From the Pen of John Pastorelli
Human imperfection (?)
Our imperfections are qualities and characteristics of what make us human. They provide the oddities that excite and enrich the flavour of our perspectives, they introduce novelty and personality.
Any yet imperfections are often shunted. A brilliant piece of furniture can be ruined with just one scratch. And so, there is a paradox in which imperfections can make the world all the more human-like whilst also frustrating our quest for quality.
For me … I love the kinks, dents and other ‘imperfections’ that add dimension to our lives. And this is one of the reasons I love working with old timber and restoring old furniture … each ‘imperfection is a story’ of that object.
I’d like to think that our task is not to shun the imperfections as how to work with them in a way that accentuates their qualities. And the same goes with people. There are so many people who might not ‘fit the mould’ … who are on the outside of that bell curve that defines the norm. Each of these has a gift if only we’d listen, support and encourage.
Perfection remains an aspiration
Amongst the many sayings by the painter Salvador Dali is: ‘Have no fear of perfection … you’ll never reach it.’ Whilst this might evoke feelings of frustration and dissolute thoughts of ‘what’s the point’ … it can also evoke feelings of exploration and discovery if we adopt a growth mindset as per the counsel of Carol Dweck. For our journey is then one of perfecting and improving … always learning and without fear of not being able to reach perfection.
Progressionism vs perfectionism
Perfection can sometimes be brought along as a guise to help support our excuses … I’ll not launch till it’s just right. I need to get this just so. All valid aspirations providing you also acknowledge any hint of procrastination … for to use perfection as an excuse leads to irrelevancy. Within a commercial sense the market might well be past you by the time you perfect. You need to balance progressionism with perfectionism.
We are living in a world where there are no guarantees only opportunities – where there are no definites, only shades and where consequences are rooted in decisions with not all consequences arising from our decisions.
Mistakes unite life
All decisions are based on risk … from placing a bet at the roulette wheel, to trusting a brand when we go shopping for food, to watching our favourite footy team whilst doing so in a pub full of supporters from the opposing team. If our decisions cause negative consequences we might call these mistakes of judgement. But as many a wise sage has advocated … and which is captured by Nir Eyal in his book “Indistractable” … it’s mistakes which enable us to learn.
Enter stage centre
I’d like to leave our discussion by bringing on stage the insightfully smart man Leonardo Da Vinci. Centuries later his brilliance is still as resonant and vibrantly brilliant as we continue to discover the meaning of some of his insights and philosophies. And on this same stage I’d like to invite the ever insightful Australian speaker Glenn Capelli, and to share with us his perspective of how he believes that whenever we lose a First Nations Elder we lose an encyclopedia … such is his reverence for Elders. And together with Leonardo and Glenn would be the invitation for so many other folk to form a crowded stage for us to honour and respect the wisdom of these individuals.
We might notice and perhaps feel a little surprised that on this stage are some young peoples … and yet these are our teenage Elders and a reflection of so many young folk who are also wise.
And with this same surprise we might notice that we are also on that stage … within this shared space we call life. Within the cracks, shadows and imperfections of our lives is a humanity that unites us … is a wisdom we all hold and which can help to better the world and our lives.
You can read more of John’s writings at Blogs and musings – John Pastorelli
