Apotheosis: The Virtue of Perfectionism
by W Chase
Apotheosis: An exalted or glorified example; a model of excellence or perfection of a kind.
It is amazing, to think that we were all at once, little sperms racing towards “the egg”. Certainly, it may be easy to think less of a sperm than of a worm, or any other simple creature. Yet, in light of a perspective, one can see that these creatures possess quite an extraordinary characteristic that many of their developed counterparts [read: humans] sorely lack. What is this characteristic? In a word: Perfectionism. As a sperm, we have only but one single purpose, one single mission, one single goal. That is, to actualize our potential to achieve apotheosis, with uncompromising conviction, focus and effort. There are no distractions, and there is only absolute, perfect focus that drives us all. Without any doubts, insecurities, or irrational philosophies that stagnates our absolute, maximum performance, we act to our fullest capacity to reach the egg which fosters our next stage of apotheosis.
Then along comes the human-organism era of existence, whereby we must strive towards apotheosis within our nature, i.e. within our identity. However, in this era of our existence, we are equipped with a conceptual faculty in combination with a volitional faculty. We must now think, in order to act in accordance with reality. We must now volitionally choose our own purpose, mission and goals, using our conceptual and rational faculty, in reference to reality. Along with the package of a conceptual faculty and volition, comes the challenge of learning what is good [pro-life] and what is evil [anti-life] to the human organism. During beginning stages of discovering the difference between the two, one’s own sensory perception is the barometer of one’s own success in interacting with reality. More specifically, the pleasure/pain perception of one’s own body is the fundamental facilitator in gaining knowledge of what is good and what is evil.
During later stages, in higher developments of one’s cognitive faculty and knowledge of reality, one is able to act with greater foresight in reality. One is then no longer a creature of the immediate-moment, but a rational, human organism with a volitional destination in the future and with a purpose in the present set of reality. Along with greater knowledge of good and evil, one is able to avoid the latter while engaging with the former. The human organism who continues in the same focused mode of existence as once embodied by the sperm, carries on in one’s day-to-day activities with absolute, unwavering commitment to reality - including one’s own identity. Such a human lives not in "perfection", but in perfectionism. Perfectionism is directly related to one’s own conscientiousness, not in the quantitative measurement of errors or lack thereof. The rational human makes many honest errors. Like the sperm that we all once were, to be fully conscientious, focused and intent one achieving only the good, to achieve only the productive, to carry out only the pro-life actions that actualize the apotheosis of our own human nature - with the same uncompromising absolutism of reality - is perfectionism.
Perfectionism means living, and acting at 100% all the time – not merely here and there, wherever or whenever one feels like it. Perfectionism is not impractical – to the contrary. Striving towards perfection is the only practical guide to action – anything less is impractical and therefore, evil; read: anti-life. Let us see why, using a simple example, supposing you are about to take a test in any given class.
As I continue along with this example, I advise you draw real-life parallels to this situation, as you read.
If you aim not for 100%, but rather 70% or 80%, you must make the difficult decision of evaluating how much studying is sufficient for you to achieve your goal. However, if you aim for perfectionism, for 100%, you know that your goal is to master all possible topics. Hence it becomes clear that it is easier to focus on the goal of obtaining 100% than it is to focus on achieving a lower average. With such a clear goal, it becomes easier to establish a system for implementing it. To strive for 100% on a test requires that you not allow yourself to have any weaknesses among the potential test topics. Out of laziness, carelessness, or misjudgment, you may feel it is acceptable to be weak on one or two of the possible topics, so long as you think you have mastered most of them. (This philosophy [i.e., "it's okay to be a little evil"] is incredibly dangerous and detrimental to one's life, yet it is alarmingly common amongst many today.)
This strategy is not likely to work, because even if you allow yourself to be weak on only one topic, you are likely to worry during the test about that topic appearing. While approaching any given problem, you may very well become distracted [read: less focused] by the possibility that knowledge of the topic which you evaded, of the area which you volitionally chose to be weak in, will be tested somewhere in the problem. In this way, you run the risk of losing all confidence that you can succeed on the test. This loss of confidence can result in a nervousness that can make you unable to recall much of the knowledge that you do have. Many often label this lack of recall of knowledge during a test a “mental block”. Whatever the label, one thing is for certain – one will lose pride, which becomes replaced by humility, read: self-hatred. Anti-life, indeed.
