We worship perfection because we can't have it; if we had it, we would reject it. Perfection is inhuman, because humanity is imperfect.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on humanity's unattainable pursuit of perfection and the acceptance of our inherent imperfections.
Fernando Pessoa suggests that our admiration for perfection stems from its unattainability. If perfection were achievable, it would lose its allure and might even be rejected, as it does not align with our human nature, which is inherently flawed and imperfect. This highlights the value of embracing our imperfections as a crucial aspect of being human.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about embracing our flaws during a personal development workshop.
I have at this moment so many fundamental thoughts, so many truly metaphysical things to say, that I suddenly get tired and decide not to write any more, not to think any more, but to allow the fever of speaking to make me sleepy, and with my eyes closed, like a cat, I play with everything I could have said.
It's been months since I last wrote. I've lived in a state of mental slumber, leading the life of someone else. I've felt, very often, a vicarious happiness. I haven't existed. I've been someone else. I've lived without thinking.
We all have two lives: The true, the one we dreamed of in childhood And go on dreaming of as adults in a substratum of mist; the false, the one we love when we live with others, the practical, the useful, the one we end up by being put in a coffin.
I'm a man for whom the outside world is an inner Reality.
My dreams are a stupid refuge, like an umbrella against a thunderbolt.
The chill of what I won't feel gnaws at my present heart.
Everything in life is a metaphor.
But once in a while the odd thing happens _x000D_ Once in a while the dream comes true _x000D_ And the whole pattern of life is altered _x000D_ Once in a while, the moon turns blue
But who can remember pain, once itβs over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.
I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.
For our purposes as human beings, the mind is the center of everything.
Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.