What is a perfect being like?

[Penumbra]

Over the course of religious discussion on various forums, I've seen the idea put forth on multiple occasions that the purpose of human existence is to perfect the soul. Improving is a common concept in religion.

So I ask, what in your view is a perfect being like? What do they do? What do they think? What is the personality like? Is it a contemplative being devoid of emotion? Is it an emotionally and happy person? What information or understanding do they have, or have they acquired, that grants perfection? And what are the benefits of reaching perfection?

(Also, if you believe the purpose is to continually improve and don't believe in perfection, then describe some really advanced soul or something.)

 

[Sunstone]

What is a perfect being like?

Isn't this thread in danger of becoming just another commentary on me?

 

[joea]

Consciousness is the perfection...

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

To me the notion of perfection is a sick one because it seems so...weird. So, I'll go for highly advanced.

One of my daydream fantasies is to imagine a collective of living beings working together with a social coherence so many orders of magnitude greater than what we see on this planet that they effectively are one enormous single living organism. The human body isn't unlike that and so is this planet in its Gaia aspect but the concordant being I imagine would exist on a massively larger scale, encompassing entire galaxies or greater.

I imagine all that and also its power being so great that it echoes through the multiverse like a supermassive hologram, overwhelming any poor creatures that get a brief sense of the pattern.

Embarrassingly I think I initially got something like this idea from watching the first Star Trek movie as a kid. The idea that the Voyager probe could be sent back to us by an alien civilisation vastly superior to our own got to me deep down.

 

[Father Heathen]

Perfection is a matter of opinion, there is no universal measurement of such, and so no such thing exists except in the eyes of the individual beholder.

 

[Reptillian]

I think that in order for me to describe a perfect being, I'd have to know what the purpose of being is. If you ask me whether a machine or tool is perfect, I would look at how that device is used and consider whether it could be improved in any way to better fulfill its purpose. Perfection might not even be an actually attainable goal, it might just be an infinite limit.

 

[Penumbra]

Consciousness is the perfection...

Can you elaborate on that? Why is consciousness perfection? Does this imply that a perfect being is nothing but consciousness, and if so, can you describe this?

To me the notion of perfection is a sick one because it seems so...weird. So, I'll go for highly advanced.

One of my daydream fantasies is to imagine a collective of living beings working together with a social coherence so many orders of magnitude greater than what we see on this planet that they effectively are one enormous single living organism. The human body isn't unlike that and so is this planet in its Gaia aspect but the concordant being I imagine would exist on a massively larger scale, encompassing entire galaxies or greater.

I imagine all that and also its power being so great that it echoes through the multiverse like a supermassive hologram, overwhelming any poor creatures that get a brief sense of the pattern.

Embarrassingly I think I initially got something like this idea from watching the first Star Trek movie as a kid. The idea that the Voyager probe could be sent back to us by an alien civilisation vastly superior to our own got to me deep down.

Ok, thank you for your response.

Sounds kind of like the movie Avatar, but that was isolated to a single planet.

Perfection is a matter of opinion, there is no universal measurement of such, and so no such thing exists accept in the eyes of the individual beholder.

I think that in order for me to describe a perfect being, I'd have to know what the purpose of being is. If you ask me whether a machine or tool is perfect, I would look at how that device is used and consider whether it could be improved in any way to better fulfill its purpose. Perfection might not even be an actually attainable goal, it might just be an infinite limit.

Well, that's part of the point of the thread. It's asking people of various religions what their ideal of perfection is, and it will necessarily relate to their religious view of purpose, metaphysics, and so forth.

 

[joea]

Can you elaborate on that? Why is consciousness perfection? Does this imply that a perfect being is nothing but consciousness, and if so, can you describe this?

Not all beings are showered with the flowers of consciousness, and there is no such thing as a perfect being. The reason why I said conciousnes merely so as to not identify with your actions and the mind..and so when the body and mind is no more, the conciousness remains. Once one understand what conciousness is, then he is not afraid of death. He simply knows death is not an event rather, a process that has started and never ends....you have died many times.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

What is a perfect being like?

Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, infinite, unique, and is the integrated whole constituting the entirety of all that exists.

 

[joea]

What is a perfect being like?

Omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal, infinite, unique, and is the integrated whole constituting the entirety of all that exists.

I say it in a sense,as an example, that even though with nothingness as a perfection, one can still attain to perfection beyond that perfection..

 

[BruceDLimber]

We Baha'is have known one, and he was TRULY WONDERFUL!!!

Very humble and self-effacing, as well as very friendly, witty, with no vices whatever, and always happy to expound the facts of his (and our) Faith!

Indeed, while he never in the least promoted himself, his charitable works were so notable that he was knighted by the British government for his dedicated service to humanity!

Truly a fine examplar for us all . . .

Best!

Bruce

 

[YmirGF]

Over the course of religious discussion on various forums, I've seen the idea put forth on multiple occasions that the purpose of human existence is to perfect the soul. Improving is a common concept in religion.

