TALENTS PARABLE. I told AI to tell the parable about talents in 3 sentences. Then I had to ask for a 4th sentence, since 3 weren't enough. Here's AI's summary of the parable.
SUMMARY. A wealthy master gives different amounts of money (talents) to three servants before leaving on a journey. The first two servants invest and double their talents, while the third servant fearfully buries his single talent. When the master returns, he rewards the productive servants and punishes the unproductive one, teaching a lesson about using one's gifts wisely and taking initiative. The master stripped the unproductive servant of his single talent and banished him to "outer darkness," a metaphorical place of punishment and exclusion.
CONTRA V. OKAY. I'm sometimes a contrarian and like to make fun of religious stories a little, while also acknowledging their wisdom, if any is apparent. Pushing the envelope? — So I say the master should have been grateful that the third servant gave him back his damn talent, instead of stealing it or losing it. Instead, he kicked him out into the outer darkness in outer space or somewhere fatal. What an ingrate. — But, more seriously, the talents of silver apparently symbolize actual talents that everyone is born with, or bestowed with at some point. — I do try to remain mindful of the need to make the best use of my time and ability.
PRAYER. I learned long ago to pray as often as I can remember to, when I notice I need guidance or ideas etc, because I discovered that God is our best friend who wants us to be happy all the time, no matter what situation we're in. Prior to that revelation, I had thought that God was a perfectionist who wanted us to be perfect and would criticize us for every imperfection. I noticed that my Dad was like that, so I must have subconsciously gotten my idea of God’s character from my parents’ characters and maybe other elders as well.
GUILT V. GUILT TRIPS. If we do something wrong God gives us a feeling of guilt to point it out, but we can still be happy while feeling guilt, since God will gently tell us how to correct our wrongdoing too, in a way that we can handle. We need to be wary of false guilt though, because many of us grow up with guilt trips being laid on us by others, when the wrongdoing that's implied isn't real. So putting false guilt trips on others is a wrongdoing too. Si?
PERFECTIONISM. Perfectionism is also a wrongdoing, because it's an obsession with trying to avoid guilt or avoid errors. A better attitude is to realize that making errors is part of growing up. The other parts are learning from the errors and correcting them. The learning and correcting usually involve some errors too, so it may be necessary to do some fine-tuning of corrections. But, LOOK OUT! for Perfectionism, by fine-tuning TOO MUCH! (There’s never a moment’s rest from trying not to make mistakes — unless you’re “lucky” and happy.)
ONLINE STORY. AI found the following dumb story online for me.
In my early days as a content marketer, I was tasked with writing an important email for a client1. Determined to make it perfect, I spent hours crafting every sentence, triple-checking for errors. Finally, I hit send, feeling confident in my flawless work.
Minutes later, I received a frantic call from my boss. In my perfectionist haze, I had accidentally addressed the email to "Dear Cat's Tail" instead of the client's name1. Mortified, I quickly sent an apology email, explaining the error.
However, in my rush to correct the mistake, I made another blunder. The subject line of the apology email read "Oops! I screwed up!" which was far too casual for our corporate client3. Realizing this, I sent yet another email to apologize for the inappropriate subject line.
By this point, I was in a full-blown panic, obsessing over every word. I drafted a final, ultra-formal apology email, spending hours perfecting it. Just as I was about to send it, my boss stepped in and said, "Enough. The client has already forgiven you. Let's move on."
That's when it hit me: my perfectionism was causing more problems than it solved4. I learned that sometimes, good enough is better than perfect, and that mistakes can be valuable learning opportunities7. Now, whenever I find myself obsessing over details, I remember the "Cat's Tail" incident and remind myself that it's okay to be human5.
Surprisingly, AI found several criticisms of the Parable about Talents.12, 10, 1. “These alternative interpretations challenge the common view that the parable is about using one's God-given talents productively. Instead, they propose that it might be a criticism of unjust economic systems and the exploitation of the poor11.” Well, okay, I’m okay with there being more than one interpretation.