Can it be that the ups and downs of life that we all experience are actually resting in a daily reality of what can be seen as "perfect", if we will but only look at them differently?



I think so. Let me tell you why I believe this to be true.

I've come to believe that things do not happen for a reason. Let me explain. The problem with that idea is that it has to come from a point of view of the future, since we can only see the so-called "reason'"later on. And I know that since we are meaning-making creatures, that we can surely go ahead and make up whatever "reason" that best fits our view of life, and -- voila!-- there's our self-created reason for the situation happening.

That places the idea that things happen for a reason into pretty suspicious territory for me. Sure, it'd be nice to think that things do happen for a reason. But do they really?

What has felt like a better way for me to look at life is that there is perfection in everything that occurs, and that I exist within that perfection. Call it "The Universe in Perfection", if you will. I remember reading in Richard Bach's book, "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", the Messiah, Donald Shimodo, was lying in some meadow, gazing up at the sky with his pal Richard. Donald at some point asked Richard, "Is that a perfect sky, or should those clouds be changed somehow to make them more perfect?" Richard of course says yes, it's a perfect sky, how could it not be? And Donald Shimodo comes back with, "Well then, what makes you think that your life could be any less perfect than that sky?"

That's when I realized that I move within that reality of perfection, as does all the Universe. How could it be otherwise? One of the great illusions we humans have bestowed upon ourselves, that all the spiritual masters who have walked this Earth encourage us to move away from, is the idea that we somehow are separate from the Universe. It's interesting to me that many of the most powerful religious organizations around say we're separate, because we're sinners, or what have you, yet their own spiritual leaders whom the religion is based on tell us that we are not. Funny how that happens, isn't it?

Once I realized this truth, that I am part of the Universe, not a separate entity, I began looking around me for perfection in all areas of life. Not just my life, but all of life. This called me to see perfection in people who I found annoying; to see perfection in people who got elected (or at least took offices, despite election '"troubles") whom I didn't want to be elected; to see perfection in the lives of my children, as they made their way through the world and grew up; and, of course right close to home, to see perfection in let-downs in my efforts that really hurt.

It's a challenge, to be looking for perfection all the time. I don't even pretend to be doing it well most of the time yet. But, in some perfectly human way, I do continue to try.

Perhaps there are times when you feel like your life is less than perfect. Maybe, like me, you find the idea of finding perfection to be an exciting one, almost a spiritual quest in itself. It just might be that this is one piece of the puzzle that has been alluding you, as it had me for many years. Maybe.

And maybe you'll think about looking for and finding perfection in everything around you. But if I could make one request, it would be to begin to see yourself as being as perfect, right where you are and who you are right now, as perfect as those clouds up above you. How could you be any different, anyway? That way, you can begin to see your own evolution as a person as coming from a full cup, rather than from some imagined or proscribed deficit of who you are.

And that's a much more "perfect path" to take, in my humble opinion.

Copyright 2006 Don McAvinchey