Infinity and Finity

Perfection belongs to man becoming God or God becoming man


Perfection does not belong to God as God, nor does it belong to man as man. We get perfection when man becomes God or when God becomes man. The finite being who is conscious of his being finite is obviously short of perfection; but when he is conscious of being one with the Infinite, he is perfect. That is what happens when man gives up the illusion of being finite and attains Godhood by realising his divinity.

If by the Infinite we mean that which is opposed to the finite, or that which is away from the finite, and necessarily other than the finite, that Infinite is already limited by its being unable to assert itself in and through the finite. In other words, perfection cannot belong to such an Infinite. The Infinite, therefore, has to discover its unlimited life in and through the finite without getting limited by this process. God's perfection is revealed only when He manifests Himself as man. The conscious descent of God into the limited form of man is known as Avatar. This again is a case of perfection.

Thus we have perfection when the finite transcends its limits and realises its infinity, or when the Infinite gives up its supposed aloofness and becomes man. In both cases the finite and the Infinite do not stand outside each other. When there is a happy and a conscious blending of the finite and the Infinite we have perfection. Then we have the Infinite revealing itself through the finite without getting limited thereby, and we have the finite transcending its sense of limitation in the full knowledge of its really being the revelation of the Infinite.

-- Meher Baba, Discourses, Vol I., 119-120

I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine the two Avatars who form the foundation of the Christian Tradition.