Perfection - In Rags and Rust?
by Indigo Irwin Kennedy ©Author: Indigo Irwin Kennedy/TheWaveRiders.com (PI1004perfection)

Blinded by the unreal belief that, the only people that can teach us anything of value are the ones that drive fancy cars and wear fancy clothes, we might be driven to mortgage our homes to attend workshops, to "fix" whatever needs fixing. This continuos search can leave us in financial despair.

Consumed by the external glitz and glamour of "the show" we forget about the message. We have convinced ourselves that the only real "success guru" is someone who is clean-cut, attractive and in perfect physical shape? Having been taught to "follow those that are successful to learn how to become successful", we forgot about the other teachers. We forgot to learn from the ones still in the darkness, we forgot about The Yin and the Yang, the up and the down. We have worshipped the "up energy" without valuing the lessons from the bottom of the ride. Great teachers do not always pull up in shiny new cars; sometimes they appear adorned in Rags and Rust.

Some teachers, of spirituality and faith, teach that if you are a truly spiritual person and follow God's rules, then you will be in good health and blessed with great wealth.

From these teachings, it is easy to conclude that if we are NOT currently surrounded by material abundance and perfect health, that we must be doing something wrong. We are not quite as "faithful" or "spiritual" as we should be. These teachings would have you believe that the truly spiritual person, the one that is closest to God, will have clean skin, sparkling eyes, clean clothes, material wealth and wear nothing but the cleanest white shirt and perhaps even be surrounded by a glowing light.

I do not believe that authors and psychologists Dr. Wayne Dyer and Dr. Phil lose credibility because they have receding hairlines. Did they get receding hairlines because they forgot to pray? No. Because Oprah has dealt, on and off, with weight problems, does it mean that Oprah cannot teach us about losing weight? Her fight with weight has taught her a great deal, just as the bankrupt man or women can teach us how to make a business successful and to achieve financial gain.

I believe that, over time, we have accepted some misinterpretations as truth.

For example:

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness" Does not mean that "only the clean" are part of God. I believe it means that "cleanliness" is part of caring for the temple that houses your soul. It is not saying that if you are clean then you are truly spiritual. It is saying that to care for yourself, is to also honor God and the gift given to you.

"You are perfect as you are"
It seems that we have interpreted this saying to mean that we have within us all the ability to become "humanly perfect" and to make our material lives "humanly perfect". I believe that perfection in this sentence is not at all, the "human" interpretation of the word "perfect". How can we understand this sentence if we analyze ourselves in human and material terms? We can only truly understand this sentence when we understand that our struggling is perfect in order for us to grow spiritually. We are perfection even with our humanly perceived "imperfections". We are who we are supposed to be. This does not mean that we cannot improve our lives, and in fact, we continuously make choices that will either keep us in our current lesson or enable us to move on from it.

I do not mean "learn the lesson" in the negative term that your parents taught you with words like, "go to your room until you have learned your lesson". I mean it as a soul journey perhaps chosen for the understanding of pain and sorrow. Our differences are necessary for the lessons that we must experience and the greatest lessons come in our greatest hardships, so how could a person who is struggling not have something to teach us?

"Heal yourself before you try to heal others"
Many people have come to believe that it is necessary for us to have cured all our ailments and mastered all of our life experiences before we should attempt to help or share what we have learned. I believe that the interpretation of this sentence should be "Do not avoid healing your own life lessons by being so focused on everyone else's problems that you forget to work on yourself".

While I believe that we should not push our beliefs onto others and that life decisions need to be made by each individual without too much outside influence, I do believe that we should, when asked for help, offer that assistance that does not interfere with the life of another regardless of whether we ourselves have finished mastering the lesson. Even in the midst of the lesson we have gained insight into it's solution.

Our past and present "great teachers" have all had their own human traits to struggle through and all human beings continue each day to struggle through new lessons. These lessons do not end with abundance and beauty, these lessons exist throughout our entire lives changing in form, as we evolve and learn. No one person is closer to God than another. The person born into "perfection" without struggle may, in fact, be the furthest away from spiritual growth. Being born into perceived "human perfection" may be a period of rest between life lessons.

We have further pushed the notion of "human perceived perfection" onto ourselves in magazine and television believing that "airbrushed perfection" is what we must strive to be. We must have the big houses, the sleek cars and the trendy clothes. We have come to believe that truly great teachers cannot be found in rusty cars and beaten up homes. We have left ourselves vulnerable to deception by being so convinced that beauty, fame and wealth equal spiritual growth and truth.

Often self-proclaimed judges of humanity and human value will spout words, like they should "heal themselves first before healing others". They think,"what do they have to offer they obviously haven't got anything of value". In these thoughts and sentences, they see the human imperfections of the person they are observing. They do not see the lessons this person has learned. In the dismissal of the teacher, they lose the opportunity to gain valuable insights into a world other than their own. These "experts" believe that great teachers are not financially bankrupt, overweight, wrinkled or wearing shabby clothing. They believe that great teachers do not make mistakes.

We all have lessons to learn and while we can learn how to be successful from a successful person, we can also learn how to become successful from a bankrupt one. The man/woman that has struggled to survive and lost all material possessions, can usually describe clearly the pitfalls that landed him/her in bankruptcy.

By adhering to our belief that only externally beautiful people have something to teach us, we set ourselves up to miss a world of valuable lessons like…

• The teachings of love and service from a women like Mother Teresa, a humanitarian who spent most of her days working with poverty. She is recognized throughout the world for her charity towards the poor.
• The extraordinary brilliance of Stephen Hawking, a paralyzed theoretical physicist confined to a wheelchair.
• The insights gained from the experiences of Helen Keller, a deaf blind and mute woman who became a role model for millions of people.
• There are countless insights from legions of great teachers that walk beside us each day.

Our greatest teachers have struggled right along side of us. They too have fallen into addictions and given into fear and darkness…

• Ask any fat person how to become slim and how to avoid getting fat, and they will easily tell you.
• Ask a struggling business person how to run a business and they will fill your mind with helpful tips to avoid the challenging pitfalls.
• Ask the crippled body what it means to be free and there ansers will guide you.
• Ask the poor man/women what it means to be rich and their answers may surprise you.

While in class learning how to train my dog to do sheep herding, from the very beginning, I observed that I was not the best in the class. I felt strongly that I had made every error possible, while others breezed through the lessons. It would have been easy for me to feel hurt and upset, with myself, at my lack of perfection. Instead, I began to see the value in the mistakes and appreciate each error that I made.

The difference was that with each error I learned more, while others breezed through with only surface lessons. As time progressed they had learned a single paragraph, while I had learned a whole book. I was not the best at it …but I did learn the finite details that were never discussed with those that simply acheived the goal.

None of us holds all the answers, but each of us holds a few. Answers come from unexpected places, from the Yin and the Yang and the good and the bad. Let's not close our minds to what may be the greatest gift that we can receive from a stranger - the benefit of his/her experience and mistakes. The next time you think, "he should heal himself before going out to help others" remember: through your sorrow and mistakes, that you too have become the teacher. You hold within you valuable lessons to share. Be open to the resources all around you.
Thanks for listening

Yours in Faith,
Indigo Irwin Kennedy
Beyond the mind, around the heart, fill the soul.