There are others who are vexed with themselves when they observe their own imperfectness, and display an impatience that is not humility; so impatient are they about this that they would fain be saints in a day.
John of the Cross
The desire for instant perfection is an acute flaw plaguing many beginners of the virtuous life. These people see the virtuous life as a drive-through. They order a value meal of courage or purity with the expectation that in less than a week, a month, or year they will be valiant warriors or temperament saints. They suppose they are virtuous because they have read the ‘right’ books, have the ‘right’ thoughts, and can speak the ‘right’ moral language. They are zealous for law written on each person’s heart and often find others wanting in their approaches to the virtuous life. They hide their faults from those they esteem highly, unless it is advantageous to appear humble. They believe themselves clean on the inside because they are squeaky clean on the outside.
Mean while, they do little to ride themselves of the many ‘cues’ in their lives that spark the ‘old desires.’ Thus, while striving to loose weight in hopes of gaining greater self-control, they go out with friends to Buffalo Wild Wings believing themselves strong enough to only eat a salad. This is like the person who desires to grow-up by not having boorish humor anymore, but sits around and watches Family Guy. At first they may succeed, but very quickly they fall into temptation. They slowly begin to rationalize their situation: ‘Well . . . I did eat a small breakfast’ or ‘Well . . . I can run more tomorrow’ or ‘Well . . . didn’t God call all things good?’ Such rationalizations allow them to keep imagining themselves as virtuous, but for all their ‘good thoughts’ they are no more likely to control their desires than their friends.
Being in such a state, they will slowly notice their actions are not matching up to the desired state of self-control, thus a waning desire for virtue begins. Different forms of despair will begin to settle in. They might try to arouse their self-confidence by priding themselves above others, for while they might have failed at being perfect, they are certainly better than their fellow man. How could they not be, for at least they tried . . . Right? Yet, this form of pride can only last for so long before reason sees the delusion (hopefully), and they tend to drift back to acting just like they did a week, month, or year a go, and in some cases they are even worse. All to often, these people begin to blame virtue and slowly, through a process of repeated failures and corrupt thinking, they either begin to believe (on various scales) the vicious as virtuous and the virtuous as vicious, or they become pessimists of moral development.
But just like all imperfection, this desire for instant perfection is not departing anytime soon. Cultivating the virtues is a slow brewing process. They are like a good whisky. They require diligence, persistence, and a heart directed towards the good. All whisky brewers know that the right conditions, ingredients, and methods are required to achieve the desired state of delectability; likewise, the patient person desiring virtue, knows his predominating faults and seeks with all his heart to avoid situations, occasions, and objects that weaken his moral sentiments. When failure occurs, his sadness does not lead to a self-pity sorrow but to a daring hope to keep pressing on towards happiness. After repenting to God and neighbor, he learns what he needs to learn from his failing and moves on. No point dwelling on the past, for the vitreous know that it is through repeated failures of attempting great actions that success will come. He knows the more good thoughts and actions brew in their soul, the happier he will be.
Thus, if one wishes to advance in the good life, they will need to work on riding themselves of the desire to be perfect tomorrow. Unless God miraculous purifies them, which He can do, the process of moral development takes many years. This will no doubt discourage many, but there is no fix quick to habitual vice. Sorry! Even the Christian, who processes sanctifying grace, is not instantaneously perfect, but must “put on the virtues of Christ,” as Paul says.
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