On Perfection and Judgment

Perfection is not the elimination of imperfection. That’s our Western either/or, need-to-control thinking. Perfection, rather, is the ability to incorporate imperfection! There’s no other way to live: You either incorporate imperfection, or you fall into denial. That’s how the Spirit moves in or out of our lives. – Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p. 228, day 237

Imagine how many more people would make art as a regular practice if they felt this way? How many people have judged themselves into abandoning a loved occupation?

This happens because art often becomes about the finished product, not the process. This is process:

Midnight, no waves,
no wind, the empty boat
is flooded with moonlight.
-Dogen

Watch this funny video “Everything’s Amazing, Nobody’s Happy” (it won’t embed) for the results of our judgments on our own creative process.

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Just for fun, a dream of mine: future….

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Thursday, February 26th, 2009, by Sybil and is filed under "creativity, Dogen, Making art, Mysticism, Poetry, Richard Rohr, creativity, Dogen, Mysticism, Poetry, Richard Rohr ". You can Join the conversation, or send a Trackback from your own site.

3 Responses “On Perfection and Judgment”

debraann says:

February 27, 2009 at 5:16 pm

I love the process Sybil. Sometimes I love the process more then the finished project and sometimes it’s the opposite. But years ago before I discovered I was an “artist” with something to express the process kept me going most of my life.

I do agree that a lot of times we do get caught up in the end and the judgement of those pieces.

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brandi says:

March 2, 2009 at 6:45 am

thank you for the quote on imperfection!! OMG-you have totally helped me turn my view of ‘perfection’ around and my artist soul breathes a sigh of relief.

wonderful post!

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Painter of Blue says:

March 3, 2009 at 5:19 am

DebraAnn,

I get your love of process very strongly from you blog! It took me a lot longer to learn that. Early in my life I was all about process, and then for a while I was distracted by product, but I found it deeply unsatisfying…

Brandi,

Thanks for the visit! I love your language, ‘my artists soul breathes a sigh of relief.” That is beautifully put.

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