The Light of Understanding

Getting it wrong is a way to getting it right

Mistakes bring errors of thought, words, and action to light

Don't be defensive to prove you are right

Dimming the light of understanding will rob you of clear sight.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader.

Don't dim the light

What you want to get to, dear reader

Is a better understanding and clear sight.

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You touch something hot, and it makes you shriek in pain

You learn not to touch that hot thing again

Everything in life should be the same.

You should learn from every situation, even the ones that bring shame.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader

Don't dim the light

Take the first steps on your path to understanding

Where your vision is not clouded, and you have clear sight.

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It is tempting to push things to the back of your mind

To distract yourself, and ignore the value you might find

This is how you leave many missed opportunities behind

To gain wisdom, and be an example to all mankind.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader

Don't dim the light

Look upon all problems as puzzles

And put the pieces together until they fit right.

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Getting it wrong is a way to getting it right

Failures and losses bring errors in thought, word, and action to light

Step by step, it can lead you to crystal clear sight

Of what works, and what is meaningful and right.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader

Don't dim the light

Getting it wrong is a way to getting it right

Step by step, it can lead us to crystal clear sight

We have to find our way through the debris of our errors and messes to develop insight.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader, don't dim the light

Tempting to sweep things under the carpet, and get on with our life

Resist, and try to find a way to set things right

Stay with the uncomfortable until you develop clear sight.

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Don't dim the light of understanding, dear reader,

Don't dim the light

Don't dim the light of understanding

Don't dim the light.

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A shining example of not dimming the light of understanding, but exploring the value there is to find:

On 7 June 1893, Mahatma Gandhi, who was a practicing lawyer in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where he had lived for 21 years, was forcibly removed from a whites-only carriage on a train for not obeying laws that segregated each carriage according to race. Instead of pushing the incident to the back of his mind and going on with his life, he began a passive resistance movement to protest all the unfair laws that applied to people of Indian descent in S. Africa. This was the beginning of his Satyagraha movement - a movement which he first used to fight racial discrimination in South Africa, and then used again in the freedom struggle of India against the British.