This is not a blog

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Wandering.... 

Hi there,

Everybody's fine out there? I've not been writing for such a long time. Right now I was thinking of something, and I thought perhaps by writing here I can organize what's going on on my mind.

Last night I was talking to my best friend, who's been my best friend for more than ten years now. I was talking to him about whether we do really learn from our experiences or that's just a hoax. I kind of feel the mistakes I've made in the course of my life, greatly tend to reoccur. So what's the benefit of them? If they just happen and cause trouble, isn't it really better not to experience at all? On the other hand there is another assumption, which appears to be logical. When we face problems which we've got to solve, we put ourselves to work. There are invisible muscles we use to solve such a problem and by using these muscles we allow them to grow and develop into stronger ones. For example if I am born in a poor family and I don't have the things I want in my life, then I have to earn them myself. But I would have had them automatically just if I was born in a rich family. So this rich person in the rich family does not need to make any effort to gain what he already does. However the poor person has to think; to work; to try to earn what he wants. So the poor person has this advantage that he uses his invisible muscles much more. So although it's not that much obvious, the poor person has more space to play. And the growth he earns in the course of earning what the rich person already has, puts him in a better condition, which enables him to be much more successful in any other aspect of his life; because he's got stronger muscles. But on the other hand, the rich person does not need to attempt, and when there's no attempt, there is no mistake! So in "earning things" the rich person has this advantage that he never makes any mistakes. And he does not suffer any consequences of making such mistakes. I don't know if I were able to put myself clearly, but this is the question in my mind which quite sincerely I am NOT able to answer.

Another question I can ask is: why do I repeat my mistakes? I admit it may not be easy to notice that you're repeating a mistake, because sometimes they change on the surface. But is it lack of knowledge? Is it lack of faith in your knowledge, that is, the knowledge you gained from last time you made the mistake. Or perhaps sometimes it has roots in your value system, which you can't or don't want to change? For example, about honesty, you won't find a person who doesn't say I'm honest and I care for honesty. But I strongly believe that something between 80%-95% of people are not honest when it comes to the real world, beyond the world of words and humanly gestures. And it is obvious to me that whether you are the only mad person in the town of wise men, or you are the only wise person in the town of mad men, you are the one who is mad! Because others have got a system which they understand and can live with. Based on that system, you are mad! no matter what! Because you don't act "wisely", that is "normally". It's just this simple. Now if for example you see strings attaching all your mistakes to your putting too much value on honesty, or some other value, what are you gonna do about it? Is it that you take the route to repeat the mistake? Or you begin questioning the value? Isn't it that in any case, you're the one who's going to face the consequences?

Update, 24 Apr: Some related quotes I found by accident:

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."
"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing."
--Oscar Wilde

"Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other."
--Benjamin Franklin

"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser."
--John W. Gardner

"What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print."
--Isadora Duncan