So I ask, what in your view is a perfect being like? What do they do? What do they think? What is the personality like? Is it a contemplative being devoid of emotion? Is it an emotionally and happy person? What information or understanding do they have, or have they acquired, that grants perfection? And what are the benefits of reaching perfection?

(Also, if you believe the purpose is to continually improve and don't believe in perfection, then describe some really advanced soul or something.)

Perfection is a concept I do not subscribe to, thus your OP has little meaning for me. I do not see perfection, but I do sense limitless growth, which by our standards and norms may seem like "perfection", whatever "perfection" is exactly.

Perfection also, by definition, implies something that is beyond change or need for change. That would seem to go against a universal constant and so remains highly unlikely. I'd suggest that people toss away their silly ideas of perfection and simply get on with the business of being.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Over the course of religious discussion on various forums, I've seen the idea put forth on multiple occasions that the purpose of human existence is to perfect the soul. Improving is a common concept in religion.

So I ask, what in your view is a perfect being like? What do they do? What do they think? What is the personality like? Is it a contemplative being devoid of emotion? Is it an emotionally and happy person? What information or understanding do they have, or have they acquired, that grants perfection? And what are the benefits of reaching perfection?

(Also, if you believe the purpose is to continually improve and don't believe in perfection, then describe some really advanced soul or something.)

I agree with what's been expressed by a few others here: the idea of perfection only has meaning when we're measuring things against some ultimate objective.

We Baha'is have known one, and he was TRULY WONDERFUL!!!

Very humble and self-effacing, as well as very friendly, witty, with no vices whatever, and always happy to expound the facts of his (and our) Faith!

Indeed, while he never in the least promoted himself, his charitable works were so notable that he was knighted by the British government for his dedicated service to humanity!

Truly a fine examplar for us all . . .

You're talking about Baha'u'llah, right?

What's your measure of "perfection"? What standard are you using to effectively say that he fully met it?

IMO, implying that such a thing as a perfect human could exist implies that there is one standard that all people should strive to attain. Is this your view?

 

[Penumbra]

Not all beings are showered with the flowers of consciousness, and there is no such thing as a perfect being. The reason why I said conciousnes merely so as to not identify with your actions and the mind..and so when the body and mind is no more, the conciousness remains. Once one understand what conciousness is, then he is not afraid of death. He simply knows death is not an event rather, a process that has started and never ends....you have died many times.

What makes consciousness perfect?

How can it exist without a mind or actions? And what makes it valuable, useful, good, perfect, or what other adjectives are used for it?

Perfection is a concept I do not subscribe to, thus your OP has little meaning for me. I do not see perfection, but I do sense limitless growth, which by our standards and norms may seem like "perfection", whatever "perfection" is exactly.

Perfection also, by definition, implies something that is beyond change or need for change. That would seem to go against a universal constant and so remains highly unlikely. I'd suggest that people toss away their silly ideas of perfection and simply get on with the business of being.

I don't subscribe to the concept of perfection either, but as I have stated, I have seen a lot of people say that the point of life is to perfect the soul, so I'd like to hear people's thoughts.

And I left a clause in the OP where people that don't believe in perfection can describe a really advanced being instead because I anticipated the fact that a large subset of responders would not agree with the concept of perfection.

 

[joea]

What makes consciousness perfect?

How can it exist without a mind or actions? And what makes it valuable, useful, good, perfect, or what other adjectives are used for it?

Consciousness or enlightenment, simply means all the thoughts,your personality and the opinions which are given to you by others..you are not identified with them. Be aware of everything that comes from the outside.
Consciousness is valuable because it means you are aware of what you are doing, it is a spontaneous act, an act of moment to moment.

 

[dust1n]

What is a perfect being like?

Like each and every one of us.

 

[Penumbra]

Like each and every one of us.

So you believe all people are perfect? Can you elaborate?

 

[Levite]

Over the course of religious discussion on various forums, I've seen the idea put forth on multiple occasions that the purpose of human existence is to perfect the soul. Improving is a common concept in religion.

So I ask, what in your view is a perfect being like? What do they do? What do they think? What is the personality like? Is it a contemplative being devoid of emotion? Is it an emotionally and happy person? What information or understanding do they have, or have they acquired, that grants perfection? And what are the benefits of reaching perfection?

(Also, if you believe the purpose is to continually improve and don't believe in perfection, then describe some really advanced soul or something.)

I don't believe that any being except God can be perfect. And ultimately, I can't describe God, because He is infinite, and thus in some measure ultimately unknowable. But in terms of what I can describe, the short answer would be: complex.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Penumbra,

What is a perfect being like?

*buddha*

Love & rgds

 

[Penumbra]

Friend Penumbra,


*buddha*

Love & rgds

In what way was the Buddha perfect? What is it that makes him perfect?