If You've Never Failed You've Never Lived

FAMOUS FAILURES

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Singhbj ji and Sinister ji -- One of the quotable quotes of US President Lyndon Baines Johnson was, "If you never do anything, then you will never make any mistakes." Thought that quote fit with this thread.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/inspirational-stories/23727-if-youve-never-failed-youve-never.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23727

Taking risks is something we do everyday whether we realize it or not. When we knowingly take a risk in order to make a change, of course it could be a mistake. It could also turn out the change lives (your own and others) for the better. Think of Guru Nanak. He was daring. It worked.

Hello aad ji,

yes yes and yes. Failures are a part of life...everyone is prone to make a boo-boo every now and then. The Randian quote come to mind "every man can choose but not escape the necessity of choice"..some choices will be better than others and some failures.

I was wondering about the quote "failure is not an option"

never quite undestood it...or...never experienced it.

failure is always an option even if it is not the desirable option and it is rather daunting to walk around thinking that failure is the end.

c h e e r s

Nice, Singhbj,and Sinister

Sinister ji

I don't think failure is an option, but it is a possible consequence. When people say failure is not an option, what they may mean (sloppy use of language the root cause) is that they must make a choice and not permit themselves to let thoughts of possible failure get in the way of making those choices or making decisions. So they are saying -- We can't think about failure; we can't let failure stop us from acting or making a decision.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23727

Think of strategic planning for company or in planning a military programme. Sometimes one must act because the risks of not acting are more serious than the risks of making conservative decisions. Eisenhower's invasion of Normandy would be an example. The risk of inaction was certain disaster for the free world.

stuff like that

Sinister ji

In the same way, Sri Guru Gobind Singh understood this in the final chapters of his time on earth. The decision to wage war against the Mughals was preceded by thoughtful and deliberate consideration. Guru Gobind Singh weighed the consequences of war. He weighed the moral consequences and invoked his theory of just war. His reasonable pleas were ignored. He then waged war. One could look at the devastation of khalsa forces -- it would appear that the consequences equaled military failure. But the risk of inaction was certain. It would have amounted to the obliteration of Sikh identity. Had he not waged war, in the end, when the next Mughal king assumed a more tolerant view, there would no longer have been any khalsa, no longer would there have been a Sikh identity. All would have been martyred or would have converted to Islam. So failure was not an option for Sri Guru Gobind Singh. His decisions could only be colored by his understanding of what inaction would lead to. Inaction would have led to certain failure.

This reminds me of a common American saying, "Practice makes perfect." At face value it seems good. But in reality only perfect practice makes perfect. Practice in itself is an admission, that mistakes need correcting and they happen regardless until many excercises redirect our habit patterns toward perfection. One of the problems of seeking perfection whilst we know that on this earth we will fail to achieve it. In any case, God's grace is revealed to those who continue to seek.

im still a little perplexed.
Failure cannot be an option? Opting for failure is letting go isn’t it? or is 'letting go' (abandonment) a consequence of a realization?

Whenever I think of failure the word “revolutionize” always pops up in my head. Admitting failure is just one of the first steps to try again with a new technique and under a new environment, with a new awareness.

Opting for failure (or letting go) is something we also witness (or at least i think we witness) and sometimes it can be viewed as cowardice and in some scenario’s it can be viewed as a triumph of a mental exercise of foresight or humbleness…but when this occurs, failure loses its meaning altogether. From the examples posted by aad ji, this seems like our reality today.

But then again, opting for failure can be as trivial as laying down a bad poker hand.

hmmm...
cheers


“Practice makes perfect”…practice and repetition also leads to atrophy…so we have to be careful.

sinister ji

Who said opting for failure? Failure is a consequence of a decision. A person can knowingly or unknowingly make a decision that may have failure as a consequence. A person can make a decision and seeing that the risk of failure is high. A person can make a choice that has serious risks associated with it, but also understands that to not make that choice is even riskier.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23727
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=23727

That was my point about strategic planning, and Guru Gobind Singh ji.