The virtues of failure .. The wisdom of falling is more important than the euphoria of success
By analogy with the saying of the contemporary French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, "The scientific truth is a mistake that has been corrected", it can be said that "success is a failure that has been rectified." A person contemplating the ancient history of mankind from its beginnings will not find much effort in finding this truth. But the euphoria of success usually leads to or forgets its owners, a accumulation of the failures that precede the achievement and the coronation.
Fact of failure
He does not deny the reality of failure and took a share of it. It is essential to success. Indeed, many succeeded by adopting a culture of acceptance of failure. Moreover, Sartre argues that living life in its true meaning "requires repeated failure testing so that we do not lock ourselves in the very spiral of success."
The failure did not attract the attention of philosophers, especially the Westerners, and it did not turn into a topic for them to research and work at all. It is true that it is the subject of a passing borrowing from this or that philosopher from time to time, but no particular book or author was written in it, with the exception of a small number of stoic thinkers. Among them is what was mentioned in the book The Meditations of King Philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
Virtues of failure
The young French philosopher and novelist, Charles Pépin, put an end to this neglect, about two years ago, after he published a wonderful book entitled "The Virtues of Failure", Les Vertus de l'échec. Throughout his 265-page book, the author invites us to appreciate failure, and to search for what is unique and promising.
Beban proposes a different perspective on failure, based on challenging our vision of it, by calling for looking at failure from a philosophical angle, which leads primarily to skepticism about the definition of failure itself, and the definition of what it is. In the folds of each failure we often find some kind of success.
The book presents a small thesis of wisdom that puts us on the road to true success, in a simple and exciting manner, full of meanings and connotations, and many facts, including the suspiciously inclination of individuals to personalize failure, and give it an essential character to the point that some become identified with it, so it falls into Confusion between "project failure" and "personal failure".
Looking at failure from a philosophical angle
On the other hand, the author of the novel "Al-Farah" proposes looking at failure from a philosophical angle, asking about the meaning of fulfilled life and living, do not our failures contribute to it more than our successes? Does it not make us deeper and more capable of facing difficulties? Don't they make the simple pleasures of life more appreciated? Finally, what benefits us and directs us more towards our uniqueness and distinction? Is it a failure like us or success like all other people?
As if Pepin is winning here for the position of the English chemist Humphrey Davy; The inventor of sodium and potassium, who once declared that "my most important discoveries were the inspiration for my failure". And to Thomas Edison, who was illuminated by his invention of the planet, when he was asked about his feelings about his repeated failure before the invention of the lamp.
Criticism of the cultural and educational systems
The author strongly saves the cultural and educational systems prevailing in France, saying that they "do not have enough culture of error." And he compares it to what is happening in the United States, as in his view, "to fail in France means that you are guilty, while in the United States equals audacity. Youth failure in France is their failure to follow the right path, while in the United States it is the beginning of young people looking for their own way." ".
The man invested his experience in the educational field; Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, in his analysis of the concept of fatal failure that perpetuates people's feelings of guilt. He called for the need to overcome this, because failure is simply an essential part of the teachings of anthropology and behavioral science, and constitutes an important evidence in the eyes of the best researchers in the world: Thanks to our failures, we not only become more modest, and our gains on the human level increase, but our skills and talents also improve. That is, our successes are the result of failure that carries a deep philosophical meaning.
Conditions necessary to talk about the virtue of failure
Beban acknowledges that winning this challenge will not be easy, for societies that view failure with a sinful eye. Therefore, he did not hesitate to include in his book what he called necessary conditions for talking about the virtue of failure. On top of it is avoiding denial, as it is necessary to fail in order for it to have merit. Then not to identify with failure, which is not incompatible with bearing his responsibility. It really is my failure, but it is not my "self" failure. In addition to a deep listening to what failure brings us, either continuing or changing. Finally, tolerance and acceptance of others. A young child beats at a rate of two thousand times before he succeeds in walking on his feet, and he succeeds because the adult perception of his first failures is a receptive and tolerant one.
Failure Museum
This young philosopher reinforced his author with many examples of world names, had it not been for her utter failure in the early beginnings, she would not have decided to change the course of her life, to start in new fields she was waiting for to shine in. Among the most prominent is the international novelist Michel Tournier, who twice failed to enter the line of Tabriz in philosophy, giving himself the possibility to become the famous novelist that he could never imagine. Beban seems to have started to rally support for his thesis on failure. About a year ago, Samuel West, a psychologist and innovation researcher, opened the "Museum of Failure" in Helsingborg, in the south of Sweden.
And he chose to bring in this museum most of the failed innovative projects, and give them another life opportunity. By presenting it, and shedding light on those failures, it provides an opportunity for visitors to learn through a group of more than seventy products and services from all over the world whose ally was failure. In doing so, these exhibits are transformed; According to West, to "testify that failure is the biggest milestone in life, and that it is not necessarily the end of the journey." Embodying the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s call to fail better, when he said: “I tried, beforehand and failed? It doesn't matter, try again, fail again, fail better.”