What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

Attempting something if I were guaranteed not to fail is a lucrative idea. It is alluring and imaginary of course. Failures, nevertheless, dishearten but also help to develop a fighting spirit helpful in shaping a personality. Resilience is the positive outcome of fighting. It gives a sweet-and-sour taste to life, which helps cope with adversities and unforeseen situations. Wishing to have a desired thing without struggle gives rise to apathy and disinterest towards the “desired”. It loses value, interest and attachment.

Assured Success is a Misnomer

It seems a rosy idea to have something with guaranteed success, without effort. An assured success is a misnomer and illusory. People, who ostensibly have been born with a silver spoon in their mouths have to struggle too for something they want to achieve. Their goal and aspirations are different from that of ordinary people. While a common man toils for basic needs, the necessities and priorities are different for the affluent. Both of them work onerously to achieve their aim. The degree and area vary, but not the strife. Dreaming about a situation where getting everything without effort is futile and frustrating. Can a sleeping tiger expect to have food coming itself? Well, it can’t.

Mythological “Great Churning”

In the mythological “Great Churning” of the sea of milk (“Ksheer Saagar”), bounties emerged out of the sea because of the churning. It was a mixed bag of things. A few were not so good; one of them was deadly and highly vicious. It was “Halahal Vish” (Deadly Poison), having the potential to finish everything. The story signifies that everything that we acquire is the outcome of effort.

Force and Counter Force

The whole world rests on doing something. The physical properties of matter show it clearly. Every work has an outcome which affects another in a chain reaction. Earth, for instance, is revolving. Its revolution produces a force of pull along with other forces like centrifugal and centripetal forces. The force of pull is the “Gravitational Force”, due to which things are “grounded”, and they need to work against it in the condition of flying, using a lift or stairs. Our life on the earth has been shaped and conditioned according to it, both genetically and physically. The weightlessness sensed by astronauts is a condition met when an object goes out of the limit of gravitational force. In that case, everything, including humans, food items or even a drop of water, floats in space. It is hard to imagine this situation on earth. It is a situation where no force is exerted, and no counterforce is needed to balance it. In this condition, besides inconvenience and awkwardness life will be difficult and unthinkable.

Why This Argument?

The above deliberation aims to highlight the importance of work and effort vis a vis no work or effort and inertia. Germinating seeds, growing plants against the gravitational force and everything before our eyes are involved in their work, striving to pull on and sustain. In the absence of resistance, the counterforces would be meaningless for life.

Negative And Positive

Force and counterforce, positive and negative, black and white or dark and illuminated all balance each other producing a synergy, we call it life. The realization of the importance of one comes only when the opposite is encountered. This is the force, needed to push and pull the life process. Our momentum ceases during power outages because it is the energy which keeps us to run ourselves and our appliances. Energy is the force that gives impetus and importance to life. Likewise, various forces are needed to balance the movement and action, in absence of which the action would be disarrayed and haphazard, without any fruitful results.

Experimentation By Nature

It is, thus, can be said that failures are something that are necessary for steady growth. It makes us conscious about the quality and quantity of work done and the effort to avoid mistakes. It offers an opportunity for self-appraisals and means for self-improvement. Improvement is intrinsic. Even Nature keeps experimenting. Organic evolution is the outcome of constant work to choose the fittest through “Natural Selection” by Nature. It was when Brobdingnagian lizards, commonly known as Dinosaurs roamed on the earth. Some of them were so huge and heavy that they spent most of their lives in water which provided them necessary buoyancy to carry on themselves. The earth’s surface was filled with tall and huge trees which grew without hindrance giving rise to large bogs and peat. The time changed and so did the conditions. They all wiped off giving a clean slate to write new text afresh. Nature, armed with earlier experiences, started to write a new story. After years of writing and editing its text, it produced a draft of which we are part. It was become possible because of the opposite forces of destruction, construction, and reconstruction.

What will Be Chosen

Having said that, if I am to say what’s something I would try if I were guaranteed not to fail, I would give a list of my liking. The foremost, though, would be to write flawlessly and poetically where words dance to my tune so that I write a novel or a book about things or incidences close to my heart and often churn my mind. For me, it’s daunting but not impossible. The other would be to excel in the art of photography. Photographing natural objects, not people or crowds is my like. I used to take pictures with any instrument at hand, be it a smartphone, a point-and-shoot camera or a digital SLR. Wandering, and visiting places, especially natural or historical sites allure me. India has varied cultures and traditions brimming with vibrancy and hues. There is a tremendous opportunity and occasion to explore and experience it.

-END-