Perfect

Some people fight against the idea of perfection.  Others strive to be perfect.  Some people say trying to be perfect is wrong.  Others say they are perfectionists.  Before I take a side on this issue, I first have to define what I think the word Perfect means.  I think it is the Balance.  It is:

 a/b =1

...where b is all that we know and understand and a is what we say and do and the motivation behind it (The Lord looketh on the heart...).  So if we are saying and doing according to what we know is true, we are balanced and therefore presently perfect (Alma 42:21, Moroni 8:22).  If we want to follow the following challenge:  "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect," given to us by Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 12:48) we need to be willing to increase our knowledge to their level AND strive to live at incrementally higher levels in incrementally perfect balance.  We're all invited to come up.  No one is told to go away but we are instead instructed to strive for the balance continuously (3 Nephi 18:25).  Since the balanced life is Joy, then basically our Savior is saying that he wants us to have Sustainable Joy as He and the Father have it (Moses 1:39, 2 Nephi 2:25).  That doesn't mean we all have to come up to their level of knowledge in order to have Sustainable Joy.  Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can choose the level at which we are satisfied (Alma 29:4, D&C 131:1).

The Perfect Goal
So we have balanced and imbalanced goals.  That is, upon incrementally achieving our specific goal, it will either add to our Sustainable Joy or detract from it.  When it adds to it, we know our goal is balanced (#Perfect).  When it detracts from it we know our goal is imbalanced (#MyPeace).  Therefore, our specific goal is judged to be balanced or imbalanced (Perfect or Imperfect) by the level of Sustainable Joy we want and need to attain. 

Demanding
The way we go about obtaining our goal can be balanced or imbalanced as well.  Demanding what we want is about force and abuse.  Sometimes that is played out not only by forcing or abusing others but also ourselves as a means to obtain our goals.  That’s imbalanced with our desire for Sustainable Joy (#Cain). 

Wishing
Wishing for what we want is about apathy and neglect of our duty and responsibilities. That is also played out in our relationships with others as well as in our relationship with our own body and spirit.  That doesn’t end in Sustainable Joy either (#KingNoah).

Grace AND Works.  It's a Balance even if He's capable of doing more than we are.

Hope & Humility
Hope is an attitude of combining our commitment to engage in a Goal Achievement Journey, focusing on the things we can do that are within our control AND asking our Cause for his commitment to help us with the things that are outside of our control (#GraceVsWorks).  The Effect of Humility is Hope (Moroni 7:43).  When we have a goal or a desire, we are acknowledging that we don’t have it all down yet.  We need to learn something more.  We need to grow.  We are still a child in this area of understanding.  When we have Hope, we strive for the balance between too much force and too much inertia.  Since this is a dynamic balance depending on our goal and those who we are working with, it takes time to develop this skill.

Dual Imbalance
Usually Demand and Wishing happen together.  When we sit around wishing for something, our needs are not met adequately so we usually are demanding they be met in some other way.  We run slower than we have strength in one area and faster than we have strength in another (Mosiah 4:27).

Judgment
We have balanced and imbalanced Causes.  This can be judged using a general scale.  So against the most perfect Cause there is—Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ—how does this specific person who I am looking to for guidance measure up? (#ByTheirFruits)  The better we know and understand who God is, the more accurate our judgment is (John 17:3).

Righteous Judgment
We’re not trying to judge our Causes for prideful or envious reasons.  We are doing it to choose who best we can rely on to assist us with our specific Goal Achievement Journey (GAJ) (John 7:24).  Since we ourselves reside somewhere between the exact balance and imbalance, we only need to determine if a Cause is balanced with our needs.  

Specifically, is this Cause able and willing to assist me with the goal I have set?  And more generally, is this Cause’s prescribed GAJ going to add to my Sustainable Joy or detract from it?  Does he prescribe a Demanding Process?  If so what does that mean I will have to neglect?  Or does he prescribe a Wishing Process?  If so, what does that mean I will have to abuse?  Finding a Cause who prescribes the most Hopeful GAJ means we won’t have to neglect or abuse, which means we will be able to endure to the end—keep going until we obtain our goal.  We can only judge a Cause from our own position of balance yet because of the General Effects we experience, that is sufficient enough to determine if he will be helpful to us or not. 

Discernment
We have balanced and imbalanced Effects.  If they are from our General Cause then they assist us to identify a balanced Specific Cause and balanced GAJ (see blog post The Tortise and the Hare and the Slug).  If the Effects are from Conflicting Causes they will just mess up our ability to know when we’re on the right track to obtaining our goal and when we’re off it (#Confusion).

Matthew 21:19

The Great Opportunity Cost
Finally, we also have balanced and imbalanced Results.  This is judged by our Specific/General goals.  It is a way to know with greater accuracy if our specific goal is indeed aligned with our general (Sustainable Joy, #Perfect).  If it is not then we will obtain imbalanced Results (#Fruitful or #Barren or #WildBitterFruit).  The specific goal actually comes in conflict with our general.  Because we are obtaining it, it is preventing us from obtaining the level of Sustainable Joy we also desire to obtain, which is quite an opportunity cost (#LoseLifeSaveLife).

Balanced Results are good habits, abilities, talents, strengths, relationships, and personal creations such as books, art, music, inventions, programs, etc. (things that live on and continue influencing others for the GOOD after we create them), and Sustainable Joy.

Imbalanced Results are bad habits, disabilities, weaknesses, black-hole relationships, personal creations such as books, art, music, inventions, programs, etc. (things that live on and continue influencing others for the BAD after we create them), and Virulent Sorrow.  Note, I'm not saying that everyone who has Imbalanced Results have them as a result of Imbalanced GAJs.  I'm saying that everyone who persists in Imbalanced GAJs will end up with Imbalanced Results (Luke 13:1-5).  Most of us have Imbalanced Results, which cannot be attributed to our own continuous past choices (#BlindManFromBirth, #TheFall) but still have Sustainable Joy (#NickVujicic). So if we're looking at our Results for purposes of judgment, the most accurate Result is Sustainable Joy and the Effects that state emanates (again #ByTheirFruits Do they taste sweet?  Or do they taste bitter? Or do they taste so bland that you are not satisfied?).

"Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

~1 Samuel 16:7