That’s How the Light Gets In

As is often the case, one of the Daily Meditations from Richard Rohr gave me something to reflect on.  This one reminded me of the challenges that we are given and give ourselves to be perfect.  This apparent decree by Jesus to be perfect is something that needs to be reframed or understood differently. 

Divine perfection is precisely the ability to include what seems like imperfection. Indigenous religions largely understand this, as do the Scriptures (see Psalms 98, 104, 148, or Daniel 3:57–82 [1]). In Job 12:7–10, and most of Job 38–39, YHWH praises strange animals and elements for their inherently available wisdom—the “pent up sea,” the “wild ass,” the “ostrich’s wing”—reminding humans that we’re part of a much greater ecosystem, which offers lessons in all directions.   Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations April 30, 2025

Years ago, I discovered a small book, or I should say it found me.  It was entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation of The Lord’s Prayer and other saying of Jesus from Aramaic sources.  One of the passages that the book addressed was from the Gospel of Matthew (5: 48).  This is traditionally translated as ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’.  However, the translation by this author is, ‘Be all-embracing, as you heavenly Father is all-embracing.” 

This passage and similar ones direct Christians to seek perfection and the understanding of God, as all good.  I could not reconcile them with my understanding of humanity as creatures of God, created in the image of God.  This new translation reconciled that dichotomy for me and brought my Perfection Complex into a conscious awareness.  This enables me to reconcile these passages with my understanding of the human psyche.  We are to seek wholeness not perfection.  I will continue to relate to my Perfection Complex in new consciousness and new appreciation for the drive for perfection that has been part of me – recognized or not though much of my life.  I will continue to offer my imperfect offerings to the source of my being which desires my wholeness and not my perfection.

Finally, I offer you my favourite lyrics from Leonard Cohen which encourages us to forget our attempts at perfection:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

I invite you to reconsider your desire for perfection and let the light into your life. 

An All-Embracing Perfection (2)

The idea and desire of perfection has been on my mind a lot recently.  This is what I wrote a few years ago about the plague of perfectionism.  This seems, on the surface, to be a noble goal but can lead to many wrong turns and dead ends in life.  It is a candidate for something to give up in Lent. 

Yesterday afternoon I found a copy of a few pages from a book.  I don’t remember making the copies and it doesn’t identify who the author is or the title of the book, so it is a bit of a mystery at this point.  The title of the chapter the pages are taken from is, Jung on the Life of Christ. 

 The author draws on Carl Jung from his work, Psychology and Religion.  The subject of the chapter is addressing our need for perfection.  He addresses the inevitability and value of error:

 

We all must do what Christ did.  We must make our experiment.  We must make mistakes.  We must live our lives out of our own vision of life.  And there will be error. If you avoid error, you do not live; in a sense even, it may be said that every life is a mistake, for no one has found the truth.  When we live this, we know Christ as a brother, and God indeed becomes man. This sounds like a terrible blasphemy, but not so.  For then we can understand Christ as he would want to be understood, as a fellow man; then only does God become man in ourselves. 

 The theological issue of whether Jesus was perfect man in the sense of being without sin, is one which some part ways with Carl Jung.  I believe there may have been times in the Gospel records that indicate that he was close to being in that state.  Perhaps the best example is the record of his despair on the cross.  However, I don’t want to get into that debate today.  The issue that caught my interest is the need that we have for perfection.  As Jung notes, the only way to avoid error is to not live life i.e. live life in a cocoon.  That itself is an error so we cannot win that game either way.

 We inevitably fall into error.  As we state in our baptismal covenant that we will sin; it is part of the human condition.  It is what we do when that happens is the journey that Jesus calls us to travel.  If we are to acknowledge to others and especially ourselves, that we are in error, we can know Christ as a brother as Jung states.  Indeed, we will know that Christ does know this about us as he is fully human as well as fully divine.  To acknowledge that we are not perfect is difficult to accept as it is a defeat for our egos; our egos do not like to admit that.

