How does religion help in shaping me to become nice and perfect?

Religion encourages us to have only pure thoughts and do only good deeds. Need I remind you of the Ten Commandments? I personally think there needs to be an expanded set of commandments that are not quite so dictatorial and encourage us to think critically for ourselves and stay in balance. Yes, working hard, taking care of others, and trying to be kind and generous are admirable traits (along with not coveting your neighbor’s spouse), but not to the exclusion of all others. Where do we receive adequate spiritual guidance to put ourselves first and to do unto ourselves as we would do to others? Even thinking this way may feel like blasphemy.

 

In general, the more deeply steeped you are in religious precepts or the more ingrained your training, the more you may feel the need to hold on to the nice parts of you and discard the rest for fear of not living up to spiritual ideals. Being nice exclusively is a wistful ideal, but not possible. Humans have imperfections and the model of trying to be perfect is not a healthy one. If you can tolerate the challenge, you have a better chance of overcoming perfectionism and shucking the problems you have with being overly nice and overly attached to food.