Making God Perfect

Most of the people I know who believe in God believe God is perfect.

But does God really have to be perfect?

Well, yes, we want God to be perfect. In fact, we need God to be Perfect. Otherwise, we're fucked.

We recognize this once we gain enough self-awareness to realize we didn't make all of the stuff around us -- mountains, sky, water, sparrows, lilies of the field. We didn't even make ourselves.

So we discover God, the Creator of the universe.

God becomes our fountainhead of help for any problem we cannot solve or any task we cannot carry out. God knows the unknowables: "What is life?" "Why am I here?" "What does all of this mean?" God knows the number of hairs on every head. God knows how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. God knows all of these things and much, much more.

God also knows what dirty little imperfect shits we are under the skin. God knows all the reasons we should be cast into hell forever. And God has the power to destroy us in the blink of an eye.

This is why we need God to be Perfect (capital G, capital P). After all, if God has all of this innate knowledge and power that we don't have, then God can treat us any way God wants -- and there's nothing we can do to escape or resist. In the end, God gets whatever God wants. God is God, after all. If this is how we see God, then it becomes critical to us that God be a Perfect God.

Ahh. A Perfect God.

A Perfect God is the best thing you can have. A Perfect God is THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. A Perfect God will save you from the guilt you bring down on your head when you harm somebody else. A Perfect God will forgive you and pour out mercy on you like a balm.

A Perfect God loves you. A Perfect God is the original nurturing parent. A Perfect God will be there to help you when you face trials and tribulations. A Perfect God offers you grace and compassion and healing in whatever measure you need. A Perfect God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your capacity to withstand.

But what if a Perfect God turns out to be irrelevant in the end?

What if in God there is no separateness? What if God is boundless. No limits, no lines, no divisions, no borders, no "other"? What if we discover that when one person injures another, both suffer?

Maybe that's why so many spiritual paths end at love. We are all connected. We are all one. That's why compassion comes back to us -- like karma, like a boomerang of perfection. We already possess all of the perfection we'll ever need. We discover this by reaching across the space that separates us. To connect with one is to connect with all.

Maybe that's the Perfect God we've really been hoping for all along.