11/15/14

At work the other day, I was sitting and thinking about how people often want to see their own ideal of perfection in others, especially those who live a 'religious' life. They look at you and expect you to think and act a certain way; and if you don't, it upsets them. But I think that people often forget an important aspect of spirituality, which is the recognition of imperfection. In striving for holiness, we must also recognize imperfection in ourselves, which requires humility, as well as in others, which requires wisdom.

From the Buddhist perspective, I think this is reflected in the idea of the practice being "a gradual training, a gradual doing, a gradual practice in respect of this dhamma and discipline" (MN 107). Until we fully awaken, our actions are going to be coloured by greed, aversion, and delusion to some degree. And from the Christian standpoint, I think this is reflected in the Eucharist, which is ultimately a sacrament of reconciliation, reconciling us with both God/Dhamma and one another.

I may be wrong about this, of course, since I'm rather new to all of this; but to me, the act of communion is all about recognizing our imperfections and realizing that even in our imperfect state, we are one with God and each other. That unity may be obscured; but even in spite of our flaws and our ignorance and our weaknesses, we are all welcomed to the kingdom of heaven. Not in the sense of some mystical place in death, but right here, right now. We are God's building, no matter how dilapidated our 'temple' may be.

That's not to say this sort of recognition is easy to achieve, let alone sustain. We tend to create our own world of ideals and perceptions that takes time to deconstruct; and in that world, we have the habit of justifying our shortcomings and condemning those of others, sometimes quite unconsciously. That's what I think makes the rite of reconciliation so important, because it's constantly trying to remind us of our own imperfections as much as it is the potential for perfection and spiritual union that lies within.