Being Point

Tag: paradox

  • Imperfection and Negative Judgment

    Inevitably, our week’s conversation about perfection turns to imperfection. Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “To sit in judgment of those things which you perceive to be wrong or imperfect is to be one more person who is part of judgment, evil or imperfection.”

    If one’s core belief is that *all* is perfect – on at least what might be called a “cosmic” level – then Dyer’s comment would be true. He is equating negative judgment itself with imperfection. Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black if one adjudges something to be imperfect, but is then made imperfect by the judgment.

    Have you ever judged something imperfect and, therefore, wrong or flawed or even evil? How do we humans maintain the paradox that everything is “perfect,” yet clearly cruelty and suffering exist in the world? How can those things be “perfect”?

  • Security Is A Paradox and An Oxymoron

    With apologies to General Douglas Macarthur, his words about security may be just a tad strident. He said, “There is no security on this earth – only opportunity.” Apparently, another “security purist” who, to be sure, is technically correct in the absolutist construct of black-and-white thinking on our topic of the week.

    Yet, we all know that life is a paradox. As Louis Adamic (a non-General whom I had never heard of) said, “Living is like licking honey off a thorn.” So it is with security: we can have health, wealth and wisdom . . . and, in the having of them, we can FEEL secure. Yet, since nothing endures, that feeling of security is fleeting . . . even if it last for decades.

    Security may uniquely be both a one-word oxymoron as well as a one-word paradox . . . in any case, tough to reconcile with the realities of everyday life. Most likely, a solid way of dealing with any form of perfectionism – as absolute security is – is to use it to strive toward, but to resist being seduced by the promise of its NEVER CHANGING.

    Dig deep and sense how you really FEEL about security. Not how you THINK about it, but how, deep in your gut you feel. Maybe confused, wistful, curious and perhaps even angry?

    Perhaps the best security is the ability to appreciate the human experience in all its contradictions and up’s and down’s. How do you deal with your desire for security? Have you ever felt driven to make choices based on your perceived need for any kind of security?

    Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.