English poet Ben Jonson was of the opinion, "And in short measures life may perfect be." From needlework to nuclear science, perfection is a short-term thing. Shakespeare laments in The Two Gentlemen of Verona "Oh heaven! Were man but constant, he were perfect". In the long run, all things change, and perfection also changes with it. Only thing constant in life is change, and only thing perfect is the change that has remained a constant.

What does it mean to be perfect? It's a quality, trait or feature of the highest degree of excellence. A man can be an angel in his highest form of virtue. A woman can be a fairy in the highest form of her beauty. These are all metaphors, not metamorphosis, the Promised Land, which can't be traveled. Perfection exists like the moon, which is visible but not reachable.

An English novelist once said that it was delightful to talk of perfection, but it was vastly far more amusing to talk of errors and absurdities. One of the most resounding testimonies against perfection is history, which repeats itself again and again. It seems that the process of human destiny is stuck in a dead end, varying only in style but not in substance.

Take the example of Robert Bruce, the King of Scotland, who was hiding in a cave for three months after being defeated in a battle. At the lowest point of his life, he thought about leaving the country and never coming back. One day he watched a spider building a web in the cave's entrance. The spider fell down time after time, but finally it succeeded with its web. That is when Bruce decided also to retry his fight and told his men: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again".

But that was tenacity, not perfection. You can also call it persistence, in some cases, even perseverance. Gamblers and racetrack addicts are most afflicted by it, as they place hope against hope in their muddled conviction to win. These are people, who perfect their tenacity with each try, because they believe success comes by the way of Russian roulette: the real bullet is hidden among the blanks.

Perfectionists are people, who have the tenacity for perfection. They believe one must try again and again in order to improve on what they have already done best. These are people who are never afraid to lose, but winning isn't satisfying unless they have won it well. These are people, who get perfect score in the examinations, still believing that there was room for them to do even more. Each time they do the job right, they want to do it better, like a maniac for cleanliness wants to become cleaner with each wash of hands.

The futility of the practice for perfection comes from there. You must learn to accept that things in life cannot be made any better. "None of us are perfect", said Oscar Wilde. But Irish poet James Stephens has come out even stronger. "Finality is death. Perfection is finality. Nothing is perfect", he proclaimed. Every man works within a scheme of life and perfection is when that scheme runs its course. Perfection is when all things have reached their peaks, when nothing can be done better, when the bus has reached the last stop and you cannot go no more.

Take religion, take philosophy, take opinion and take ideology. So many people have taken them from so many angles, yet there is no single height for any of them. Instead people failed to agree for centuries, and they have been divided again and again. Perfection has proved to be its own antithesis, it is the most imperfect thing.

Thus perfection is the vertical limit that doesn't exist. It's the shining palace on the mountain that nobody has seen. It's the chimera, the old spinning lady on the moon, the alter ego of the human frailty, the opposite of the glass ceiling. There are people who believe in it like they believe in ghosts and spirits. There are people who believe in it like they believe in legends and myths.

So, how do you practice for it? How do you practice for the imaginary, if not by imagination? Patrick White is an Australian novelist, who writes that only a few people are comfortable with the idea of self-improvement, while others find it insulting. There are others who prefer to live in the theory, not in the practice, and only a few stubborn ones keep on making blunders in their ambition to become perfect.

Practice for it if you will, but don't expect it to happen. And don't forget what William Blake said: " The errors of a wise man make your rule rather than the perfections of a fool." Aspire to be perfect if you like, but don't turn perfection into an obsession. Don't let it become a sickness of mind.

Holy men meditate for year after year in order to perfect their knowledge of truth. They go through austere practices and extreme conditions of self-denial, often without food, shelter and creature comfort. What they look for is a light to perfect their souls, the light that brings the wisdom of the ultimate truth.

Perfection in any form or shape is the hidden light that is never found. And that hidden light is the excellence of things, which is embedded in the intrinsic value of goals set by men. But then it's not the same thing to achieve perfection as to reach a goal. If the goal is to climb a tree, perfection is to climb it without a hazard or fall. If the goal is to solve a problem, perfection is to solve it without making any errors. The goal defines the end, and perfection defines the means.

Is it important to be perfect, if you need to practice it? German poet Goethe observed that what was important in life was life itself, not a result of life. You may have a few glitches and goof-ups, but why bother about the result so long as you have fun on the game!

That reminds us of Carrie Jacobs Bond, an American songwriter, who wrote, " Do you think what the end of a perfect day can mean to a tired heart/ When the sun goes down with a flaming ray and the dear friends have to part?" Only thing perfect is the mystery of how the beginning comes to its end. That's the only thing you practice, which is already perfect!

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.