Perfection

We are relentlessly bombarded with incessant advertisements, movies, web series, etc. and they are geared towards creating a demand. You know, consumerism functions on the principle of demand-supply. Companies need to engender demand so that they can supply and you can buy them. But, this Economics101 would be an abberation from the subject of this blog. The result is that we capitulate to these media at a point where we believe that we need something extra. We would easily dub our lives as mundane when encountered with numerous social media posts, vlogs, online articles etc. We can sense that there is something 'missing', which needs to be placed. This easily creates a sense of the possibility that some facets of life can be ' near perfect' whether that is a job, physique, lifestyle, etc. You would easily concede to the belief that your life isn't as glimmering as others, your ways of life are inferior to someone, your body, intellect, and any other attribute is subordinate to someone's else. It also entails a belief that someone with the desired qualities are happy, more prosperous, but a dreary belief is that your life has less meaning compared to others and you just have to trudge along the rest of the life.

This is despite your already know that perfection is a myth. You are aware that it is a scam, an engineered demand or something which will never be true. The burger which is shown in the commercial will never be as appealing in real life, you can't(and shouldn't) change your skin colour, your smartphone isn't substandard to the new released one, your physique should not be like supermodels, your political party may not win the election this time etc. It is not connoting there is no room for improvement, but there are some aspects of life which aren't mutable. There are some things which are permanent. Moreover, the belief that some misfortune was spelled upon you or you have an inherent flaw is erroneous on so many grounds. You might have not born in a specific social class, country, appealing physique etc. but this doesn't pronounce that you are disadvantaged. A deeper misconception is that people who have those things are in some sense better, happier, or worthy of more than you do. You should not concede to the narratives that you need to place yourself in a hierarchy and moreover, live in that all through your life. The position you hold is unique and still, millions of humans aspire for what you already have. It is empowering to acknowledge that you are privileged, and despite what you think is your deficiency, you can do anything to improve your life in substantial ways.

It is a facile proclivity to succumb to discontent with life which becomes more pronounced as you proceed along the course of life but what is more frightening is that it might rob you of many opportunities which life provides you with. We have a vision for our future - some magnificent house, perfect partner, lucrative job etc. which allows us to make sense of the endeavours we are engaging in. Somewhere or the other, if I disclosed to you that many of your desires are a result of severe marketing campaigns in the form of movies, advertisements, societal pressure etc. then it might even  give you an existential crisis. It is this crisis which you avoid in the form of a belief in  promising future. If you are not ambitious, you might not have these thoughts. But people are more ambitious today than ever. They want to refurbish every aspect of their life because doing so will promise them societal approval and some transient satisfaction. If you don't acknowledge that some aspects of life aren't malleable, you will be more content. It is because some of your dreams are somewhere or the other a derivation of a piece of some possible perfection or a belief that it is achievable. It is just true that you won't ever get some of what you are striving for. It is numb to even aspire for them. There are many things beyond your conscious control. There are problems greater than your conceived deficiencies.

"Life is Suffering". This is one of the four noble truths by Lord Buddha. It is just a truth. Life will always put you at disadvantage to others at times, it will be brutish, malevolent and unforgiving. Sometimes you will have to suffer for deeds you didn't even commit. This should be an empowering thought because, it is life. You should not expect somebody else to approve of you, let others decide the yardstick for your attributes or expect for things which would never be available to you. There is a tremendous potential inside of you which need not be hitched by some artificial standards you have put yourselves upon. It will be a battle against established norms, but remember you are on the side of the truth. If you don't have something but you can work yourselves to achieve it, you should not dither from your responsibility. You need not be entitled - that things will fall in your lap, it doesn't happen. In the end, there will always be greater goals which are achievable than your naive assessment of life entailed by external acceptance. You need to focus on your life. Once, you have something bigger, something more meaningful, more truthful and you can achieve that, nothing should swerve you from attaining that. Then you will realise that you were gauging your life by paltry standards, easily fallible and simply untruthful, then you will become more focused on more important things to pull out. In that sense, you can overcome the most gruesome things life hurls at you. Just imagine, there are still millions who aspire for even a tenth of what you possess.