Spirit Murderers view Self-made Men as those who can do no wrong. It is the denial of Man's natural pattern of function to expect men to live in a state of perfect action" ?to be infallible. Their own pretense of false perfection drives the belief that infallibility is necessary for achievement, which it isn't, and they revel in seeing us err, enjoying the shame they expect us to feel at slipping on a pretense which we never practiced to begin with. The truth is that their premises tied perfect action to egoism, and in attempting to mimic our earned stature, we see their false-egoism most blatantly in the insincere refusal to admit any wrong-doings on their part. False perfection and false egoism are based on the same default, to avoid identification of the sub-elements which make our success possible" ?rational thought and tenacious effort. These they fear most of all.

For centuries, perfection has been preached as a futile, hopeless ideal, an unobtainable height that men must be measured against, yet can never reach. The Spirit Murderer's definition of perfection requires that Man not be human. Animals trip, stumble and fall out of trees, but Man cannot gain approval if he remains subject to the laws of gravity, to the inconsistency of meteorological conditions or if he is not aware of all knowledge in advance of its discovery. Man cannot be considered perfect as long as he is subject to the natural flow of life.

Webster's dictionary defines perfection as: "complete in all respects; without defect or omission; sound; flawless."? This is a proper definition, but the contexts most often used regarding Man are wrong and demand clarification. Flying in the face of reasonable expectation, they measure his worth by whether he manages not to stumble on an uneven sidewalk, never spills anything, never gets sick, never says the wrong thing, never gets angry, never pay's a bill late, never disobeys a law, never talks back, never disappoints, has the perfect house and the perfect family. One mistake" ?one sneeze and your damned.

So what do most people do? Some try to maintain this impossible pretense, making themselves and those around them miserable, while the rest accept that Man can be nothing but imperfect, and end up more prone to degeneration. All of them avoid looking inward with a humble sense of unworthiness and guilt, fearing to find out just how imperfect they actually are. When a man succeeds, he'll often accept congratulations in silence or deflect honors, reluctant to recount the difficulties of his quest. For one, he knows his secret passion" ?pushing himself to the limit" ?is not viewed fondly by most. It is feared, envied and hated and he feels the tension against its acknowledgment. He knows what tenacity was necessary to fulfill his dream, and in mild embarrassment" ?knowing he is to be judged by a standard which claims that winners achieve success automatically, overnight" ?he knows he cannot live up to it. This dance of self-doubt is unnecessary. Look closely and you'll discover that what false perfection actually damns, is human cognition.

Rational perfection for Man does not require everything he does to be on cue. The concept of perfection is inapplicable to whether or not he encounters circumstances that catch him off-guard, but to what he does about them. Perfection applies not to whether a man trips, but to whether he attempts to recover, versus the preference of falling on his face. Not whether he never gets sick, but whether he takes steps to cure his illness and to prevent future illness. Not whether he never gets angry, but whether it's properly a response to injustice. Human perfection is found in the dynamic realm of volition: identifying and choosing the right course" ?the moral course" ?in every important issue of one's life, simple or complex. Moral consistency in choice is the true gauge of perfection, but false perfection accomplishes a number of parasitical goals for a Spirit Murderer. 1) To impose guilt for later redemption, 2) To justify his own misgivings "Nobody's perfect,"? 3) To look down on Man, 4) To kick him when he's down and 5) To keep his focus on what is expected and not on what matters.

The proper human countenance weighs all metaphysical conditions in his capacity to consider" ?calculating their effects to streamline his intentions. He moves through the world according to his own plan, and must interact with, oppose if contrary and harness if possible, the forces he encounters along his journey. Part of that journey, is learning how. He spends a lifetime honing the skill of processing data related to his causes, always becoming a greater, more efficient sum, and the result of living well is his highest pride. He rejects all irrational elements held as impediments before him by lesser men, knocking their fear aside to grasp the essence of an issue and gain proper footing. This constant upward thrust is Man's living will" ?the survival of the fittest" ?his answer to the question "Live or die?"? The quest he was reluctant to describe earlier, which the discovery of its application to themselves makes the Spirit Murderer's equally reluctant to hear, was in fact his pursuit of true epistemological perfection.

Our true worth is not to be measured by an irrational standard. From our willingness to breathe and focus our eyes to our life's work, our self-generated productive effort determines our worth, and we add to the plus side with every moral decision" ?every decision that serves our betterment, to no one's harm or loss. In a Self-made Man, his life-preserving provocation is instantaneous; he isn't defeated in advance. He leaps to his feet, willing to fight for life until the end" ?of the storm or of himself. This is true of him in peacetime as well, channeling his energy into realms of no lesser spiritual consequence" ?the tenacity to succeed no matter what it requires of him. Now that is heroic moral perfection.

Copyright 2005 Ronald E Springer