Fall down seven times, get up eight
Posted on October 10, 2013
There’s a Japanese saying: “Fall down seven times, get up eight”. It’s about not giving up, continuing to try, even in the face of repeated failure. The I CHING, the book of divination in Chinese philosophy, sums up this mind-set in the words “Perseverance furthers!” I’ve had a lot of failure in my life. A failed marriage. Failure to meet many of my life’s goals. Failure to be the best person I could be, even when I knew what it would take to be that person.
The important thing is to keep trying, even when you feel you lack the energy, initiative, or motivation to make the effort. But it’s not always so clear what constitutes lack of perseverance, and what is sensible restraint. Recently I went hiking in Canada. I set out to climb a fairly large mountain. At the start of the climb, I set a limit on myself. I would walk until a certain time, and then I would turn around, whether or not I had reached the summit. I did this because a few months ago, I summited a peak in Vermont, and paid the price for not turning around when I knew I should, suffering cramps in both legs and a painful descent.
In Vermont I reached the summit. In Canada, I turned back within a couple kilometers of the top, when I reached my set time. Which hike was a success and which a failure? That’s the second great watchword of the I CHING: “Watch the timing!”
Stay persevering, and watch the timing of your actions. Those two phrases, taken together, constitute a simple set of guidelines for how to live. Keep trying but don’t waste yourself on useless endeavors. . Be consistent and not either impulsive or slow to act. Teddy Roosevelt said “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” But ol’ Teddy didn’t have it quite right. Sometimes, the right thing is to do nothing. It’s all in knowing, sensing, intuiting, when to act, when to hold back. When to continue the struggle and when to withdraw. Are you a persevering person? Do you have good timing?