The soul prospers in the failure of perfection

"The Prosperity of Perfection" entry on the Simple Mind Zen site considers Thomas Moore's quote, "The soul prospers in the failure of perfection." This entry focuses on vulnerability and the openness needed to share ourselves deeply with others.

The post quotes one of Moore's favourite authors: "In the story, In Praise of Folly, Erasmus says, "it is precisely in their foolishness that people can become friends and intimates. For the greatest part of mankind are fools... and friendship, you know, is seldom made, except among equals."

It concludes with the idea that self love contributes to intimacy:

"We need not only to know more about ourselves, but also we need to love more of ourselves, in an unsentimental way; that is the way to oneness. Tolerance, "honoring that aspect of the self that may be irrational or extreme is the basis for intimacy," writes Thomas Moore. We have fewer expectations of perfection, less judgement; less and less are we separated by these notions. We come to recognize that the soul, in its meanderings, tends to move into new and positive areas in spite of, and because of the oddities expressed."