Feature

The School of Experience

Kh. Asef Safa Kabir

HUMAN life is transient and metaphorically it can be compared to an exquisite dream. In this life we persistently seek for achievements; be it commercial success, academic triumphs, social recognition or a lucrative career. Our ambition to achieve the conventional grandeurs of life makes us restless and we become oblivious to the true meaning of life. In our rat race to achieve the deceptive laurels of life, we often forget that we can only make our life rich and meaningful by being consciously open to countless “life-experiences” that can make our voyage of life enormously enjoyable. How many of us understand the fact that the true meaning of life is actually inherent in the countless experiences of love, passion, happiness and sorrow that recurrently stimulate our soul and make us relish the blissful journey of human existence. We often make our life monotonous in our pursuit of wealth and an admirable career. In the process, many of us become habituated to live in a sealed, air-tight personal compartment that seldom accepts any fresh experience. Our life often becomes extremely mechanized and cyclical. We get too scared to face the uncertainty of life and its unpredictable experiences. We get so accustomed to the “status quo” that we cover ourselves with the impregnable veil of our dull, repetitive reality. We do not understand that we have unconsciously sealed the windows of our life that could introduce us to numerous new experiences, which are capable of making our life richer and more satisfying.

It's undeniable that our experiences play a very decisive role in shaping our inner personality and the way we perceive the universe. Therefore, we must never expect that the great books we read and the reputed institutions we attend are absolutely adequate to make us reach the summit of the ultimate prosperity. Instead, we must understand that it's “the school of experience” that can provide us with the complementary wisdom, a precise vision to understand life and the maturity required to grow as a complete human being. From that perspective, I think the biggest achievements of life are its diverse experiences.

By the term “experience” I am not referring to professional experiences that one might require for a coveted job! I am rather referring to the vivacious episodes and redefining moments of life that make our life more eventful.

It's indisputable that the experiences of life can be positive or negative. However, even our negative experiences can teach us numerous lessons about life and make us more cautious in dealing with life. We often become disproportionately concerned about the consequences of the events of our life and subsequently we shut ourselves off from the experiences of life. However, we seldom realize the fact that even our negative experiences can ultimately lead us to something affirmative. For instance, authors like Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway might never have been able to write such realistic anti-war novels, if they had not experienced and witnessed the terrible devastations and sufferings of war. Similarly, many great poems of the world are actually the artistic expressions of melancholy and anguish experienced by the poets who composed them. Therefore, it is evident that we can create something productive even out of the most painful experiences of life only if we have the courage necessary to understand their true essence. They are capable of making us more circumspect by enhancing our ability to critically analyze the episodes of our life.

According to prominent French novelist Albert Camus, “You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.” I am aware of the fact that it's not possible for us to create most of our experiences and generally we encounter our life-experiences accidentally. Since, in most cases our experiences occur spontaneously, there's nothing artificial about them. However, we must be open to the experiences of life, which means we must always consciously seek for the opportunities to encounter new experiences.

It's irrefutable that our multifaceted experiences make us sensitive, compassionate and empathetic to others around us because only a well-experienced person, who has experienced many poignant situations himself, can understand and respect the feelings of those who are going through similar situations. In contrast, inexperienced people are selfish, immature and aggressive, because they tend to view life through a narrow outlook.

At the end of the day, we must learn to be proud of our positive as well as our negative experiences. As discussed earlier, even our negative experiences can teach us something constructive about life in the long run.That's how we can ultimately develop a unique approach to cope with life and view life's experiences from a broader perspective. This approach can keep us from being frustrated because it will teach us to accept every experience of life as a natural part of the fabulous journey of life and it will help us gain something meaningful even from our most awkward experiences. That's how we can learn to boldly face and enjoy the inevitability of life.

(Student of North South University)