One of the challenges for Christians is to deal with imperfection.  The teaching of the church has been that we should be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.  A few years ago, I found a small book in a bookstore, or I should say, it found me. It is entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation from Aramaic sources of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus. One of the passages that the book addresses is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, that is traditionally translated, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, the translation by this author reads, “Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” I felt my discovery of this book and this passage to be a physical gift from the Divine.

To be honest I do not like to acknowledge that I am wrong.  It is easier to acknowledge my mistakes about things that don’t truly matter to me.  However, for these things which are near and dear to my heart―the things I believe define me―I find it a true challenge to face that part of myself. 

However, I believe that is what we are called to do as Christians.  To be as honest with ourselves is the most important part of carrying our cross.  It has been and continues to be a struggle.  When I am honest, I know that I am not perfect in the important things or even the unimportant ones.  However, I know that I can strive to be all-embracing.  Of course, I won’t be perfect in that either. 

 Blessings on your journey and remember it’s okay to run into obstacles and wrong turns along the way.

All Embracing Thanksgiving

I have two subjects in mind today; thanksgiving – because it is the Canadian Thanksgiving, and perfection which I have intended to write about before I realized it would be Thanksgiving Monday today (not great planning ahead but there you go).  I hope I will be able to connect the two topics in a reasonable, if not meaningful way.

I have been interested in the issue/topic of perfection for a while now and wrote an article about my encounters with perfection – which I have dabbled in over my life.  The issue of perfectionism, or the drive for perfection, came into my awareness and consciousness some years ago when I was attending one of the intensives as part of my training as a dream group facilitator with the Haden Institute.  Here is the passage from that article which I want to share with you:

While I was at the Intensive, I found a small book at the Kanuga bookstore, or I should say, it found me. It is entitled A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation from Aramaic sources of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus. One of the passages that the book addresses is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, that is traditionally translated, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, the translation by this author reads, “Be all-embracing, as your heavenly Father is all-embracing.” I felt my discovery of this book and this passage to be a physical gift from the Divine.

The gift of this book came after a dream which challenged my desire for perfection which I had not recognized consciously.  I had, for many years been uncomfortable about the commandment by Jesus that we should ‘be perfect’ so I was very grateful for this different interpretation of Jesus’ words. 

One of the impetuses for writing about perfection this week was that it was the theme for Richard Rohr daily missives last week.  Here are two excepts from his Daily Meditations:

Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness—mine, yours, ours—need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life.

On one level, soul, consciousness, love, and the Holy Spirit can all be thought of as one and the same. Each of these point to something larger than the self, shared with God, and even eternal. That’s what Jesus means when he speaks of “giving” us the Spirit or sharing his consciousness with us. One whose soul is thus awakened has the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:10–16). That doesn’t mean the person is psychologically or morally perfect (my emphasis), although such a transformed person does see things in a much more expanded and compassionate way. Ephesians calls it a “spiritual revolution of the mind” (4:23)—and it is!  Our outer world and its inner significance must come together for there to be any wholeness—and holiness. The result is both deep joy and a resounding sense of coherent beauty.  Richard Rohr 

To emphasize the selection of this topic for today, when returning from a family gathering in London today, there was an interview with Thomas Curran, the author of a book about perfectionism in our society, The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough.

So, what has all this perfection have to do with thanksgiving and Thanksgiving?  We can be thankful that we are who God created us to be in all our strengths and weaknesses – I know that those weaknesses are the ghosts that visit me in the wee hours of the night.  However, they are what make me who I am as do the strengths. They are what makes me who God created me.  Now if only I would truly believe that in the depths of my soul all manner of things would be well – that would be good enough but not perfect thank be to God.

May we be thankful for all that God has given us on our journey.    

