JetUNsetter

I was pondering what it is that holds us back from perfection. Why is the human nature so full of mistakes and why it seems dystopian to live in a world of robots.

I then realized that if you go to a restaurant for instance where everything is prepared to perfection every time, how many times can you afford to return to that restaurant without getting completely bored? Perfection is reassuring but not fun, not exciting, not rewarding in the end.

Why do we care to go to a live performance when that same artist has that same song packaged to perfection and available on Spotify and Apple Music?

In fact, I was recently at a piano recital of someone who is considered the top piano soloist of our time. He is Russian and the performance was on the day when it was out in the news that Navalny was dead. The performer, whom I had seen before so could compare, was sad. Obviously sad. He was slow and broken on stage. The performance, music-wise, was really disappointing. But it was real! It was a moment of human communication, a failed, imperfect but honest moment of a human soul translating their reality onto the piano. I can listen to that artist on any medium and get his perfect version. Rehearsed and technology enhanced or supported and give my ears the chance to perfection. It does not matter. The moment when the human who is capable of perfection stood there honest, imperfect, authentic, real and deeply real is actually the performance of that artist that I will fee most associated with. The one most vividly marked in memory.

What is beautiful about my favorite restaurant is that I might get surprised. The dish might not be exactly what I remember because someone in the kitchen put too much of this or too little of the other. This suspens, that uncertainty makes the experience of the dish if actually tasting what I wanted it to be rewarding. If not what I wanted it to be, I will still go back longing for what I am after. Had I been certain it would be perfect, maybe I would never go back there again. Knowing that perfection is available somewhere makes that place less interesting to visit. It can always wait.

Knowing that the piano soloist might be on a bad day, might make a mistake is the exciting part of our interaction. It might be disappointing for sure, but it’s interesting and exciting. If they get right, it’s the relief of the uncertainty that adds to the experience.

This is why Tom Cruise insists on performing all his stunts. As he is on his bike, we watch the movie and even though we know how it ends, we know he will get it right, however we subconsciously and subtly pick up in his eyes that uncertainty. And that is the beauty of imperfection.

Our whole existence, even at religious level, is to climb as close to perfection, as close to God or a perfect creature as possible. We live our lives battling to get to our best version. What keeps us going is the uncertainty of the outcome and the surprise of what the view is from that top.

Please help me make sense of this one too…