Perfection
I have spoken on this before, but I have refined it a little and I want to give it more exposure and bring all the essays and articles I have written on the subject together through one essay.
This is probably the most important lesson in life. I say probably because I learned this lesson rather early in life and I don’t know if there are bigger lessons to come.
For everything we experience in our physical world (objects, emotions, love, truth, beauty) there is a Perfect Form. If I draw a circle on a piece of paper, I can understand the quality of that circle because there is a Perfect Circle that I can compare it to. Everything in the physical world is a reflection of a Perfect Form. We can come to know something in our physical world through our reason and logic. However, our reason and logic are useless to understand that object because we can only understand it if we understand the Perfect Form that the object reflects. We can only understand the Perfect Form through faith because the Perfect Form exists beyond our physical world and our logic and reason are chained to the physical world. I cannot prove that the Perfect Circle exists. I can only say that it must exist, otherwise it would not be perfect. But that is not proof, that is faith.
So, it is possible to know something, but not understand it. It is possible to live your life by knowing, but never understanding. Anyone who lives such a life, however, will find that life to be incomplete, misguided, and frustrating. For example, it is possible to know how to use a computer. You can know how to type, you can know how to point and click. But you will never use that computer to its full potential unless you understand how it works. Until then it is merely an appliance, not a tool.
The most important things we will experience in our lives are beauty, truth, and love. These things can only be understood by understanding Perfect Beauty, Truth, and Love, and that is God. God is Perfect Beauty. God is Perfect Truth. God is Perfect Love. It is in our best interest to not only understand Beauty, Truth, and Love, but also to live with it: to have Beauty, Truth, and Love in our hearts. Therefore, we come to the fullness of life only through reconciliation with God. We only achieve this reconciliation through faith.
© Copyright 2005, Jason E. Heath
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