A Bundle of Mistakes!

There is a phrase in a certain language that roughly translates as ‘A human being is a bundle of mistakes’.  This phrase indicates that making mistakes (understood here as an action that one later comes to regard as wrong) is something intrinsic to human beings and can be regarded as one of their distinguishing features.

Of none of the millions of other species or life-forms that exist in the universe, including animals, fish, birds and plants, do we say that they err or make mistakes. It is only of human beings that we say this. Perhaps the reason is that all the other many species always do just as they are meant to, on every occasion and in every circumstance. This is because they are programmed to behave this way. Their programming is such that they can never deviate from this pattern, not even to the slightest degree. Because of this, we do not say that they can or do make mistakes.

In contrast, humans are the only species that are able, or that appear to be able, to choose to act freely, as per their choice. This is because, unlike all other beings, humans appear to possess freewill. On account of this, they can sometimes choose to act, or appear to choose to act, in ways that they may later come to see as not wholesome or good. In other words, they can sometimes make what are considered as mistakes.

‘To err is human’, as is rightly said. Keeping this fact in mind can be helpful to us as we go through life. When we come across ourselves making what we think is a mistake, or when we face another person doing the same thing, bringing this fact to mind can help us handle the situation we are confronted with in a more wholesome manner. We can then be more kind and patient with ourselves or others, as the case might be.

As far as we are consciously aware, this is the first time we are alive, here on Earth. Seemingly without any prior experience of living, and that too in a complex world like the one where we are now, it is but natural that every now and then we will make what later seem to us to be mistakes as we plod through life. Awareness of this can help us take a more charitable view of our mistakes, and that of others, too. It can lead us to overlook minor misdemeanours or petty foibles, our own and that of others, in the knowledge that as inexperienced beings going through this earthly life, such hiccups can easily be overlooked. The same awareness can also lead us to forgive ourselves, and others, for larger misdemeanours, on the same grounds.

Mistake-making is part of living in this world as a human being, just as natural for us as, say, eating, breathing and talking, although not necessarily as frequent in its occurrence. That said, it does not mean that we need not make efforts to prevent mistakes from happening or that we should ignore or condone them when they do. It also does not mean that we need not try to not repeat them or to learn appropriate lessons from them. It only means that making mistakes is something that is intrinsic to being human, and not something unnatural or unexpected. Accepting this as part of the human predicament, we can learn how best to avoid making mistakes and, if and when they occur, how best to respond to them.