The Value of Insecurity

I have a hypothesis that the root of insecurity lies in imperfection.  So in a universe with no external standards of absolute truth, what is imperfection?  It is, of course, relative - in the sense that a thing is deemed imperfect if one's recollection of it does not conform to, or match up with, one's own personal standards.

There are two branches to this line of thought.  First, for those people who define themselves by the constructs, opinions, and moral codes of others (whether "others" represents parents, society, religion, etc.), perfection becomes a question of what matches those standards, i.e. one is insecure about those things that do not conform to those external expectations.  I should not be fat, and so I am insecure in my weight.  I should not leave my earwax on the doorhandle, I hope no one noticed.

For people who rely upon an internally-driven moral code, insecurity derives from there.  Whether one is pseudo-aware (you know, the people who define their moral code by some function (usually an inverse) applied to the societal norm - "I will wear my pants around my knees specifically because I am not supposed to") or deliberately independent ("I will decide for myself what kind of clothing to wear and how to wear it, and any relation to societal norms is through deliberate consideration of how they will or will not serve my needs"), insecurity comes from the recognition that what one has done is not in alignment with what should be.

What makes this tricky (at least in the latter case) is that it is hard to distinguish between imperfection resulting from lack of adherence to one's own moral code, and imperfection resulting from a lack of faith in the legitimacy of one's own moral code (after all, if you have a code you don't fully believe is correct, following it still leads to the same uncertainty/insecurity).

So what is perfection?  Harmony between action and belief.  When acting in harmony with one's beliefs, there is no place or need for insecurity.

Which, like so many things, brings one back to the Path of the Warrior.  Or to say it another way, insecurity can be a signpost letting you know that you have strayed from that Path.