Perfect Imperfection: A Spiritual Imperative 

Inspired by the tweet of a friend on the wild and woolly twitter land a couple of days ago, I added some text: 

Even the purest tree must cast a shadow, comrades, tis just the way of things! https://t.co/cKOff9SACU

— Cormac Stagg (@CormacStagg) February 28, 2022

The desire for perfection, the not just let’s get it right, but let’s make it perfect and adored by endless numbers of, you know, “likes,” “loves,” and “follows,” is an ongoing insidious post-modern problem. I’m sure that the titans of the various platforms, that so many of us – let’s face it – spend too much time on, are acutely aware of this vulnerability in the human psyche.

Do they exploit it for cold hard cash? Of course, they do! But it’s we ourselves who are the enablers. The motivation may be noble enough, connecting with others, carrying a spiritual message, or a myriad of other good reasons for playing the game. However, as in every other aspect of life, we must keep a keen eye on the shadows, because shadows there certainly will be. 

Perfectly imperfect may be as good as it gets!

A fella like me knows plenty about the shadows, God-alone-knows, there have been many times when they have all but swallowed me whole. One of the significant benefits of being immersed in Ignatian mystic practice is it gives you spiritual tools. This tool kit helps us mystic folk to stay fully connected with the living God who is love and compassion. Importantly, these vital tools for the spiritual journey also assist us in pulling back what I call “the cloak of self-deception,” to reveal the shadow nature of the ego and its ongoing disruptive effects in our lives.

There are no perfect people, mystic, spiritual or otherwise. This stark and universal truth is not just the jumping off point for an authentic spiritual life, but one that ought to be held close and always affirmed. We simply do not get to do, or be, the perfection thing!     

In my experience, if we find blessed light, we will also find shadows, and lurking in their darkest corner is the ego’s desire for perfection itself. Far better, my dear comrades, to strive for something much for achievable, and more akin to our human nature, and indeed real deal spirituality itself, namely perfect imperfection. 

There are no perfect people, mystic, spiritual or otherwise.

Without doubt, there is an inherent connection between our more perfect selves and the biblically declared—right to end all rights—that we are all made in the image of God (Imago Die). Yep, that right, we are all innately in our deepest best selves made from funky God stuff. What a deal! And flowing directly from this biblical imperative is an innate dignity status. This innate dignity is something everyone of us must fully respect in the other, every other, without exception. For a wacky mystic like me, this spirituality 101. No matter what your ethnicity, social standing, religious affiliation or non, sexual orientation or multiple manifestation of the same, you, like me, are a created in God’s image.

Imagine a world in which this profound declaration found at very get go of the Bible (Gen 1:26-27), became universally adhered to by all. Things would dare I say – in that happy circumstance – be pretty much, you know, perfect! But perfect it isn’t, nor has it ever been, you don’t need to a genius to realize that.

A humble old Christian mystic once told me: 

The Spirit doesn’t allow us to be perfect, but makes us perfectly unique, so that we can practice perfecting unity through love.   

Perfectly imperfect may be as good as it gets, comrades, but make no mistake, we are all children of the living God and made in the image of the same. In that space, it is our destiny to be drawn out from the shadows of the self-centered ego to practice other-centered love, albeit imperfectly. If we’re in it for “likes,” “loves,” and “follows,” we are stuck in the shadows and that’s a lonesome dark, self-deceived, defective place indeed.