Father Richard considers how dualistic thinking is at the root of our illusions of human perfection:
Some Navajo traditional weavers include an intentional imperfection in their weaving pattern—a space sometimes called a “spirit line.” It is said to be the place where the Spirit moves in and out of the design. The Semitic mind, the Indigenous mind, the Eastern mind (which, by the way, Jesus would have been much closer to) understands perfection in precisely that way. Eastern thought is much more comfortable with paradox, mystery, and nondual thinking than the Western mind which has been much more formed by Greek logic, which is very clear, very consistent, and very helpful by also being dualistic. It seems to me that we first have to succeed at good dualistic thinking before we can also experience its limitations. But many in the West just stop at dualism and then find themselves struggling to deal with death, suffering, the illogical nature of love, any honest notion of God, Mystery, or infinity.
In conversation with Tami Simon on her Insights at the Edge podcast, Quaker teacher and activist Parker Palmer shared:
It’s been a long time since I imagined that I would ever arrive at perfection in this aspect of my life or any other aspect of my life. I actually think that perfection is a kind of nightmarish wish dream. If you think of it socially, the people who promise perfection on earth are actually the totalitarian dictators who want to run everything themselves and are offering a false promise in order to seduce people into some sort of political or social pathology. And I feel the same way about spiritual teachers who promise perfection. I have never felt that wholeness, that human wholeness, a word that has meaning for me, had anything to do with perfection. Wholeness has to do with embracing the whole of who you are, which includes your shadow as well as your light. It includes the broken parts of you as well as the whole parts of you. [1]
Richard emphasizes:
Perfection is not the elimination of imperfection, as we think. Divine perfection is, in fact, the ability to recognize, forgive, and include imperfection!—just as God does with all of us. Only in this way can we find the beautiful and hidden wholeness of God underneath the passing human show. This is the pearl of great price (see Matthew 13:45–46) in my opinion. Nondual thinking and seeing is the change that changes everything. It makes love, mercy, patience, and forgiveness possible.
References:
[1] Tami Simon, host, Insights at the Edge, podcast, with Parker Palmer, “Living the Undivided Life,” May 19, 2009.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Yes, And…: Daily Meditations (Franciscan Media, 2019), 367.
Image credit and inspiration: Martin Baron, untitled (detail), 2025, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. We are gentle with ourselves, broken bits and all, trusting that all of ourselves is worthy.
Story from Our Community:
I just came out of a very deep and agonizing depression. There were times I did not feel God’s presence, but I knew God was there. I saw God’s care through my sons and daughter, my parish priest, and my friends. Now that I am back to feeling like myself, I am moved to share a message of imperfect gratitude and hope to those who are suffering: remember that todo pasa—”this too shall pass.”
—Maria C.
