How is it possible to even measure advancement in life? How would anyone know if they had advanced one iota towards the unconcious oneness? How would spirit guides measure advancement?

Does 'to self-perfect' necessarily involve 'to obtain perfection'?

Let's look at science. The common-sense view of science says that it is about removing uncertainty, about making things more solid.

But some would argue (myself among them) that what science simultaneously does is increase the bounds of what we don't know. Physicists with particle accelerators are expanding human knowledge, yes, but what we often don't realise is that in the process they are expanding human un-knowledge at a much greater rate. It used to be the case that the world was made of atoms, and we didn't know what an atom was made of. Then someone split the atom into protons, neutrons, and electrons, and suddenly we knew what atoms were made of, but we had these new things called protons, neutrons, and electrons, and we didn't know what they were made of. Then protons were split into gluons and quarks and all that other crazy stuff about uncertainty that no-one really understands because you have to tie your brain in knots to get it, and we're in an even worse position.

So while we do know an increasing body of stuff as time progresses, over the same time the body of stuff that we don't know increases exponentially (and becomes even weirder and more unfathomable to the non-physicist).

Right, hopefully that makes sense. Next point:

Is it possible to know absolutely everything about absolutely everything? Seems unlikely. If you did, you'd be omniscient, and thus, God with a capital G, by most definitions of God.

If we take it as given that it's impossible to know absolutely everything without being God, science becomes not a focussing of a blurry image until we can make out the details (ie obtaining knowledge of absolutely everything), but a zooming in on a blurry image until we find that each of the individual details is itself a blurry image that we need to focus in on further, infinitely repeated.

Does that make sense?

So, here's the point: Even though we can't ever know everything, it would be foolish to argue that the pursuit of science is a pointless exercise just because there is no yardstick, because even though we are expanding what we don't know, and rapidly, we are expanding what we do know simultaneously, and that has amazing benefits. Like the internet, for example, or 'modern medicine'.

I claim that the argument against self-perfection you are offering is similarly flawed. Just because we can never actually attain self-perfection doesn't mean we shouldn't try to, so long as awareness that we are never going to reach self-perfection is maintained.

This is actually an argument along the lines of one my parents have given me pro-Rawatism: the movement is consistently revisionary just because it needs to keep destroying the idea of what 'Knowledge' is, otherwise the premies will feel like they have 'attained' it, and are thus 'complete.' There's the paradox of course - part of the doctrine of Rawatism just is that you are 'already' complete and you should try and remember that every day, even while the definition of 'complete' or 'fulfilled' or 'at peace' constantly changes. I'm speaking from halfpie memory of snatches of speeches I was exposed to when I went to visit my parents, but I think from memory post 9/11 Rawat suddenly started talking about peace, and attempting to actively engage with the UN (leaving aside arguments about the legitimacy of such engagement).

"hey you guys, get with it, I am perfect, I am a breeze to live with, no one can upset me, no one can get upset by me, no one can say I didnt attain such and such samadhi,..."

One can turn to one's friends and say, 'you know, I've been thinking lately, I feel like a complete human being' and leave it at that. Not am but feel like. Sometimes people look at you funny. We're supposed to feel incomplete, and like our life lacks meaning. It's funny how they've invented the quarter life crisis now. I figure it's something to help sell Prozac. Prozac sales figures in the United States are astounding - something like 1/5 to 1/3 of the population feels like their life sucks enough to justify spending money on pills to try to make them feel better.