You are making a lot of mistakes

but you can correct them

Sorry, that’s a shitty way to start. But I wanted your attention.

Making mistakes isn’t your problem. Not correcting them is.

Here’s the thing: when you think about a mistake, you’re usually thinking about something you did—or didn’t do. I’ll call that the objective mistake.

But the real mistake is the thinking that caused the objective mistake. That’s the mental mistake. And it keeps running until you see it.

The objective mistake is already done. You can’t undo it. You can apologize or redress it but you can’t correct it.

But the mental mistake? It’s still happening—and will continue to happen—until you recognize it and acknowledging it.

Which means acknowledging the ongoing mistake—the mental mistake—is correcting it.

Not the action. The thinking.

If you don’t see the mental mistake you’ll make the same mistake again. If you don’t see the pattern in the mental mistake you’ll make similar mistakes.

Different situations, same mental mistake.

One more thing: if you think this post was about you, you’ve made a mistake—one I led you into.

This is me talking to myself.

As usual

I’m going to ask you a question.

Below is my original version of this blog post. It’s longer and more meandering. At the end of the post I’ll ask you a question. If you have the time please read—or at least skim it and answer the question.

The orginal: You’re making a lot of mistakes

Sorry, I know that’s kind of a shitty way to start this blog post, especially because this is the first one in a while, but truth is truth. Also I wanted to get your attention.

There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes. Remember “Mistakes are the only way to learn, even for God?”

That’s another mistake. That’s not the title of the blog post. It’s “Mistakes are the only way to knowledge…” See what I mean? Mistakes all the time. And I didn’t correct it privately, but announced it publicly. Mistake? Let’s find out.

Your problem isn’t making mistakes. That’s inevitable. It’s making mistakes and not correcting them.

That’s a mistake.

A big one.

And here’s another mistake: acknowledging and correcting your mistakes privately.

If you make a mistake privately and correct it privately nobody learns except you. (And you will forget sooner than you think. Another mistake.)

If you make a mistake and acknowledge it, then—surprisingly—you have corrected the mistake.¹

OK, I just wrote that. But is that true? Or did I make a mistake writing it?

Let me use it as an example to explain what I think I might have meant. (Because I didn’t exactly know what I meant when I wrote it. That’s part of why I write. To find out what I mean)

The first step in correcting a mistake is recognizing the mistake. So acknowledging it—even privately—is at least a step toward correcting it. But if all you do is acknowledge the mistake, is it corrected?

My answer right now (which could turn out to be a mistake) is yes, it’s corrected. ²

When you recognize that you have made a mistake you are usually thinking about some act that you carried out in the world—or failed to carry out.

I’ll call that the objective mistake.

But the real mistake is the mental mistake that caused or supported the objective mistake and that mistake continues until acknowledged as a mistake.

Whew! Pretty abstract.

To ground this, I’ll use an example.

Let's suppose that writing this blog post is a mistake. Obviously I don't think so right now—I'm writing it. But suppose later I realize it was.

But suppose later I realize it was a mistake. Writing the post is now the objective mistake.

But the underlying mistake was thinking that writing the blog post was a good idea. That mistake caused the objective mistake.

And if it’s not corrected, then the same mistake will be made again—in a different form—when I write a different blog post that was a mistake to write.

Writing the post was a one-time mistake.

The idea behind it is the continuing mistake—the real one—and acknowledging it is what corrects it.

So is writing this blog post a mistake?

I don’t think so.

By the way, if you think that this post was about you, reader, you’ve made a mistake—one that I kind of led you into.

This whole lecture is Present Me talking to himself and to Future Me.

And there’s more to be said.³

OK, THE QUESTION:

Comments appreciated.

1. Maybe

2. RIght now

3. Because I don’t think acknowledging is full correction, but not sure.