Goodness vs. Perfection

The Greek idea of excellence is stiff and static;
the Hebrew idea of goodness is dynamic and leads
to freedom. The Greeks were concerned with the
pursuit of perfection, believing that it existed
and could be attained. Plato, in his Republic,
talked about "forms" and thus the platonic ideal
came into existence. There was a perfect way,
and it was what men lived to attain. The Hebrews,
in contrast, were concerned with the idea of
goodness. When God created in the beginning
of Genesis, he called things "good" and "very
good." Perfection is never mentioned. Instead
of only one possibility, there are many. The idea
of goodness is one that has infinite permutations,
and always has the possibility to become more good.
We move from being anxious puppets trying to attain
an impossibility, to being co-creators in a story
we are helping to write. Goodness is a dynamic idea
which speaks of interaction and community, freedom
and growth.

I am reminded of the last chapter of C.S. Lewis's 
The Last Battle in his Chronicles of Narnia. The
children have come to Narnia to stay, and they are
exploring the country. The more they explore,
the more they see their beloved Narnia become
better and better..."deeper, more wonderful,
more like places in a story: in a story you
have never heard but very much want to know."
It wasn't a static place, but one that was
truly good.

I want to live life unflinchingly, running
"further up and further in," as the children did,
in pursuit of the freedom only the pursuit of
goodness--and the one who is called Good--can
bring. And so I take another step this Monday
morning into goodness, away from perfection.
I am moving in the wonderful, terrifying reality
that while this journey is good, there is much
I cannot anticipate. I know already that an honest
journey in this world sometimes brings excruciating
pain. There is so much I cannot control, and that
in itself is a good thing. It does not feel so,
especially when faced with headlines that read
of cholera outbreaks, religious and ethnic murders,
a 5-year-old kidnapped and killed by a shot of
acid in the heart.


We do live life outside the garden. I can make
the pain my focus, letting it pile up in the
middle of my life, a stinking stack of excrement.
I can grab a shovel and try to control what comes,
spilling my energies on managing what no one through
history has ever been able to manage. Or I can
grieve that life is not as it should be and continue
my journey, letting the pain fertilize what is already
growing. I am learning to see that doing this frees me
to create with what I have been given to steward. I
have the choice to channel my strength toward living
well in the midst of what I cannot control, so that
my pursuit of what I call good is more in line with
what goodness really is.