In Praise of Failure

Failure allows us to see our existence in its naked condition.

 “It is entirely impossible for a thinking being to think of its own non-existence, of the termination of its thinking and life,” observed Goethe.

Failure is the sudden irruption of nothingness into the midst of existence. To experience failure is to start seeing the cracks in the fabric of being, and that’s precisely the moment when, properly digested, failure turns out to be a blessing in disguise. For it is this lurking, constant threat that should make us aware of the extraordinariness of our being: the miracle that we exist at all when there is no reason that we should. Knowing that gives us some dignity.

Our capacity to fail is essential to what we are.

It is crucial that we remain fundamentally imperfect, incomplete, erring creatures; in other words, that there is always a gap left between what we are and what we can be. Whatever human accomplishments there have been in history, they have been possible precisely because of this empty space. It is within this interval that people, individuals as well as communities, can accomplish anything.

Ultimately, our capacity to fail makes us what we are; our being as essentially failing creatures lies at the root of any aspiration.

No matter how successful our lives turn out to be, how smart, industrious or diligent we are, the same end awaits us all: “biological failure.”

The more essential question is rather how to approach the grand failure, how to face it and embrace it and own it.

We will all end in failure, but that’s not the most important thing. What really matters is how we fail and what we gain in the process.

by Costica Bradatan

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/in-praise-of-failure/?_r=0