Essay : [To Make Errors Is Human; To Forgive, Divine]
English Essay on "To Make Errors Is Human; To Forgive, Divine"To Make Errors Is Human; To Forgive, Divine
Points Introduction – A man is not free from errors – A lenient view of one’s follies should be taken – To forgive is divine.
Man is a rational animal and, as such, he is expected to do only what is right and avoid what is wrong. But his animality is constantly at work. So more often than not he goes astray and violates what is right. His rationality and animality have been at war since the dawn of creation and this war will continue ad infinitum. This war is meant for the true test of man and he who succeeds in leading a blameless life is accorded due veneration and he who blunders is condemned.
There are codes for our moral, social and political life. These codes are based on experience and truth. It is enjoined that we should adhere to these codes and conduct ourselves according to them. But we are so constituted and the tendency to act according to our own inclination is so ingrained in our nature that willy-nilly we commit errors. It is, therefore, human to err. So long as the animality in man cannot be totally crushed and this is an impossibility as he is a combination of animality and rationality he cannot be free from errors.
Errors are, no doubt, harmful for they eat into the vitals of our life like cankers, but they are unavoidable too. So the best course would be to take a sane and lenient view of the whole thing. We dislike errors and the persons who commit them are undoubtedly ridiculed and looked down upon. We are prone to punish such transgressors, but in awarding punishment, justice should be tempered with mercy, remembering that none of us shall escape punishment at the hands of God if He is not merciful to us. God is forgiving, and forgiveness is a divine virtue. The forgiveness that we, in our heart of hearts, expect of God should teach us how to deal with our fellow beings. The Kantian doctrine fiat justitia per et mundas (let justice be done even if the world be destroyed) is academically correct, but practically inapplicable for man, constituted as he is must err. So a lenient view of his follies and foibles should be taken in the spirit in which God is expected to take of ours. To err is human, no doubt; but to forgive is divine.
Man is a rational animal and, as such, he is expected to do only what is right and avoid what is wrong. But his animality is constantly at work. So more often than not he goes astray and violates what is right. His rationality and animality have been at war since the dawn of creation and this war will continue ad infinitum. This war is meant for the true test of man and he who succeeds in leading a blameless life is accorded due veneration and he who blunders is condemned.
There are codes for our moral, social and political life. These codes are based on experience and truth. It is enjoined that we should adhere to these codes and conduct ourselves according to them. But we are so constituted and the tendency to act according to our own inclination is so ingrained in our nature that willy-nilly we commit errors. It is, therefore, human to err. So long as the animality in man cannot be totally crushed and this is an impossibility as he is a combination of animality and rationality he cannot be free from errors.
Errors are, no doubt, harmful for they eat into the vitals of our life like cankers, but they are unavoidable too. So the best course would be to take a sane and lenient view of the whole thing. We dislike errors and the persons who commit them are undoubtedly ridiculed and looked down upon. We are prone to punish such transgressors, but in awarding punishment, justice should be tempered with mercy, remembering that none of us shall escape punishment at the hands of God if He is not merciful to us. God is forgiving, and forgiveness is a divine virtue. The forgiveness that we, in our heart of hearts, expect of God should teach us how to deal with our fellow beings. The Kantian doctrine fiat justitia per et mundas (let justice be done even if the world be destroyed) is academically correct, but practically inapplicable for man, constituted as he is must err. So a lenient view of his follies and foibles should be taken in the spirit in which God is expected to take of ours. To err is human, no doubt; but to forgive is divine.
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