The cult of perfection

Human is the only race capable of abstract thinking, and also the only species that is therefore constantly longing for perfection. Which means they’re looking for meaning in everything. Materialism does not work precisely because we are human beings. Man not only lives on bread, which means that man has not only physical needs, but also intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual needs. But what is this unquenchable human desire for perfection? And how can the same natural, moreover crucial human desire lead to flourishing and also destruction? Let’s find out!

It’s an utopian method either. Many philosophers had intellectual dilemma with beyond the question of ethics, the idea of creating a perfect society. I stress that there is no problem with idea of improving the society in which we live, the problem begins with the unrealistic assumption that human would be capable to create a perfect society at all.

I have thought a lot about why there is an increase in the number of victims of totalitarian ideologies in terms of twentieth-century horrors, moving from West to East, starting with the Anglo-Saxon world, where there was no totalitarian ideology in power all the way to China, where the number of victims exceeded seventy million. What is the reason of this? Perhaps because the world is still an intellectual desert outside of Anglo-Saxon culture, where there are no thinkers independent of power or other economic-political interest groups? Thus, distrust of power and critical thinking were not built into these cultures? That may not be the case, it is just an assumption. Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence has a very interesting tradition and character, unlike others it’s not ideologically based, therefore not utopian. According to this perception, there is no chance that we humans will ever approach a perfect society that has never been in history and we have no reason to assume that it will ever be. Of course, this also means that power cannot be reformed, so we must strive to mitigate the consequences of imperfect governance. And with as many brakes as possible, we are obstructing our moving swiftly towards the inevitable collapse that is happening because it has always happened so far. Anti-utopia is not dystopia, but abhorrence of all forms of fanaticism. The dystopia is only a consequence of failing. Dystopia is the realized utopia.

Outside of the Anglo-Saxon culture, the legislation of almost all political systems on the Eurasian supercontinent is utopian, ie ideologically based, moving to East more and more. According to this perception only the right leaders should rise to power with right ideology, they must be endowed with as much power as possible, and they lead the nation to a perfect utopian society. On the continent, nation-states and democracies follow the same discretionary view as communist regimes in the past. That is, everything is possible in theory, nothing in practice. The problem is that ideologies do not work in practice, and no one can give me an example that any political ideology has lived up to its promise.

Power needs them because it justifies their power. Thought control over society and forced social conformity help the 0.5% oligarchical ruling elite of society to rule over the remaining 99.5% of society. In other words the rulers pay with illusion for exploitation, with an unattainable utopia. The political demagogues are the dealers of this drug. It’s just that simple. But why do ordinary citizens need ideologies? Well, because for an average intelligence, the world is too complex, abstract, and incomprehensible, where the information available is endless. You have to simplify and schematize to make it swallowable. The other reason is that people are never satisfied with they have, they always want more, which is completely normal because it takes the world forward. The problem starts when they are unwilling to work for it, but expect others to bring them the canaan, that is, they choose the easy path over the right one. But the easy path in most cases is the pathway of losers, and leads to mediocrity, and stagnation. Who is to blame for living unfulfilling life? Of course those who chose the right way over an easy one, and took responsibility. This is the mentality of masses. This why they need ideologies. This is why the success is charged, and failure is rewarded.

Ideologies attract conspiracy theories, because they need to explain why the desired utopia is running late. Ideologies are never wrong, and for which the perfect world has not yet come, the saboteurs are responsible. The enemies of the people have been making vile plans at secret gatherings for centuries against this great nation destined for a better fortune. Conspiracy theories cannot be proven, but what is the most dangerous, they don’t have to be. It is enough to claim that they exist and are true, and the masses will believe them, because it’s easier blaming others than taking responsibility. And they always explain the satanic temptation that power can indeed be reformed, and the society, moreover the entire world can be made perfect with practicing absolute power, and with the help of appropriate ideologies. The truth, however, is that society is more imperfect and the consequences are more tragic the greater the belief in omnipotent governance. A quarter of a billion innocent people have been massacred over the past hundred years in peacetime by the governments of the earth, chasing a mirage but the expected utopia has never come.

