your experience.  You chose them based on what you were told.  You chose them based on faith!  You have layer upon layer of chosen belief.  So many of your beliefs were chosen without awareness and you suffer because of it.  Open your mind and see the truth of this.

Do you want to stop your suffering?  Do you want to be free of the imagined limitation of your beliefs?  If so then choose again!  Make another choice.  Choose consciously what you want to believe.  Question what you think is true.  If you don’t like what you believe then believe something else.  If what you believe now is causing you pains then don’t believe that anymore.  The way out is so simple… it is so obvious… it is so clear that it’s one of the best kept secrets in the entire world.  All you must do is to choose your way out of misery and into happiness and love.

How do you choose a belief?  If that question truly engages you then you are well on your way to taking conscious control over The Image.  This is the point where awareness becomes incredibly important to conscious living and words begin to falter.  Be aware of your beliefs and you will see for yourself how they work.  When I am aware of my beliefs, this is what I see:  Belief is a choice and choice is pure creation.  Ultimately, all belief is pure creation.  You are the creator and The Image is your creation.  Be aware of your beliefs and you may see the truth of this.  Open your mind to the role of creation in choice and choice in belief.  When you do this then you will finally see the limitless horizons that are before you… and nothing will be beyond your reach that you believe you can achieve.