 

An All-Embracing Perfection

Last week, I came across a couple of things which addressed the desire which we have for perfection.  Psychologically and culturally, we are averse to making mistakes.  We want to go through life with nothing but wins rather than losses.  We want to be right rather than wrong – we want to be perfect.  This, of course, is impossible and it probably would not be a great or even good way of being even if it were possible.  The first thing that came to me was one of the offerings by the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) which sends out a daily short reflection, Brother Give Us a Word.  The word that was given to me was Failure:

Remember that your weakness doesn’t disqualify you from God’s love, but instead opens the way for God to act in and through you. Let your failures or your fears remind you of your need to rely on God for all things. God’s strength is made perfect in your weakness.  Br. David Vryhof, SSJE

The second offering to me was an interview on CBC Radio.  The interviewee was a scientist – unfortunately I didn’t get his name.  He was speaking about the development of vaccines and the criticism that some people had for the changes in advice that was given during the COVID pandemic by officials.  He noted that science makes progress by making mistakes.  My understanding of what he was saying is that if a hypothesis is proven not to be true, that is a step forward in scientific knowledge.  A quick Google search produced the following applicable quote by Paulina Kuo, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)., “Making errors in science is just part of the process and allows scientists to learn and broaden what we know. It’s only by being wrong that we ever learn what’s right.”

We are given many messages in our culture that mistakes are not okay.  We often see people honoured for what they have accomplished but there may be no mention of the challenges that they have had in accomplishing what they are being honoured for including the mistakes they have made.  There seems to be a greater tendency to knock people from their pedestals when past mistakes are revealed.  Acknowledging them and asking for forgiveness doesn’t cut it anymore.  Even Jesus seems to support the drive for perfection. An alternative to being perfect was offered in a little book I came across some years ago - A Prayer for the Cosmos by Neil Douglas-Klotz.  This little gem is a translation of The Lord’s Prayer and other sayings of Jesus from Aramaic sources.  One of the passages that the book addressed was from the Gospel of Matthew (5: 48).  This is traditionally translated as ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’.  However, the translation by this author is, ‘Be all-embracing, as you heavenly Father is all-embracing.” 

This passage and similar ones direct Christians to seek perfection and the understanding of God, as all good.  I could not reconcile them with my understanding of humanity as creatures of God, created in the image of God.  This new translation reconciled that dichotomy for me.  This enables me to reconcile these passages with my understanding of the human psyche.  We are to seek wholeness not perfection.  To quote my all-time favourite song writer and philosopher, Leonard Cohen,

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

I will continue to offer my imperfect offerings to the source of my being which desires my wholeness and not my perfection. My you also be so blessed on your journey. 

An All-Embracing Perfection

Ring the bells (ring the bells) that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in (Leonard Cohen)

In his most recent column in the January edition of Huron Church News, the Rev. Jim Innes closes his column, Goof Bravely: the joy of making mistakes, with the above quote from Leonard Cohen.  I was most please to see this reference by a fellow priest who happens to be the Rector of the congregation I attend.

This quote is my favourite lyric from my favourite song writer (I have been and remain an unapologetic Leonard Cohen fan most of my life—which is a long time indeed).  It is from his song Anthem which was in his album The Future released in 1992.  These few lines reveal a depth of wisdom that has resonated with me ever since I heard it.  It also cracks open a challenge I have had (and still do); that is the desire for perfection. That is also a challenge which plagues many people.  It may surprise those of you who know me that I have what might be described as a perfection complex. 

I had not consciously thought of myself as a perfectionist as I did not strive to do many things in my life perfectly, as I believed that perfectionists engaged the world.  They, I believed, would spend endless time and countless energy to ensure that whatever they did was perfect.  I did not attempt to engage in things that I believed would require me to be a perfectionist.  This is true for instance in things that required me to do work with my hands such as woodwork.  I knew it was not possible and I therefore did not undertake them. There are many other aspects of life that I probably avoided in part because I knew I could not do them perfectly.    

In his column, Rev. Jim addresses this problem very well.  He notes that, “The fear of making mistakes will lead us to some terrible consequences, or that making mistakes is a sign of weakness or incompetence.”  This approach to perfection is enabled and even made worse by Christianity.  As Jim notes, “This guilt driven life sentence can unfortunately find validation in our Christian churches”. 

