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The Beauty of Imperfection ~ Metta Blast 9

May 10, 2008

susan_preston_roseLeaf2.jpg

Yummy Rose~ Canon 30d

I love capturing nature's flaws in a way that might inspire a few to reconsider their relationship with beauty and imperfection. What is beauty? What does it mean to be perfect or imperfect? What exactly constitutes a "flaw"? Can you tolerate them in others? Most importantly, can you tolerate them in yourself? How do you treat yourself when you fail? Do you cut yourself down and throw yourself in the trash the moment one of your leaves gets chewed on, or can you feel an appropriate amount of disappointment, learn the lesson, and choose to focus on the multitude of fabulous qualities you possess that far outweigh any mistakes you've made?

What is perfection? Where can one find it?

How we view the world is a reflection of how we view ourselves. Did you know that? So, what does this mean if, upon finding a flaw on a flower (or a person) you push it away in search of another who is "better"? Just like flowers, people are fragile, beautiful, vulnerable, subject to decay, trauma and wilting. And although most of us last much longer than a delicate flower, we would do well to pay attention to how we consider them, respond to them, relate to and judge them. Can you train your heart to truly see a flower or a person, whether vibrantly in bloom or sadly wilting? Can you find the inherent beauty in all things? Do you realize disowning your own inner beauty will blind you to finding it in everything around you? I assure you, beauty is everywhere! Bursting through your curtains, hiding around every corner, and patiently waiting to be discovered in every chamber of your heart, in every nook and cranny of your being, and in all beings.

The Buddha once said, "When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky!" But wait... I forgot... you're too busy focusing on that little smudge on your sweater, the few extra pounds, that irritating habit of your boyfriend's, and the hole in the leaf that has rendered a formerly perfect rose completely unacceptable. Buddha wouldn't have felt the miracle of breath, the gift of seeing, or the abundant surplus of things to be grateful for either if he thought the way we do.

There are countless qualities you possess which far outweigh the ego's unending search for satisfaction – "imperfection" steals our attention away from what should be a given, solid state of appreciation and happiness.

Let me put it another way...

Consider the lilies of the field, they neither spin nor toil, they neither whine nor complain, nor make impossible requests of the sun, stars and moon. They do not wish for what they do not have, they do not compare themselves to their neighbors. They do not boast of their beauty, but they do not hide it either, they simply are what they are. They simply bloom where they are planted.

People have a hard time with this concept. We're conditioned to find the flaws, scanning the landscape for threatening beasts. Our Neanderthal ancestors had little time to commune with the lilies, if they had, they would have met their demise as a saber-toothed tiger's Blue Plate Special. So what's a little 21st century one in a billion speck on a globally warming planet supposed to do, you might ask? Recondition your mind. Remember your beauty. Educate your eyes, and your heart, and your mind to seek it, uncover, excavate and find it! The ego-based myth of physical perfection has mangled the insides of so many of us, we're in the midst of an epidemic. Paul Gauguin once said, "One eye sees, and the other feels." We must feel our way into beauty, which is a skill the ego alone can not grasp. Feeling one's way into the endless well of perfection is the Soul's work. Call it what you wish – Holy Spirit, Buddha Nature, Higher Mind, True Self, your inner sacred presence, the witness within – that which is THAT – the inner place that is complete and whole and without blemish, untouched by birth or death and continually flowers from within you – let this be the lens, the torch, the keyhole, the sixth sense through which you will find the happiness which so often escapes you.

So, Alice! Fall into to a deeper world. Step into your inner witness' looking glass. Find a flaw. Seek out a blemish. Shrink your small self down, down, down, and step smack dab in the middle of your life's so-called "imperfection". Let go of your limited vision of the world and give way to the intimate beauty of your Soul's embrace. When that miracle of belonging to yourself occurs, the world and its imperfections will melt away and your Big Blue Sky will be filled with a belly-full of laughter.


Photograph ~ May 5th, late afternoon on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery
in Washington, DC.

Posted by susan at May 10, 2008 05:49 PM

Comments

VEry good points, very good essay.

I stumble upon some of my childhood indoctrinations when I realize that I must have somehow been conditioned to want things to be perfect. Somehow this was conveyed to me by the "double checking" that my mother did when I made something, wrote something, etc. Somewhere along the line, I realized that my mother's perfectionism included only certain parts of her life. The things that she couldn't perfect, couldn't control, were ignored. She couldn't apologize for something that she couldn't acknowledge.

I found it a delicate balancing act to want my kids to do their best without expecting perfection. I find that I'm often judgmental like my mother, black and white, good and bad, but as you show, there is joy and beauty in the in between, where we all are anyway.

Looking at the minute, we mess the big picture anyway. Thanks for making me think this evening.

Posted by: LoieJ at May 10, 2008 06:22 PM

What a soul felt introduction to finding a way to transformation. Lovely, Susan. You have the soul of a teacher.

Posted by: janet at May 10, 2008 09:29 PM

I never approach a seemingly surly person (in my case, patient) with anything other than the attitude that they are wounded by life and putting up their guard. It's amazing to me how if you can project kindness and meet people where they are, warts and all, the facade drops and their humanness shines through. We all just want to feel validated and heard. No judged, just seen and accepted. Beautiful post Susan.

Posted by: jayne at May 11, 2008 08:20 AM

I kind of like the holes, they let you see through things.
We're all hole-y.
Only God is Wholly Holy, and oh, to be like Him!

Till we are, welcome the chance to look "through" instead of "at".

Posted by: MMM at May 12, 2008 08:07 PM

MMM,

I completely agree, seeing through the surface layers to the holy beauty beneath is where it's at.

thanks for stopping by.

Posted by: susan at May 12, 2008 08:28 PM

Wonderful photograph and beautiful post. The flaws and holes are only part of the beauty, scars don't take that away they enhance it.. thanks for sharing.

Posted by: Stacey Huston at May 13, 2008 05:36 PM