The sports world is one within which – if you overlook the occasional report of drug enhancement – impeccability is a product of nothing more than hard work and steady application. One hears for example of early morning habits of swimmers engaging themselves relentlessly in solitary and unimaginable lengths of an Olympic sized pool. Even the popular television show “American Ninja Warrior” routinely illustrates the adherence of the candidates to practice and strengthening. It is small wonder the athletic precisionist draws such regular absorption. Theirs is a natural and legitimate expression of perfection. The immediacy and complication of athletic prowess is based upon diligence only. There is no amount of pretence, fraud or deceit (such as seen in “World Wide Wrestling” featuring the likes of “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan) that contaminates the perfection purely for entertainment.
For those of us not so well equipped for demonstrative or competitive sport, the search for perfection is not so fruitfully achieved. This does not however proscribe the aim for perfection. Oddly enough the aim for perfection is an instinctive characteristic peculiar to certain and not others. Indeed there are those who manifestly forswear the adoption of the holy grail arguing instead that its consumption is neither preferred nor idyllic. Not everyone insists upon the best. Not everyone is intent upon reaching the acme of flawlessness. Perfection is for some a redundancy, a superfluity, an excess.
Villa Luna, Sardegna
For years I have overheard people pronouncing their exotic travel details. It seems that the vagabond spirit is a magnetic elixir. Though I have yet to hear it expressed so succinctly or directly, I verily believe there are those whose ambition is quite literally to “see the world”. Still others refine the sense of purpose by consigning it strictly to first class and privileged resorts throughout the globe from the pizzazz of the Mediterranean to the enigma of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. In every instance of perfection the elements of singularity prevail, reminiscent of the physical characteristics of the Buddha which is traditionally regarded as having the “Thirty-two Characteristics of a Great Man“:
The 32 major characteristics are:
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- Level feet
- Thousand-spoked wheel sign on feet
- Long, slender fingers
- Pliant hands and feet
- Toes and fingers finely webbed
- Full-sized heels
- Arched insteps
- Thighs like a royal stag
- Hands reaching below the knees
- Well-retracted male organ
- Height and stretch of arms equal
- Every hair-root dark colored
- Body hair graceful and curly
- Golden-hued body
- Ten-foot aura around him
- Soft, smooth skin
- Soles, palms, shoulders, and crown of head well-rounded
- Area below armpits well-filled
- Lion-shaped body
- Body erect and upright
- Full, round shoulders
- Forty teeth
- Teeth white, even, and close
- Four canine teeth pure white
- Jaw like a lion
- Saliva that improves the taste of all food
- Tongue long and broad
- Voice deep and resonant
- Eyes deep blue
- Eyelashes like a royal bull
- White ūrṇā curl that emits light between eyebrows
- Fleshy protuberance on the crown of the head
Just to complete the picture there are another 80 secondary characteristics among them:
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- His hair has the scent of a white lotus.
- He has curled hair.
Countless other opportunities exist for the exemplification of perfection. It may be the superior resin used in the plastic frames of so-called “designer” eyeglasses such as Tom Ford and Ray-Ban.
Ray-Ban is a brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to the Italian eyewear conglomerate, Luxottica Group, for a reported US $640 million.
Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.
Beyond the scope of Nature the realm of perfection is frequently – though not always – aligned with a degree of exclusivity. The popular world of jewellery is but another example of the heights to which people have sought to embody perfection.
Another popular persuasion is that of the passenger automobile.
However you calculate perfection, whether you aim for it or not, the achievement of it is as ephemeral as the objective is ethereal though it’s memory may linger. What little I know of perfection leads me to report that notwithstanding the goal attained, those who dedicate themselves to perfection fulfil the target by doing their best to get there.
