Bereishit 1:31
Bereishit Rabbah 9:2
The fear of error and failure, prevents experimentation and precludes achievement. Babies learn to walk by experimenting and stumbling. They experiment with language before they talk. If we convinced infants not to risk “making idiots of themselves”, not to risk failure, then they would never be able to walk or talk. It is because we applaud their attempts, encourage them back onto their feet and make them feel heroes rather than fools as they hesitantly step forth into uncertain spaces.
Failure is not the end of a process. It is an unavoidable step along the journey of a process into new areas of being, doing or thinking. Angels never make mistakes. They are programmed to execute G-d’s will in perfection. We however are not programmed to execute G-d’s will. We are programmed to make choices. And in the process of making those choices, some of them are going to be wrong.
Self-Correction
This leads to a more important distinction between angels and ourselves: Angels cannot rectify mistakes; we can. Just as our power of physical regeneration allows us to exert ourselves to the point of exhaustion, so our power to self-correct is the power that allows us to explore, adventure and experiment. It is the power that gives us permission to fail along the way. Teshuva (Repentance) was created before sin!
But here is the most amazing idea with respect to experimentation and failure: Experimentation and failure are not the function of our imperfection; they are the function of our having been made in G-d’s own image. G-d experiments. G-d “tries and errs”. G-d “fails”. Failure is not a concession to human weakness, but the Divine method of human growth.
The Midrash comments on the verse And Hashem saw all that He did, and behold it was very good (Bereishit 1:31). It says that G-d created and destroyed many universes before He created this one. He said “this one pleases Me, the others did not”. This was not a discontinuous process of destruction and creation. Rather, as R. Nosson Zvi Finkel [1] explains, the world was created out of destruction. There was wisdom in the entire process, not only in the final outcome. In destruction too there is wisdom; wisdom capable of spawning new creation. Rav Finkel compares the process to the didactic method of Talm udic reasoning, where even flawed assumptions that will be abandoned in the process of analysis, are a crucial part of Torah thought and lead us down the path of discovering Truth. The experiments, the tentative steps forward, the self-correction and sometimes even the failure, are all a part of the process of moving forward, of conquering the as yet unknown.
This is what our having been created in His image means. Unlike angels, G-d has imbued us with the capacity to experiment, the ability to err, the willingness to fail along the path to success. Failure, as long as it leads to self-correction and tenacity, is an expression of our divine G-dliness.
The Reward for Risk
In business we understand the relationship of risk to reward. We know how to measure and calculate risk. We know how to motivate entrepreneurship and reward it. Yet in our personal lives we too often paralyze ourselves with the un-G-dly quest for perfection. In every area of our lives we should be willing to take calculated risks in our search for growth. If the result is more valuable to us than our egos, we should be willing to risk rejection. Only those who are heavily invested in their own egos, insist on “getting it right” before they make an effort.
G-d rewards those who try, even if they do not succeed. There is no reward for those who stand on the sidelines of life afraid to take a moral stand, voice an opinion, try an opportunity or reach out to a stranger for fear of failure or rejection. Each time we hesitate we should remind ourselves that in that very failure and rejection that we so fear, are the seeds of the greatest potential we could ever imagine.
Notes:
[1] Or Tzafun; 2; 71
