How Perfection Destroy's

Last night I watched the movie Tron: Legacy. It was a interesting movie. The graphics were great. I was impressed by the presence of an old Jeff Bridges along side a young Jeff Bridges. The movie had some pretty hefty themes throughout. It was much more than a sci-fi, special effects flick.

One of the themes that were present and pronounced in the movie was the pursuit of perfection. The dilemma in the movie all stems from one man's desire to achieve perfection. I have found that the goal of perfection is one of significant danger. It endangers the good. It almost always results in the seizure of control over all things. And, it ultimately ends with destruction instead of perfection.

Look at leaders such as Hitler. He sought to create a nation, even a world, of perfect people (as he saw them). The results were mass homicide, the takeover of half the world, and finally destruction. Even now, those that seek to reach perfection are doing so by seizing control and ruling with an iron fist over others.

It's my belief that human beings are incapable of reaching perfection. Hence, the pursuit of such a thing is maddening and only exacerbates what we are-fallen. In the end, we appear as perfectly fallen and depraved beings. For that is what we are. This isn't to say that we ought not shoot for the stars and seek to improve. This is to say that we do in fact have limitations that must be recognized.

I find that the issue itself is not in pursuit of better things. But instead, the issue is the discarding of timeless principles. Principles must always remain. They are the foundation and building blocks of society. When we discard those principles we plunge ourselves into chaos. All the while claiming a serious search for perfection.

In order for one to achieve perfection we must be able to control the variables. Hence, we try to put in place as many controls as possible to limit the unpredictable, uncontrollable, variables. Problem is, there are too many variables outside of our control. As a result we are corrupted by the whole process. As it has been said, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

People do this in all facets of life. Love, career, sport...We destroy what is good because we want something that is neither real nor attainable. People remain unhappy because life does not match their perfect world mindset. They will always be unhappy because it never will. The great Tony Dungy said that the reason the Super Bowl loser does not make the playoffs the following year is because they change the way they play looking to correct the imperfection that led to their loss. This is a mistake. The reality isn't that something was broken but that they were beat by the better performing team that day.

Such is life. Stop killing what is good by the mythical perfect. Enjoy life. Experience it in all of it's goodness, both the sun and the rain. Don't drive yourself crazy with fruitless work. Don't sit around and pout about what is not. Get up, go, do, be...LIVE. Perfection is not a requirement for a pleasing life.