{"id":3224,"date":"2014-02-06T19:32:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T19:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalconversations.com\/?p=3224"},"modified":"2025-04-02T19:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T19:28:14","slug":"the-pitfalls-of-perfectionism-part-i-protectionism-and-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalconversations.com\/blog\/the-pitfalls-of-perfectionism-part-i-protectionism-and-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pitfalls of Perfectionism – Part I: Protectionism and Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Classical, Christian education upholds a vision of excellence: in character (best described in terms of ethics), in knowledge and understanding (perhaps viewed as academics), and in biblical worldview (quite likely, wisdom: the fear of the Lord). It is important to remember, however, that there is a tension between striving for excellence and living with the sure knowledge that in this life\u2014and of our own accord and merit\u2014we\u00a0never<\/b>\u00a0achieve the full vision of excellence.<\/p>\n

This is a difficult walk. We must simultaneously strive with perseverance (aiming towards biblical standards), yet do so with great humility, all the while embracing the understanding that God\u2014and not we ourselves\u2014 is the origin of and reason for every single achievement.<\/p>\n

This path is, therefore, filled with ambiguities. It requires ever-deepening self-knowledge, self-assessment, repentance, and submission. The training to walk this path is, perhaps, a primary point of classical, Christian education: to inculcate in our children such sensitivity to the trail that they will intuitively know when they rightly walk upon it. One might even postulate that this constitutes the knack of being in the world, but not of it.<\/p>\n

Picture a man walking a narrow path. There is a cliff on either side as he threads his way along the high ridgeline. These chasms represent the dangers of falling off. One chasm embodies the reaction to this tension in which the man throws up his hands and gives up all together, refusing to walk towards excellence and giving way to complacency and total compromise. Ultimately, this is a rejection of the biblical worldview, because it denies the validity of objective standards and excuses so much that it eventually stops condemning sin. The other chasm embodies the opposite extreme: instead of giving up on all standards, it becomes perfectionism, applying legalistic\u2014usually self-defined\u2014standards to self and to others.<\/p>\n

To plunge off the path in either direction is disastrous. For Christians, it is perhaps the second case which poses the greater struggle, because we may appear to remain on the path when in reality, we have plummeted off just as surely as the man who gives way to complacency has done. This is because we tend to fall into perfectionism from a genuine desire to seek godly excellence. We claim to be on the road, but in reality, we have lost the trail. We need only think of Jesus\u2019 struggle with the Pharisees of His time, and of His profound parable of the prodigal son (thinking of both the older and the younger brothers), to realize that this is a significant truth for Christians to ponder.<\/p>\n

There are two (at least!) very human motivations to which we may be succumbing, whether we are aware of them or not, when we fall into perfectionism:<\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0Protectionism<\/strong>\u00a0is the desire to shield ourselves from criticism, from the experience of failure, from the unpleasantness of shame, and from the personal discomfort of being judged and found wanting. Protectionism is a movement inward, into a selfish search for false security, surrounded by high, insurmountable walls\u2014or thick, dense, shadowy veils\u2014from behind which we survey the world happening outside. It manifests itself by a lack of real openness and vulnerability, by the presence of excuses, rationalizations, blame, and disguises. It embraces high standards, for self and others, but sets up barriers. “How can we be judged if we are actually special? Our circumstances were extraordinary. It was that other person’s fault. Therefore, the standards which are applied to others, for whatever reason, should not be applied to us!” The propositional foundation of protectionism claims: “We cannot be judged if our failures cannot be seen through the complex explanations, through the illusions, shadows, and thick walls!”<\/p>\n

(2)\u00a0Power<\/strong>, on the other hand, is to\u2014consciously or unconsciously\u2014exert supremacy or authority over others, to set our standards, and along with them our ‘selves,’ above others. Self-empowerment is the tyranny of self over others in an attempt to set the standards by which judgment can occur in the first place. “How can others judge us when they do not see or understand the standards as well as we do? Therefore we will make the standards clear to them, and see that they understand how well we perceive them and strive towards them while they do not.” The propositional foundation of power claims: “We cannot fail if we are the ones setting the bar!”<\/p>\n

Notice that in the end, both are, in a sense, identical because they produce the same result:<\/p>\n