To a perfectionist, rationalization and acceptance could be considered equal — and perhaps also equally intolerable — mental states. I should know, I am one of them. I frame the possible future in terms of its relation to 100 percent success all the while placing the onus of achieving it on assumptions that I gave less effort to than the image of success I first defined. That, in reality, constitutes placing an “I wish” above an “it is”. We could quote Sir Francis Bacon: “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed”. Could this also include human nature? If we didn’t have the desire for a better or more perfect life, then we would never have the problem of misidentifying a desire with an desired end and never confuse acceptance with a misguided rationalization.