Every mistake leads to the accumulation of experience. The motive of the search for truth in works of Russian literature. “Only those who do nothing make no mistakes”
Errare humanum est! The Latin aphorism, uttered by the great orator Mark Seneca the Elder, is known throughout the world and means that error is the path to truth. Why does this aphorism remain relevant for centuries? Let's try to answer this question.
Error is a property of regularity
Humans tend to make mistakes. We've all heard this once. The world-famous Latin aphorism - Errare humanum est - has an analogue in Russian: “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.” IN personal experience, in scientific discoveries, on a community-wide scale, there may be an inherent error. The question is the degree of responsibility for it.
Indeed, in order for progressive development to occur, error is simply necessary. What is its nature? This is an area of ignorance, an area of experimentation with the boundaries of knowledge. If a person knows the solution to problems, it will not be difficult for him to choose the best way developments of events. The scale is not important, this applies to both the individual and society as a whole.
Nature of the error
In his development, a person constantly overcomes his own boundaries. That is why knowledge is so difficult for a person. It doesn't matter if it is practical (how to do something) or a process of spiritual growth. In the process of choice, a person commits an action. He always chooses. But it's not always correct. And the price of a mistake varies. Hence another saying: “A person punishes himself in a way that no one else can do.”
The nature of the error is hidden in the mechanism of cognition: Errare humanum est! A mistake is not knowing the best option. But it is thanks to her that new perspectives and opportunities open up. The experience of knowledge is always associated with the risk of making an erroneous choice, but there is no other option. An experiment is a test of the truth of a solution; any hypotheses are confirmed experimentally.
History knows many facts when repeated failure in experiments led to a discovery of world significance.
Historical mistakes
History knows of cases when an error caused discoveries on a global scale. For example, an error in the trajectory of Columbus's sea voyage gave him a chance to discover America.
The erroneous principle of socialist equality, embedded in the foundation of the Soviet state, showed an example of the strength of the ideological foundation of society.
Error does not always lead to truth. More often it reveals imperfections in cognition, the limitations of our capabilities and is an incentive to search for a better option. In this sense, we can also talk about the creative power of error.
Errare humanum est! The translation of this Latin expression is literally: “Error is human nature.” Indeed, the entire path of development of Homo sapiens is a movement towards one’s nature, towards self-knowledge, a process of self-improvement. And the initial principle of the imperfection of its nature is the a priori recognition of an error in choosing a variant of the development of events.
Analogues of the expression
In Russian verbal creativity there are many statements that are similar in meaning and succinct in content:
- “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.”
- "You learn from mistakes."
- "A mistake is the right decision under other conditions."
- “Freedom is nothing if the right to make mistakes is excluded” (M. Gandhi).
- “The majority is always wrong, the truth is in the minority” (Ibsen).
- “A smart person not only makes mistakes himself, but gives others a chance” (Churchill).
All statements have the same meaning: admitting a mistake is a condition of human freedom, everyone has the right to do exactly that.
As Chesterfield said: “Fear of the possibility of error should not deter us from the search for truth.”
Source:Current
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
What could be the path to truth? In my opinion, this path can be different: short, if fear and laziness overcome the desire to become stronger and learn the truth, and long, if this desire is stronger than any obstacles that the person himself sets for himself. But whatever the path to truth, it always lies through self-knowledge.
I want to prove my opinion based on the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace". The central character of the work is Pierre Bezukhov, who spent all his free time with Dolokhov and Anatoly Kuragin. Together they led a wild life. But Pierre could be understood, because he was very young, he did not have enough experience to correctly assess his social circle, he committed absurd acts, married Helen Kuragina, which turned out to be a wrong decision in his life. He even fell into the hands of the freemason Bazdeev.
But by going through these tests, Pierre learned the truth. He starts studying social activities, determines his social circle. And he achieved all this by going through difficult trials.
Updated: 2017-09-06
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The path to Truth lies through the unknown, where many dangers and traps await the seeker. Showing inattention and making mistakes can lead the seeker into one of these traps, slow down learning for a long time, and even lead to unwanted emotional states. Article " Ten most common mistakes on the seeker's path"Written based on personal experience, as well as questions and solutions to the problems of seekers who contact me.
I will be glad if this helps you avoid problems along the search path.
1. Replacement of real experience with concepts
“You won’t be satisfied with your lunch.”
Until the seeker rids his mind of the substitution of concepts for truth, that is, conceptual karma, he will not be able to understand, feel, or experience the spiritual reality that the Vedic scriptures or the master speak about.
2. Attempts to give your own explanations of spiritual teachings or the words of a mentor
“Searching in the writings or words of a mentor for confirmation of one’s beliefs will not allow one to see more than the content of one’s own beliefs.”
When the seeker creates his own explanations, some of his ideas are replaced by others, which leads to the creation in the seeker’s mind of a “new spiritual paradigm”, which, conflicting with the previous paradigm (worldview system), built on generally accepted social concepts, creates even more disturbances in the mind and can cause mental, social and even mental problems.