The ideologies are opiates of intellectuals, targeting all human weaknesses from vanity to cowardice, which are well nourished by them. They’re drugs, offering paradise and delivering hell. Ideologies hack ability for morality and abstract thoughts, and fill the created void with false morality and alternative truths, which depend only on their whim.

It must be accepted that the world is an imperfect place and neither the rulers nor the masses change. But that is no reason for us not to change. If you really want to change the world, let’s start it with changing yourself. How can it be done? With defeating our egocentric nature, and adapting real morality and wisdom, but before anything picking responsibility, jumping into unknown from comfort zone, and sacrificing our present self for our future one. But the most important, STOP BLAMING OTHERS!!! I do not claim that you can never be a victim in certain situations, but if you play a victim of successful people I will play the devil’s advocate.

Taking responsibility and living fulfilling life are the most effective weapon against ideologies and demagogues, who strive to provoke a victimhood mentality. If you argue against ideology, you argue against egocentrism and vanity. If you side with philosophy, you argue for truth. The vanity doesn’t tolerate arguments. The egocentrism doesn’t care about truth. The truth is beneficial for them as long as it justifies them, but beyond it’s inconvenient for them. This is why all ideologies are based on half-truths, or portioned truths. But the truth can’t be portioned, can’t be privatized, or nationalized, can’t be owned, ruled, rationed, and controlled. The truth belongs to everyone, serves everyone equally. If something is based on half-truths only, the whole system becomes absolutely corrupt from bottom to top. And this corruption starts at level of ordinary man. I learnt this lesson. If my worldview contradicts to reality someway, and I realize it, I simply let that view collapse, and then build a new one, a better one as close to truth as possible. Because I know that I deserve better. The egocentrism always tries to destroy the portion of truth that contradicts to it, and tries to hold us back. Therefore the nature of ideologies are static, they do not tolerate any change inside their boundaries, but our learning capacity is dynamic. We deserve better. We were created to challenge, not to stagnate. The card castle of egocentrism requires protection inside of totalitarian bubble against even the weakest breeze. Why? Because it fears of truth. The truth doesn’t require to be protected by bubble even against the strongest storm. And if you let your delusions collapse as many times as possible, you’ll create an unbeatable structure on base of truth, and you’ll never get outsmarted in any debate. This is the secret of being unstoppable. I, for example, had thrown the result of my one-year hard work in the trash when another piece of the puzzle fell into place and my old knowledge became obsolete. It wasn’t pleasant, but I didn’t regret. Building the new structure took time and energy which is a necessary part of self improvement.

But I warn you. Truth is a double-edged sword that cuts. Never use it to hurt others, but to serve others, and only when they ask for. If the ability is given you to catch the truth the responsibility is also given with it. In other words, if you are philosopher, you are a moralist as well. The philosophy and ultimate morality are the both sides of the same coin. The philosophy word means thinking and feeling. And since the ideologies hack this ability of striving perfection, and thinking abstract and moral way for self-serving reasons, they are all anti-philosophical and amoral altogether.

The truth alone is not enough, the people need tangible alternative, but I’m afraid there’s no such alternative they carve for. The world is an imperfect place, the politics as the nature of power cannot be reformed, the system cannot be made less corruptible. Only one alternative left behind, which most people don’t want to hear, the personal responibility. You can deal either with which is out of your control (politics) or which is under your control (self improvement). Making something useful what you’ll be proud of is essential. And do not fall in trap of egocentrism and vanity. Do not play victim. Don’t let the dealers of ideologies trap you. Do not let the dogmatism prevail. Never allow yourself to be corrupted and never betray your own sincere nature. Nothing should stop you from passionately seeking the truth. Because you deserve better. And I’m sure, you know this.

