Do you ever feel like you always get it wrong – in your writing, art, or another area of your life? If so, you may be on the right track. A number of artists and scientists believe that a willingness to make mistakes is essential to the creative personality. As painful as it is, going backwards can help move us forward.
Maria Popova of Brain Pickings offers a host of quotes from noted scientists and artists about the role of error in the creative process. These thoughts certainly encourage me as I hit the delete button again and again and again . . .
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‘If one wants to be active, one mustn’t be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes,’ Van Gogh wrote in a magnificent letter to his brother about how taking risks and making inspired mistakes moves us forward.
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Discovery is made with tears and sweat … by people who are constantly getting the wrong answer. And it is not possible to eliminate it because that is the nature of looking for imaginative likenesses.
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Progress is the exploration of our own error.
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The Contemplative Writer 