Hi Dr. Gorlin: This post is the 1st of yours I've read -- so I'm brand new to your world. Great article. I appreciate the depth of considerations you've brought to bear -- an certainly share your overall assessment. I would like to suggest however, that your trying to make the wrong word (perfection) right. It's trying to put the proverbial round peg into a square hole. Perfection is an abstraction, an ideal or concept. It belongs to the realm of Plato's dualistic mind-body divorce. As humans, we are embodied creatures living in a physical world. Perfection cannot be embodied. Looked at closely enough, or from enough different vantage points, nothing achieves perfection. Maslow had it right -- to be seeking our best selves. I think you have it right when you explain it as "seeking excellence". That's directional and achievable. It speaks to a way of being/living, it's not an out-of-body, unattainable, abstract, holy grail.
The difficulty here seems to be: aiming toward “the right” perfection.
We are often deceived into pursuing local maximums, as that’s where most of the advice, frameworks, guides, etc. sit. Others might be motivated for us to pursue one locality.
So we perfect that thing, while making the classic “losing the forest for the trees” mistake. E.g. economic flourishing over human flourishing.
We need a broader, multi-dimensional concept of human flourishing that we are constantly pursuing, balancing, and zigging-and-zagging to get to.
Brilliant!
Hi Dr. Gorlin: This post is the 1st of yours I've read -- so I'm brand new to your world. Great article. I appreciate the depth of considerations you've brought to bear -- an certainly share your overall assessment. I would like to suggest however, that your trying to make the wrong word (perfection) right. It's trying to put the proverbial round peg into a square hole. Perfection is an abstraction, an ideal or concept. It belongs to the realm of Plato's dualistic mind-body divorce. As humans, we are embodied creatures living in a physical world. Perfection cannot be embodied. Looked at closely enough, or from enough different vantage points, nothing achieves perfection. Maslow had it right -- to be seeking our best selves. I think you have it right when you explain it as "seeking excellence". That's directional and achievable. It speaks to a way of being/living, it's not an out-of-body, unattainable, abstract, holy grail.
The difficulty here seems to be: aiming toward “the right” perfection.
We are often deceived into pursuing local maximums, as that’s where most of the advice, frameworks, guides, etc. sit. Others might be motivated for us to pursue one locality.
So we perfect that thing, while making the classic “losing the forest for the trees” mistake. E.g. economic flourishing over human flourishing.
We need a broader, multi-dimensional concept of human flourishing that we are constantly pursuing, balancing, and zigging-and-zagging to get to.