What it would be like to live in a true democracy where everyone has a voice, where corruption and abuse of power are unknown. And where the community could not make a decision without the consent of every single member. As we all know, a state cannot be based on this principle, at least not what people have created. But surprisingly, it is precisely this social model that works for bees, which, contrary to popular belief, is not a dictatorship. Lev Tolstoy the Russian writer saw the prototype of perfect society in bee society. Any individual in the bee society can leave with impunity and free, even with many of them, and establish a new hive. There is no coercion here, corrupting and manipulating others. There is no selfishness and exploitation. In the case of bees, these are unknown. Everything they do is for the survival of the species and the hive without sacrificing the interest of any individual. How can this be, when they are incapable of abstract thoughts, have no moral value judgment? They create a utopian society without longing for it. It’s simple. Because they are incapable of sin either. The fact that people have morality alone is because they have free will alone. Therefore, they are capable of sin alone. And the source of most sins is the vanity, from which all trouble comes: narcissism, megalomania, desire for power. None of these are qualities that would move humanity forward and make the world a better place. Each is vastly selfish, self-serving, narrow-minded, individualistic trait. Ideologies are needed to disguise this. And that is why human cannot handle with power. That is why any pursuit of social perfection, coordinated centrally, can only lead to the greatest hell on earth that could exist.

Fortunately, people are not only capable of sin, but the pursuit of perfection can be less destructive, sinner or vain, moreover it can be explicitly improving. This is the only way of human salvation, the spiritual method. If we approach this question exclusively materialistically, then this endeavor is only a neurosis in Freudian terms, nothing more. But our subconscious can’t be tricked. The materialism makes you nihilistic, bitter, and cynical. It’s not a joke man. Without a spiritual compass, there is no purpose in life. What goals can a materialist mind have in life beyond satisfaction biological needs and power addiction? Materialistic goals create unfulfilling life. Everything that’s materia turns into dust, including our own bodies. The question is whether our body has a mind or our mind has a body. We live our lives according either to body or soul. You can have either materialistic or spiritual purposes. There’s no middle or third way around. Imagine being able to separate a soul from our body and from all the sins that come from living according to the body. We get the nobler part of our self and all that is left behind of it is pure vanity, which loses its meaning anyway. From this perspective, what matters in life, for example, looking back from our deathbed? What have we really possessed in our lives? We lose our bodies and everything we have accumulated in our lives, money, status, power. After a generation or two, no one will remember us. It will be as if we had never been among the living. If we own something for a moment, do we own it at all? Because the life is a moment.

There is something in life that we actually possess, our dignity. And this is what we can really lose, nothing else. Everything we have done for vanity and ego is suddenly becomes meaningless, and most people only realize it when it’s too late, in the last day of their lives. Then they realize that they haven’t actually lived a single day of their lives. Because everyone is going to die, but not everyone lives. Everything that binds us to this shadow world is an illusion merely because human is a spiritual being, much more than material. We must be spiritual being to seek meaning in virtually everything. The material has no meaning alone.

The question, then, is how do we walk this world as long as we exist in a biological-physical sense, as agents of transcendentality, surrounded by slag representing our bodies, or as the agents of matrix, and shadow world, living for your vanity, perishable body, the wall of prison. This is a very ancient moral issue. The seers are seers because they are living according to their souls, considering their bodies as tools which are not owned by them in reality, because we are all going to die. Only they can tell of themselves that they are actually alive. Only they have dignity. As we can own anything in life, including our bodies, but except our dignity is merely illusion. We leave everything here to the dogs and the worms.

