Two views

There are two views

1. One is that human beings are inherently perfect but imperfection is something that is superimposed on them.
2. The other is that human beings are inherently imperfect and need to evolve to perfection.

There are people who categorize the former as “typical eastern view” and the latter as “western view”. Or probably as Hindu verses non-Hindu view. But that is not so.

Ancient Greeks considered “psyche” as the driving force behind all living beings. And this Psyche is the most perfect and holy. That being the case, there is no way we can be inherently imperfect. Imperfections, if any, are added onto something that is inherently pure and perfect. Pythagoreans even went to the extent of saying that these imperfections can be “cleansed” by mathematical reasoning.

Even the Bible says that God created human beings “in His likeness”. So, God being perfect, there is no way his likeness can be inherently imperfect. As per Bible, it is the Satan who brought in blemishes on what would have been otherwise perfect.

Ancient Indians considered all beings as forms of God who is by nature perfect. In fact, there are several verses in the Upanishads (parts of Vedas) that describe how the one and only ‘Ätma’ (the Upanishadic equivalent to God) replicated itself to take on several forms (living and nonliving). The imperfections we see, are either illusions (as per Šankara’s Advaita), or something that are superimposed on what is inherently perfect. An Upanishadic sage prays

“The golden pot is covered by darkness. Oh God! Shine your light so that the darkness is driven away and the pot’s full glory is made visible”

Here the “golden pot” being referred to is the individual who even though perfect, appears to be imperfect due to darkness (superimposed blemishes).

So, there seems to be unanimity among the ancient thoughts – whether eastern or western, Hindu or otherwise – that human beings are inherently perfect and holy. If anything, we need to remove the imperfections that are superimposed. 

As against this view, the other view is that we are basically imperfect and we need to ‘become’ perfect. I will talk about that view in the next post.