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Mistakes


My life was a series of mistakes.  If I am given another chance, I’ll do the whole thing differently.  But does that promise a life without mistakes?  “It’s only those who do nothing that make no mistakes,” as Joseph Conrad wrote.  So if I am given another chance, I’ll make mistakes different from the ones I made in this life.


But I know this is the only chance.  And that’s enough too.  Perhaps the only purpose of life is to teach us certain lessons.  I am not among people who believe that life has any great purpose or meaning.  The philosophy that appealed most to me is absurdism which states that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe.  We discover meanings.  Rather we forge them for our consolation, in order to make life bearable.  We create patterns in the Brownian motion that goes on endlessly and chaotically all around us all the time.  Religions, philosophies, art, music and a whole lot of other things help us create meanings.

I created quite a lot of wrong meanings, meanings that didn’t work really.  That’s more because I couldn’t accept meanings given gratuitously by religions and other conventional contraptions.  I tried to beat my own track.  When you do that you make a lot of mistakes.  In the end you can look back and heave a sigh that in spite of the rugged journey you have reasons to feel gratified because you dared to do things that many people wouldn’t.  Never mind the falls on the way and the wounds and the scars. 
The lessons you learn are what really matter.  Life is a series of lessons.  That’s why I think of myself as a constant learner.  Though the lessons accrued so far are my present guiding lights, I may still make mistakes.  I still cannot accept many of the readymade truths and axioms.  So here I go on my own way ready to embrace more mistakes and learn more lessons. 



Comments

  1. CRDJanuary 15, 2018 at 8:54 PM

    Now that i think about it, this was the perfect se summation of life. It only seems right that we create purposes and goals to make life worth living.

    It's kinda fascinating though that we sometimes team up with other humans to pursue common purposes.

    Loved reading this.

    Cheers,
    CRD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 15, 2018 at 9:20 PM

      Of course, pursuit of common purposes will require compromises. But meanings are personalaffairs by and large.

      Delete
  2. Sapna DhyaniJanuary 16, 2018 at 12:40 PM

    A "meaningful"article, Sir :) I think the constant pang of regrets decreases in intensity (for some mistakes) when we accept that the "mistake"was our choice at the given time, and not because of someone else.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJanuary 16, 2018 at 6:47 PM

      Yes, seeing the mistake as our exercise of our choice is important in learning the necessary lessons from that mistake. I think regret is useless. Learn the lesson and go ahead with new decisions.

      Delete
  3. Alka SaklaniMarch 1, 2018 at 2:58 PM

    Rather we forge them for our consolation, in order to make life bearable. We create patterns in the Brownian motion that goes on endlessly and chaotically all around us all the time.
    This is too deep. And sadly true too. All your articles are thought provoking sir. Really wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 2, 2018 at 7:42 AM

      I'm glad you took so much interest in my blog as to come this far. Thank you.

      Delete

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