“When your sparring partner scratches or head-butts you, you don't then make a show of it, or protest, or view him with suspicion or as plotting against you. And yet you keep an eye on him, not as an enemy or with suspicion, but with a healthy avoidance. You should act this way with all things in life. We should give a pass to many things with our fellow trainees. For, as I've said, it's possible to avoid without suspicion or hate.”
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.20
April 26, 2021 7:00 AM
Marcus Aurelius' analogy with the sparring fighter gives the reflection a deeper significance. We imagine the pain that can be inflicted by an unintentional or cruel blow. How easy it could be to retaliate in kind.
If we can remind ourselves that we are both learning, we find that retaliation is unnecessary. Our reaction is the example going forward.
Conclusion
Applying this further to our everyday life, we can see that the stakes do not have the weight we attribute to them. Our errors do not have to be the end of us. We can choose to learn from our failures and use them to make us better.