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Perfect Imperfection

Perfectionism has been called the hidden epidemic of the 21st century, particularly affecting the younger generation in societies that have embraced the culture of competitiveness fostered by a free economy. In their thirties, they form the largest workforce, and are re-defining the work place. While they claim competitiveness is in their DNA, they are also called the “anxious generation” and even the “burnout generation”, who set themselves impossible standards. Their driving force is the desire for perfection, validation from peers, and the inevitable fear of failure.  

This intense need for perfection is often shadowed by what has been called the Imposter Phenomenon –  a belief that the success of a person was the result of luck rather than a recognition of their abilities and the fear that they will be discovered to be not as capable as people assume them to be. They have an inability to internalize success.

First observed in women in high positions at work or in academia, it came to include minorities and more recent studies show that as many men also experience the anxiety of the imposter phenomenon.

An obsession with perfection seems a far cry in Pakistani society, where the concerns of the younger generation, according to a 2017 World Economic Survey, are lack of economic opportunity, unemployment, poverty, inequality and the lack of education.  However, the imposter phenomenon may be seen in the pressure to fulfill socially defined roles – the perfect wife, the perfect husband, the ideal son or daughter, where the same fear of falling short of high expectations causes much anxiety, fear of disappointment and unhappiness.

The irony is that no one has been able to define perfection which remains an elusive, ever-changing idea.  Originating in the Latin ‘perfectio’ and the Greek ‘teleos’  which simply mean completing something, the idea  of perfection as flawless excellence evolved in the 14 C Europe, a fanciful leap from Aristotle’s  definition of perfection as a state where nothing can be added and nothing taken away.

Plato in his Theory of Forms was very clear that perfection was an abstract ideal unachievable in the material world. All objects are only shadows of their ideal forms. Islamic philosophy refers to the invisible or abstract ( Al-Ghayb) and the visible ( Al- Shahadah) that exists in the  material world. The Farsh or earthly manifestation is a mere reflection of the Arsh or Divine.

Devotional Islamic art which is essentially Al Shahadah or a witness of Allah’s creation, avoids the implied arrogance of creating perfection by leaving deliberate flaws in, for example, carpet patterns or subtle incorrect angles in the geometric patterns of architecture. Rumi warns “There is no worse malady in your soul . . . than the conceit of perfection.”

Stephen Hawking says perfection is static and unchangeable. Evolution in nature takes place because of mutations or imperfections. “Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist…The universe doesn't allow perfection.”

The Arts have always understood that the true stories of life are revealed in imperfections -   a gnarled tree, a wounded soldier, a face lined with sorrow. The Japanese practice of Wabi Sabi incorporates deliberate imperfections, asymmetry, roughness, cracks, honouring the transience of nature.

The artist may dispense with refined skills to convey an emotion. Van Gogh’s painting, Starry Night, depicts the vastness of nature always in motion, Arnold Schoenberg's atonal music expresses the disturbing uncertainty of his times, Anselm Kiefer’s crusted grey canvases “bear the burden of history” and Reshma’s gravelly voice conveys sorrowful longing.

Perfection is the lodestone, the magnet that guides us, a reference point that keeps our imbalance in balance, creating Perfect Imperfection. As Leonard Cohen says "There's a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in."

 

 

Durriya Kazi

January 28, 2023

Karachi

 

durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

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