This past weekend I attended the “Gifted and Talented: Heart and Mind Matters” Spring symposium sponsored by the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Association for Gifted and Talented. The highlights of the symposium were two presentations given by Dr. Linda Silverman of the Gifted Development Center in Denver Colorado. Dr. Silverman is a leading authority on the psychological aspects of giftedness.
I had a few observations from the “Perfectionism” session that I wanted to share. In Dr. Silverman’s discussion regarding perfectionism, I found it particularly interesting to note that, regardless of the points she was attempting to make, some attendees simply couldn’t break from the conditioned belief that perfectionism can never be achieved. They just couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea that the pursuit of perfection can be healthy and can be achievable.
Also, a few errant examples of the topic came to my mind as Dr. Silverman talked about perfectionism. The ancient samurai of feudal Japan held that perfectionism was the goal of all actions, so much so that they actively tried to achieve perfection in everything they did, from swordplay, to painting, to how that might use a spoon. In another example, I recall a story concerning a chip in the knee of Michelangelo’s Moses. In one version of the story, it is said that the sculpture came out so perfect that Michelangelo became frustrated when it refused to speak and struck it. In another version, it was said that Michelangelo, realizing that he had created something perfect (a right reserved to God alone), struck the imperfection into the statue to avoid offending God.