imperfection by concern with important things

Preoccupation with self is good, as is a tendency toward procrastination, self-delusion, darkness, jealousy, groveling, greediness, addictiveness. They shouldn’t be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting. I like for them to have a nice sick sense of humor and to be concerned with important things, by which I mean that they are interested in political and psychological and spiritual matters. I want them to want to know who we are and what life is all about. I like them to be mentally ill in the same sorts of ways that I am.

I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.

linked mentions for "imperfection by concern with important things":

1. Bird by Bird
   the idea of spending entire days in someone else’s office doing someone else’s work did not suit my father’s soul One of the gifts of being a
   
2. human capacity for self-detachment
   To detach oneself from even the worst conditions is a uniquely human capability. However, this unique capacity of man to detach himself from any