Do you learn from others' mistakes?
By getbiswa2000
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
India
April 11, 2010 9:02pm CST
Hi friends,
What is experience? It is just a name we give to our mistakes. We all make mistakes. As imperfect we are as human beings, we have every right to make mistakes. But, when we learn from a mistake it is not a mistake anymore. It becomes our realization and then stays with us as experience for the rest of our lives. Sometimes we make mistakes that haunt us for long. We struggle until it lets us go. A life without any mistake is also a life without any realization and thus it is hardly a life at all. Learning from mistakes is always important, more than the mistakes themselves. Now there is two ways to gain such experience, to have a first hand experience by making your own mistakes and then learning from them, or, to learn from the mistakes that other people have made.
Now, is it justified to try to derive any conclusion from mistakes that others make? When we identify any behavior of a certain person as wrong, aren't we actually being critical and low spirited? What was right for some other person, may not be right for us. In that case wouldn't it be a prejudiced step to derive anything from the situation other persons are in?
Please share your views with us.
Thanks in advance for your response
God bless you all
1 person likes this
7 responses
@vandana7 (99112)
• India
12 Apr 10
Hi bro, I am at a stage where I am questioning the the concepts called rights and wrongs. I find there is nothing static about them. They change with time, place, people, sentiments, context. So I guess, I am growing up - finally. :) What may be right for another person may be wrong / mistake for me. :) Still a lot of thinking to do. :)
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
12 Apr 10
Hi,
Yeah, I completely agree that in ordinary life, justice is a relative term. But there is a certain stage after which whatever you do will be absolutely justified. A complete realization of self brings you enough strength to draw independent conclusion and act accordingly. Everything is relative as long as we are not able to see it from an indifferent point of view. How can a system be a master and a slave at the same time? As long as we are being affected by our surroundings, we won't be able to interpret it independently. When we reach the stage or self-realization these things becomes immaterial. An absolute conclusion can be drawn only after this stage. Thanks so much for sharing your valued opinion.
God bless you
1 person likes this
@avinandy1980 (52)
• India
23 Apr 10
Biswa is almost right. For me, I ask myself only what is right or what is wrong. If we think from the pure heart then only you will be able to know what is justice. Justice is a big word, easy to say, hard to do. Ask your heart will show you the right path.
@avinandy1980 (52)
• India
23 Apr 10
For me, mistakes are self learning methodology. Its very hard to learn from other mistakes, cause that mistake didn't hamper us. You will learn from your mistake only, if you realise that as a mistake. Until you are not accepting your mistake you will not try to find out the reason. And if you don't think about it you will not learn anything, whatever mistake you do and how many times you do. In short, feel, realise & accept your mistakes, then only it will be treated as mistake by you, either it will not.
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
30 Apr 10
"Our experience is nothing but the mistakes we've done". You are absolutely right when you say that it is nearly impossible to learn from others' mistakes. Even then it can be considered a negative approach to matters. This approach often ends up in finding others' fault rather than actually learning from it. Now, that is quite unfortunate. Shouldn't we focus on what we want to be, rather than on what we don't want to be? Thanks so much for your invaluable participation here. I am so glad that you joined myLot. God bless you
@avinandy1980 (52)
• India
23 Apr 10
its very hard to find a person who will learn from others' mistake. If such thing can happen then one day there will be no mistake in the world.
@kalav56 (11464)
• India
7 May 10
Hi Getbiswa! I did not see this discussion of yours at all.Mine today is exactly similar though some conversation at home triggered the discussion.To the question,I do learn from other people's mistakes-at least I THINKthat I must make an honest attempt.But only when faced with a similar situation the test is there.We do not really take lessons in subjective issues.Now, being careful not to touch fire or as Shree had pointed out in my discussion, it is easy to follow precautions with a mixie when children are around because we have heard of prior accidents.
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
7 May 10
Yeah, there are similar situations, though the mistakes that evolve from some basic traits are likely to get repeated over time. Similar is the right word here, as no two instance in one's life is identical. Even if we try to rectify our mistakes, our superficial view makes it obvious for the mistakes to repeat itself. Thanks so much for your contribution.
God bless you
1 person likes this
@picjim (3002)
• India
12 Apr 10
I feel its good to learn from our mistakes.As far as others are concerned we don't know what lead them to make those mistakes.Since we are mostly aware of the situation we are in we can take measures not to repeat them.Our work and life is one continuous learning process so we better not repeat our mistakes and try to correct them the next time.
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
12 Apr 10
Hi,
I completely agree. Mere understanding your mistakes will not prevent you from repeating you. One should strike right at the root cause of a problem. The things that surface are often not the things that originate a certain mishap. We should take time to reveal the true nature of it. Once a mistake is concluded by identifying a flaw it can't be called a mistake anymore. It becomes a realization. Thanks so much for your contribution to this discussion.
God bless you
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
12 Apr 10
Hi,
Welcome to myLot. Well, I have learned many things from those mistakes made by others. I think its a rather proactive measure. By this passive learning we actually prevent doing mistakes in our own life. But the situation that applies for other persons may not apply for me. In that case drawing inferences wouldn't be logical. Every individual is different from the other. Their decision making capabilities, their strength and level of sincerity and motivation greatly differs. Drawing general conclusion in such cases wouldn't be justified. Thanks so much for your response.
God bless you
@getbiswa2000 (5545)
• India
13 Apr 10
You my dear has a true and great spirit. Learning from others' experience is always a preventive measure. Thanks so much for sharing your views with us.
God bless you
@Saranggola (956)
• Philippines
13 Apr 10
Hehe thanks. One must also learn to discern what the true lessons of the experience are.
@cheongyc (5072)
• Malaysia
7 May 10
We all learned from our own mistakes. Once a while we learn from other mistakes too. However, there are inevitable mistakes. For example, an when an infant is learning how to walk, he must have fallen down many times before he can master the skill of walking. Other infants, although they can observe that it's painful to fall down.
But they, too, need to go through the learning process (falling down) before they are successful in walking. It will be too bad, if an infant refuse to learn walking, after seeing his counterpart is injured or suffering the agony of falling down. This will stop him from learning the art of walking forever.
Therefore, sometimes, it's good to learn the mistakes from others. But sometimes, it's not. For me, I would rather experience the failure myself, as long as it won't cost my life LoL...