Christian theology tells us to strive for perfection.  For example, the Gospel of Matthew 5: 48 is traditionally translated as ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’.  This seems to contradict much of Jesus’s teaching which, for example, is addressed to the crowd not to stone the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus said only the one without sin could cast the first stone knowing that they (and we) are all sinful and need repentance.  An alternative translation to the passage is proposed by Neil Douglas-Klotz in his book A Prayer for the Cosmos.  The author looks at the original Aramaic, Jesus native language, and translates the passage, “Be all-embracing, as you heavenly Father is all-embracing.” 

This passage and similar ones direct Christians to seek perfection and the understanding of God, as all good.  I could not reconcile them with my understanding of humanity as creatures of God, created in the image of God.  This new translation reconciled that dichotomy for me and brought my desire for perfection into a conscious awareness. 

This understanding enables me to reconcile these passages.  We are to seek wholeness not perfection.  We need the cracks in our lives.  That is how the light comes in; Hallelujah (but that is another Leonard Cohen song and another story). 

I will close with a quote from Richard Rohr:

One great idea of the biblical revelation is that God is manifest in the ordinary, in the actual, in the daily, in the now, in the concrete incarnations of life. Our experiences of ordinary life will transform us if we are willing to experience them fully. This is quite different than much of religion’s emphasis on being pure, perfect, or correct to find God. Jesus stands religion on its head! In fact, some historians of religion claim that Jesus proclaimed the end of religion. (Of course, we quickly undid this mistake!)  Richard Rohr Daily Meditation January 13, 2017

All Embracing Perfection

Yesterday’s Gospel reading for the 4^th Sunday after Trinity was Luke 6: 36-41.  It contains the wonderful message of Jesus:

Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s^* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴²Or how can you say to your neighbour,^* “Friend,^* let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s^* eye.

In the Anglican churches in the neighbouring communities here in P.E.I. that Lorna and I attend they use the King James Version.  The KJV uses “mote” rather than “speck”.  As with much of the KJV language mote is more poetic but I must admit that the NRSV version of speck is more descriptive and makes the point more expressively.  It is hard to imagine a log or beam in your eye that you can’t see.  However, Jesus tells us that we can concentrate on the speck in another’s eye and ignore or be ignorant of the log in our own.

One of the points my sermon addresses is Jesus’s command to be perfect.  He states the Gospel passage, “everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.”  Jesus states this command more clearly in Matthew chapter 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  I have problems with the idea that we are called by Jesus to be perfect.  This, in my mind, is a barrier to the idea of seeing the log in your own eye rather than the speck in your neighbour’s eye. 

Jesus’s invocation about not seeing the log in your own eye and focussing on the log in another’s expresses a very important concept in modern psychological.  What Jesus is describing has been identified as projection. You see in others what is actually within you.  Often people will react strongly—actually overreact to another person or what that person does.  In doing so they are responding to something that is a characteristic that they are not conscious of within themselves which they do not find acceptable.  Carl Jung has named this as the Shadow archetype.

In effect the command by Jesus to be perfect will support the resistance that people have to acknowledging those parts of themselves which they consider do not measure up to their idea of what perfection is.  Therefore the Christian idea of perfection and the possibility of achieving that ideal can be a barrier to what is is proclaimed.

As I note in my sermon another way of understanding what Jesus desires for us is based on a different translation of the word ‘perfection’ in the Aramaic which is understood by scholars to be Jesus’s native language.  Neil Douglas-Klotz, in his book A Prayer for the Cosmos translates the word as “all embracing”.  This is an important understanding when considering the Shadow and projection.  If we do not accept i.e. embrace those parts of ourselves that we do not find acceptable we will never fully understand the person that God created us to be.  We will continue to see the speck in another person’s eye rather than the log in our own eye. 

The next time that you react overly strongly i.e. overreact to someone I invite you to consider that it may a part of yourself that you are actually reacting to.  The aphorism to ‘know thyself’ is not biblical but it is applicable and valuable.  Peace