The fundamental premises and principles in the above example are evident in countless situations you have seen and will see, that vary and differ greatly in content. However different and colorful the content is, the context still remains the same, as does the principle that perfectionism is only practical, and anything less is impractical; immoral.
And nor is perfectionism a restraint one one’s life. Those who dissent against the idea of perfectionism on such grounds, are the ones who have either been victimized by the irrational, impractical definition of perfection, often touted and revered by self-contradicting mystics as the ‘divine’, or are still the ones who blindly espouse such anti-life, anti-earth, anti-human values. This goes back to the clarification that perfectionism is not measured in the lack of errors. Perfectionism is contingent upon one’s focus and one’s conscientiousness. As such, it is clear that perfectionism permits the human organism to enjoy life on a wider scale. Human nature is such that man cannot achieve genuine happiness unless he or she is acting to actualize their potential; the apotheosis of their own identity. Every single human who escapes this metaphysical fact of their own identity, will be subject to metaphysical justice: a deeply-seated unhappiness, sentenced by the Law of Identity - and contrary to any superficial protests or claims otherwise, there is no escape from this fact of reality.
In truth, it is easily arguable [if not clearly evident] that the greatest fundamental root of unhappiness, is the evasion of one's own nature; of one's own potential. Many people, through being subjected to anti-life philosophies, have become accustomed to stagnation and spend their years in embitterment, or in self-delusional, volatile bubbles of mystical fantasy. Since much like our physical posture, we must learn the proper, upright philosophy that is compatible with objective reality, most of us were not given such gems on a silver platter right from birth. Just as with learning what a correct posture is, and learning what is required to develop such a posture and what is required to maintain it, one must do the same for their rational faculty. As a result of many irrational, subjectivist and evil philosophies, ethics and values, many humans are - figuratively and literally - walking with drooped, sagging and impractical postures. And how one carries them is indeed reflective of one's own identity; of one's own mind; of one’s own standards of living; of one’s own quality of life.
As evidenced by the case-example above, perfectionism demands explicit, objective standards and specifications by which all action is initiated and measured.
Perhaps it is clear now, that there is a fundamental relationship between perfection and quality.
What gives rise to quality [or lack thereof, for that matter]? Standards and specifications. And what does perfectionism require? It requires that standards and specifications are met to their fullest extent that is possible, limited only by one’s own finitude [which is a variant, not a constant]. Perfectionism and quality are inextricably interrelated. At any time you find yourself disagreeing with the quality of something, simply remember: quality is directly contingent upon excellent standards and specifications. Do you lack quality in your life, or need to improve it in a certain aspect? Check your standards. It is likely you are aiming below perfectionism – i.e. operating on impractical premises.
Is perfectionism an easy task? Yes and no. Yes, because in the grand scheme of things, it is easier, as opposed to living a sub-human level, with no focus, no quality, submersed in ‘humility-metaphysics’ and evasion of one’s own nature. No, because it requires [often unpleasant] effort; it is inescapable that one will struggle in such an endeavor. Perfectionism is a demanding mode of existence - it requires that one operates at their fullest capacity within an explicitly defined set of criterion, it requires that one uses their mind to the fullest, read: it requires that one lives at their fullest. Certainly, in some moments this may seem easy, but in many other moments, it is certainly not.Yet, as the old saying goes: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress”. The rational human accepts this struggle and unpleasant effort on principle. After all, such pain and hardships are negligible when weighed against the suffering caused world-wide due to irrationality. On a similar note, a quote which comes to mind is worth reciting: “Good habits are hard to make, but easier to live with. Bad habits are easy to make, but harder to live with.” – Author unknown.
Any time you find yourself in doubt of the moral place that the virtue of perfectionism has in your life, remember: you would not be here if it were not for your unwavering, absolute perfectionism that enabled you to reach the proverbial egg. You would not be here to live life, let alone live it to the fullest.
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