As I began to explore my subconscious and get to know the wider world, I began to look at my own flesh and blood body with expressed disgust. I can see today that this was a big mistake. To live our lives for a purpose that is unimaginable without spirituality also means that as we cannot look at our bodies with admiration, we cannot look at it with disgust either. In fact, we cannot look at our bodies as if they were actually ours. Because if we look at it that way, we will be its slaves. It is the temptation of the shadow world that diverts us from the path of eternal cognition. And here is the eternal truth of the Judeo-Christian tradition that we are all sinners. Which one of us who can claim that he or she never allowed the vanity prevail in entire life? There is no such person. The nature of sin lies in letting to be tempted by honey sweet seduction of shadow world, which targets our vanity, egocentrism, and materialistic inclination. And there’s no human being who would be capable to resist all the time, except Jesus. We are all equal in this, including the seers. They just want to get better. If we don’t consider our bodies as service car, which has only one purpose, carrying our soul for this brief existence, we inevitably see it as subject of admiration, attractiveness, and jealousy, an idol. These are all things that divert us from time to time from the path of eternal cognition and force us to waste our lives with banality, and pointless pugnacity.

We only have one chance. Life does not give a second chance. Even though I never wanted to rule over anyone, and I never found joy in anyone, I still feel as guilty as if I haven’t done anything else in my entire life. For me, the goal of life is to strive for complete freedom, the best way to do it is, at least for me, to live only for intellectual passions, the passion of creation, and cognition, surrounding myself with those who want the best for me, and I want to best for them. According to Plato, the sphere is the most perfect geometric shape from the largest celestial bodies to the smallest subatomic particles, that is, anything that is not a sphere can only be imperfect. Imagine that the nobler part of our soul is spherical in shape as imagined by the Greco-Christian philosopher of the third century, Origen. If you have it done, compare it to the person you consider the most aesthetically appealing, and whom you attracted most physically. Even the most beautiful person will seem pathetically imperfect and hopelessly primitive compared to the perfection of the sphere, which represents the soul. Honestly, where is our pathetic two-sided symmetry compared to the symmetry of the sphere? I hope you already see the difference between real perfection and vanity.

Now let’s not look differently at our fellow human beings, just as a sphere, ignoring their physical appearance. Let’s look only at their soul, traits and character, not to let the purity of our minds be disturbed by the slag that surrounds it, which is the body and physical appearance. And now imagine all intellectual connections as electron bonds between nuclei. The beauty about it all is that the spheres, if they are perfect, are looking same. Why is this important? Because the beautiness of our transcendental being does not bragging with external differences. The eternal human need for perfection is the same in everyone. A perfect geometric shape is no different from another, there is nothing more perfect than it. There are no degrees of perfection. And though, as human beings, we are all imperfect, not only physically or spiritually, because the soul have not only noble part, but our propensity for perfection is perfect. Perhaps there is a dimension of being where appearance doesn’t matter, just intellectual, emotional and spiritual content. If there is life after death, I imagine it that way. The noble part of our soul belongs to this world, while sin belongs to the shadow world. If we understand this we are no longer looking for perfection in the shadow world. It’s just a utopia. In that upper world, sin does not exist because there is no reason to exist. There is no slag from which it can grow.

How to interpret materially is that all that we are is based on the experience of the past, that does not exist, and that we do everything we do for the future, which also does not exist. If we are striving for spiritual perfection, or comparing the nobler part of our soul to the perfection of a sphere, why would it be more meaningless than kissing Chinese-made polyester pieces that represent a homeland that also only exists in imagination? One is a spiritual desire for perfection while the other is a materialist. It is impossible to abstract from deeper abstractions and look at the world solely on a materialistic, scientific basis even in materialistic terms. Since even a human language and writing itself are a storehouse of abstractions. In fact, there is no materialist mind, only one who seeks false perfection. This realization makes anyone idealistic but not at naive way, because this is the realistic way either. Dystopia is a negative utopia, or achieved utopia, but not anti-utopia. The anti-utopia is a truth, as the realization is anti-idealism from a different approach. The moral lesson here is to never choose the easy path just because it’s easy, but always choose the right one. Because only the right path leads you to somewhere.