“In time you will take enough breaths to realize that this planet is offered as a learning experience, not as a punishment. To learn what? That each breath you take is a divine gift.” – John-Roger

This article by John-Roger was first published in Rod & Staff MSIA Newsletter, Special Conference Issue, Vol. II, Summer, 1984, for the Conference of Excellence

Most people don’t accept that perfection isn’t available in this world. In one way they’re right. The continuum of imperfections on this planet is perfect. But in order to grasp that concept, one must gain a great deal of altitude to see things as they are. On Earth and in Spirit.

Those who haven’t quite reached that altitude yet (and all shall in time), usually bloody their egos banging their conditioned needs against the perfectly perfect wall of imperfection. The history of mankind, which hasn’t always been kind, attests to the fact that individuals, cities, governments and countries have gone to war in pursuit of perfection. Of course, perfection varies according to the person or group pursuing. Although the word connotes otherwise, perfection — the way it is used, misused and abused — is obviously not an absolute. Relative perfection is a contradiction but then again, so is everything on planet earth.

So many people embrace a rigid concept of what would be perfect and go after it in that traditionally conditioned manner.  It’s called marriage and divorce.  It’s called going to war for peace.  It’s called worshipping your God and labeling the others as heathens or cults. It’s called “I love you as long as you do it my way”.

Often people give lip service to a concept of perfection and undermine the belief. Many have espoused our constitutional right of “all men are created equal” and subsequently behaved as if they were a little more equal than others.

That bloodied wall of perfection manifests in labels such as failure, loser, and worthless. That wall is like the sound-barrier. Only it is different because on the other side of this barrier is the Sound Current of God. The barrier cannot be broken in the traditional way of smashing into it with your conditioned judgments. Actually there is no such human being who is a failure.

There are only humans who participate and have experiences. When a baby starts to crawl, and then stands up taking a few steps on rubbery legs and falls, is the baby failing? Of course not. The child is having the experiences in order to be able to learn how to walk. Falling down is part of the learning experience.

When a human being participates in experiences that do not work out according to the preferred results, that does not make him or her a loser.  There are many great artists who were not recognized or recompensed in their lifetime. And today we celebrate their work. Are they losers?

There is not one human being, regardless of your opinion of them (opinions are like noses, everyone has one), that is unworthy. The fact that you have embodied here on a divine learning mission, as part of God’s loving, automatically makes you and every one worthy.

It is just your concept of perfection and insistence on the performance of it, that keeps you running around in the planet’s perfect maze that says “no exit”. Except the maze isn’t so perfect because there is an exit. But it isn’t on the horizontal level on which the maze of negativity was constructed. The way out of the maze is transcending it, rising in altitude above the demand for perfection.

You see, the world is perfectly imperfect. That is not just a word-level presentation. The world, as it is, with all of its limitations, is perfectly designed to present us with the imperfections. You can approach each experience towards perfection and run your emotions at the obstacle, or you can see it for what it is, namely a stepping-stone, accept and appreciate the experience and go on toward excellence.

You can get married a dozen times. If each time you insist that your mate falls short because of imperfections, you can get married another dozen times and learn nothing. But if you choose, come the 25th time you can recognize there is no perfection on this planet in any human being, then you can love your mate and accept that person as perfectly imperfect just the way they are.

You can go for a job many times and not get it. You may think that entirely unfair. You may feel you were more qualified than the person who got it. And then you’re left with no job but this time you are also carrying the baggage of resentment and righteous indignation. Neither one of those will pay the rent. Instead, I suggest that you use the experience to strengthen yourself, to gain the altitude of recognizing what is the most important thing in your life, and just keep on keeping on.

What is the most important thing? Simple. Breathing in and breathing out. In time you will take enough breaths to realize that this planet is offered as a learning experience, not as a punishment. To learn what? That each breath you take is a divine gift. Everything after that is commentary.

Does that mean that all you have to do is sit in a cave and inhale/exhale? If you wish, you can do that. But the fact is that most of us have that divine spark in us that wants to give and receive more. More what? More loving. I said “more loving”, not the perfect expression of loving.

Everyone acts on that need. You will try everything you have been conditioned to believe in order to give and get more. You may try and make a great deal of money, achieve a level of fame and power. I know of a person who is a very powerful, rich, influential being on this planet. And this person is going through incredible boredom with a feeling of, “Is that all there is?”

You may try to have more in sexual affairs until you almost suffocate from the loneliness of making love without love.

You may get married and be very unhappy over the imperfections of your mate.

You may get your Porsche, your motorcycle, your great piano, your awards, and still the world won’t be perfect enough. You will still have a lust for more.

Believe it or not, that lust is perfect. In a way, that is part of God’s plan. Eventually that lust will lead you to see the real perfection, that it is not now available on planet Earth. Your experience here is as a springboard into the heart of God. There it is perfectly perfect.

How do you get there? Not by banging your head against your judgments of your boss, your wife, your country, your husband, your you.

How do you get to that place of giving and receiving love from the heart of God to the heart of you? Become an excellent lover. Of all beings. In recognition that excellence is the way to go on planet Earth, we in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness call this year’s [1984] annual gathering in Los Angeles, the Conference of Excellence.

How do you get to be an excellent lover of all beings? Practice.

How do you get to transcend these levels and that bloodied wall of ego and judgments? Practice.

How do you springboard into the heart of God?

S.e.’s (spiritual exercises) and service.

Otherwise known as practice. And that practice does make perfect.

John-Roger