2025-09-02_essentialism and perfectionism

essentialism and perfectionism are intensely and irrevocably intertwined. no perfectionism without a perfect “essence” to strive for. no essentialism without a “perfect” essence to point to.

i have been denouncing essentialism for a while now, but only now has this connection become this apparent to m(e). not until now have i managed to put it into these words. which is no doubt a culmination of m(y) disillusionment and exhaustion with m(y) own perfectionism. being perfectly anti-essentialist is a deep contradiction that will break you if you ignore it for too long. being perfectly anything is. but that was what i was trying to be(come). sub- and semi-consciously. the realization and the writing that essentialism and perfectionism are intertwined will not flip the switch and make m(e) immune to “falling for it” in the future. perfectionism cannot and will not be countered or “solved” by perfect anti-perfectionism. actual anti-perfectionism – imperfection and fragmentarity – include occasional bouts of perfectionism and perfectionist tendencies. and they include using the short- and middle-term energies animated by perfectionism for solidarity, care, freedom. but they do not include a long-term overpowering and colonizing by perfectionism of all parts of the body-mind.

perfection is nothing. imperfections are everything. and fragmentarity is (about) becoming the imperfect fragments of everything that you are, in solidarity with all others working and moving to lovingly co-transform our fragmentary world.