Perspective
( Gen. 1:26-28 ) God's word is the source of life which enables man to exist in a blessed state. To reject God's word is to default to the word of Satan who says we can be complete in ourselves. To reject God's word is to allow fear to enter as a constant because we can never be complete unless we live by God's word.
( Gen. 3:1-5 ) Be as God, be perfect and independent. Shame came as they realized they were not perfect. Without God in their consciousness - separated from His Spirit - now on their own, trying to be god by their own wisdom and strength, they allowed the spirit of competition, the spirit of self-consciousness, the spirit of self-interest to prevail.
The issue is a quest for completeness. Man is designed by God to focus on and to help complete others. By so doing he completes himself. The need to be complete is inherent in man but this is only possible when man lives by the word of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit, man is enabled to apply the word which conforms man to the image of Christ. Accordingly, this image is one of self donation in the Spirit of Christ to consider others of great value and importance ( Luke 9:23-25 ; Phil. 2:3-4 ).
This is accomplished as we put-off self-effort and rely on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in all of life's functions in a spirit of purity and holiness - being God conscious - revealing the character of God through us to the world. The emphasis, therefore, is to stop trying to be god, and let God be God for us, in us, as us ( Gal. 2:20 ; Col. 1:27 ).
Humanism
Who I am is my performance as rated by someone. Since God is not or no longer in the scheme of life, there is a constant need to be accepted and approved by others, a never ending cycle to be perfect and complete in their eyes. Rejection and shame, a sense of incompleteness, awaits at every corner. To counter this state of anxiety, man looks to himself, to his accomplishments, to the things of the world, and to the approval and acceptance of others to fulfill his needs. This quest for gratification, for the longings of the mind, for assurance of one's own resources and reliance on earthly things leads to emptiness, futility and destruction ( 1 John 2:16 ).
Elements of Perfectionism
Independence: Make myself perfect as God without God.
Shame: Looking at myself, seeing imperfection, brings on shame and embarrassment.
Rejection: Emphasis is on my own needs, and I will do anything to save myself even to the point of destroying others.
Perfectionism: Who I am now is dependent upon my performance and the rating of my performance. Need acceptance and approval of others even of God.
Solutions
( Col. 2:10 ; John 16:8-13 ) We can be complete only in God.
( 1 John 1:7 ; Phil. 2:12-13 ) As we obey His commandments, He works in us to complete us.
( Eph. 4:22-24 ) Our job is to put-off the obsession with the self, and put-on the true self: Jesus Christ.
( Matt. 22:37-39 ) The emphasis is on God to fill us with His Presence. As we allow His divine wisdom to penetrate our intellect, our memories, our emotions and our wills, we will be able to love as He loves.
Key: We are imperfect. God uses trials and temptations to reveal these imperfections in order to prompt us to turn to Him to complete the process began in the 1st Adam. Through our human spirit, the Spirit of God fulfills and completes our souls, clearing away the areas of imperfections, to enable us to do the things Jesus did: to bless others and to destroy the works of the devil.