3. Failure to see the right indicators in the words of a mentor or teachings
“I can give you enlightenment, but can you take it?”
The meaning of the expression “The teacher appears where the student appears” should be understood in such a way that when the student is ready to change his attention, then absolutely everything that was previously unnoticed because of his passion for playing with his own importance becomes a teacher.
If the words of a mentor or scripture cause resistance, tension, agitation of the mind and even a desire to argue or object, then this indicates that the seeker’s mind is overcrowded with beliefs and ideas and is not ready to knowledge of the Truth. For someone who seeks in everything only confirmation of his concepts and beliefs, nothing and no one - neither a sage nor a holy scripture - can become a teacher and the height of ignorance is the desire to blame the teacher for one’s inability to understand his words, which is tantamount to blaming the world because for the imperfections of their perception.
4. Inability to discard unnecessary things in time
“I gave you the raft only to cross the river on it, so why do you continue to drag it along land?”
For a seeker who is not ready to directly comprehend the truth, during the first period of training, the mentor creates intermediate concepts, like crutches that help him get on his feet. If, as the seeker develops, he does not discard these auxiliary concepts in time, then instead of learning, he risks creating a “New Age religion” in his mind and ending up in a mental dead end.
5. Giving significance to your actions, things, events, ideas, words
“Don’t put yourself on a pedestal, and you will free yourself from the fear of falling off it.”
Attaching special significance to something indicates the attachment of the mind to an object, subject, action or idea of the mind and indicates excessive conceit and an overinflated ego, which is incompatible with practice knowledge of the Truth and serves as a reason for creating fears, worries and worries.
6. Creating new desires
“All desires are bad, but there are even worse ones.”
Desire is like a coin being tossed up, with pleasure on one side and suffering on the other. The essence of desires is like a many-headed hydra, in which, instead of a severed head, two new ones grow. The irrepressibility of desires forces your “I” to constantly spin in the wheel of samsara. At the same time, it is pointless to fight desires, because the desire to fight or suppress a desire is also a desire. At first, the seeker can be guided by such desires as to know the truth, not create new desires, achieve enlightenment, self-realization, etc. But as the ability to distinguish true from false develops, even such desires must be recognized as an extra karmic burden and eliminated in a manner appropriate to karma, for desires are always associated with the desire to improve one’s imaginary image of oneself, which strengthens the ego and gives rise to suffering.
7. The desire to achieve a goal
“There is nothing you can achieve and take with you.”
All goals are imaginary. The future is just an imagination created with the help of memory from fragments of the past stored in it. Reality is only here and now, and all you can do is happen and change along with what is happening here and now. The idea that you have achieved something in something that is constantly changing indicates that you have found yourself in another mental trap. The desire for a goal forces one to constantly keep in mind the idea of what does not exist here and now, which makes the mind even more restless, leads to loss of balance and senseless waste of vital forces and prevents the comprehension of the Truth.
8. Attachments
“Suddenly arising excitement, tension, resistance or fears when confronted with the unknown indicate strong emotional attachments created in the mind.”
Attachments arise due to the failure to distinguish the effect of connecting thoughts with feelings, which results in the assignment of objects or events to one’s imaginary “I” on an emotional level. The mental structures created in this way require large expenses for their maintenance. vital energy, which is expressed in the form of emotional experiences. Creating such illusory ideas about your imaginary self and its attachments becomes an obstacle in knowledge of the Truth.
9. Inability to properly direct your attention
“Those who do not learn to manage their attention sooner or later encounter a problem such as the emergence of negative states for no apparent reason.”
The correct direction of attention is determined by the fact that the question formed for self-inquiry should not be aimed at finding a conceptual explanation for misunderstanding of teachings or events occurring in the mind, but at eliminating internal reasons, causing this misunderstanding. An indicator of the correct direction of attention is peace of mind.
10. Rejection (lack of humility)
“Never look outside for the cause of your internal problems.”
What happened cannot be different and nothing in it could have been different, because it happened exactly this way and no other way. The inability to accept what is happening as it is leads to a cyclical reproduction of experiences, causing a loss of vital energy with all the ensuing consequences. To prevent what is happening from causing emotionally destructive reactions, you should get rid of evaluativeness, learning not to create ideas about what should be like.
P.S. If someone has encountered problems not described in this article, or has not found an answer to their questions, they can get an answer in the site’s open consultations by asking a question about the essence of the problem they are having.
Stanislav Milevich
Mark Seneca the Elder, is known throughout the world and means that error is the path to truth. Why does it remain relevant for centuries? Let's try to answer this question.
Error is a property of regularity
We've all heard this once. The world-famous Latin aphorism - Errare humanum est - has an analogue in Russian: “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.” There may be an error in personal experience, in scientific discoveries, or on a community-wide scale. The question is the degree of responsibility for it.
Indeed, in order for progressive development to take place, error is simply necessary. What is its nature? This is an area of ignorance, an area of experimentation with the boundaries of knowledge. If a person knows the solution to problems, it will not be difficult for him to choose the best path for the development of events. The scale is not important, this applies to both the individual and society as a whole.
Nature of the error
In his development, a person constantly overcomes his own boundaries. That is why knowledge is so difficult for a person. It doesn't matter if it is practical (how to do something) or a process of spiritual growth. In the process of choice, a person commits an action. He always chooses. But it's not always correct. And the price of a mistake varies. Hence another saying: “A person punishes himself in a way that no one else can do.”
The nature of the error is hidden in the mechanism of cognition: Errare humanum est! A mistake is not knowing the best option. But it is thanks to her that new perspectives and opportunities open up. The experience of knowledge is always associated with the risk of making an erroneous choice, but there is no other option. An experiment is a test of the truth of a solution; any hypotheses are confirmed experimentally.
History knows many facts when repeated failure in experiments led to a discovery of world significance.
Historical mistakes
History knows of cases when an error caused discoveries on a global scale. For example, an error in the trajectory of Columbus's sea voyage gave him a chance to discover America.
The erroneous principle of socialist equality, embedded in the foundation of the Soviet state, showed an example of the strength of the ideological foundation of society.
Error does not always lead to truth. More often it reveals imperfections in cognition, the limitations of our capabilities and is an incentive to search for a better option. In this sense, we can also talk about the creative power of error.
Errare humanum est! The translation of this literally sounds like this: “An error is inherent. Indeed, the entire path of development of Homo sapiens is a movement towards his nature, towards self-knowledge, a process of self-improvement. And the initial principle of the imperfection of his nature is the a priori recognition of an error in choosing the option for the development of events.
Analogues of the expression
In Russian verbal creativity there are many statements that are similar in meaning and succinct in content:
- “He who does nothing makes no mistakes.”
- "You learn from mistakes."
- "A mistake is the right decision under other conditions."
- nothing if the right to make a mistake is excluded" (M. Gandhi).
- “The majority is always wrong, the truth is in the minority” (Ibsen).
- “A smart person not only makes mistakes himself, but gives others a chance” (Churchill).
All statements have the same meaning: admitting a mistake is a condition of human freedom, everyone has the right to do exactly that.
As Chesterfield said: “Fear of the possibility of error should not deter us from the search for truth.”
Life is a long road to perfection. Everyone goes through it on their own. This means that he grows up on his own, gets acquainted with the changes that occur inside a person, gets to know the world with its unpredictable course of history, like the movement of atmospheric masses. But humanity does not want to learn from the mistakes of previous generations, and stubbornly steps on the same rake again and again.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” took a painfully long time to create. The tragic story of several generations of one family, caught in a whirlpool of terrible destructive events, gives an idea of the mistakes that lead to the collapse and death of almost all members of the Melekhov family. The explanatory dictionary gives the concept of the word error:
unintentional deviation from right actions, actions, thoughts.
I think the key word in this definition is “unintentional.” No one wants to make mistakes on purpose, to spite everyone and everything. Most often, when a person makes a mistake, he is confident that he is right. This is what Grigory Melekhov does. Throughout the entire novel, he does everything somehow “out of his mind.” Against a reasonable, logical refusal of love for the married Aksinya, he achieves a reciprocal feeling:
He persistently, with brutal persistence, courted her.
When the father decides to marry his son to a girl from a wealthy family, without having any feelings for Natalya, only obeying the will of Pantelei Prokofich, Grigory makes another mistake. Returning to Aksinya, then abandoning her, returning to Natalya, Grigory rushes between two differently beloved women. The mistake ends in tragedy for both: one dies from an abortion, the other dies from a bullet. So it is in determining his path in the revolution: he seeks harmony, the highest truth, truth, but does not find them anywhere. And the transition from the Reds to the Cossacks, and then to the Whites, new transition to the Reds also does not bring him freedom, justice, or harmony. “Blessed is he who visited our world in fatal moments,” F.I. Tyutchev once said. Gregory - a saint in a soldier's overcoat - a great warrior who so passionately desired peace, but did not find it, because such was his lot...
But the hero of the novel by A.S. Pushkin, Evgeny Onegin, acquired a wealth of experience in communicating with girls and women. “How early he could be a hypocrite, harbor hope, be jealous...” - and always achieve his goal. But experience played a cruel joke on him. Having met true love, he did not give in to the “sweet habit”; he did not want to lose “his hateful freedom.” And Tatyana married someone else. Onegin, not finding a modest village girl in a society lady, saw the light! The attempt to return Tatyana ends in failure for him. And he was so confident in himself, in the correctness of his actions, his choice.
No one is immune from mistakes. As we live our lives, we will make mistakes again and again. And when we gain experience, perhaps we will lose all interest in life. Everyone makes their own choice: deliberately commits another mistake or sits quietly in their refuge and calmly enjoys the experience...