In his latest book How We Decide neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer attempts to answer two questions.  How does the human mind make decisions?  And how can we make those decisions better?

 In chapter two Lehrer talks about a neuroscientist's understanding of mistakes.  He quotes physicist Niels Bohr who once defined an expert as "a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field."
     Lehrer says that from the perspective of the brain, Bohr was absolutely right. He writes;
"Expertise is simply the wisdom that emerges from cellular error.  Mistakes aren't things to be discouraged.  On the contrary, they should be cultivated and carefully investigated.  One of the crucial ingredients of successful education is the ability to learn from mistakes.  Unfortunately, children are often taught the exact opposite.  Instead of praising kids for trying hard, teachers typically praise them for their innate intelligence (being smart).  This kind of encouragement actually backfires, since it leads students to see mistakes as signs of stupidity and not as building blocks of knowledge.  The regrettable outcome is that kids never learn how to learn."
     I enjoyed reading How We Decide and I read it with my theological glasses on.  I learned a lot about how our brains work (or don't) and I often thought of that old saw about Albert Einstein's brain; that the only difference between our brains and Einstein's was that Einstein used his.
     I think it's true that an expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.  And from a theological statement I say this makes you an expert about the very narrow field known as your soul.
     You are the only one who knows, really knows, what your soul feels like.  You know about all the good times and bad, the pure thoughts and not so pure thoughts, your secret dreams and desires, your unhealthy urges and your healthy ones.
      And you know about the gift of all the mistakes you've made in life.  I certainly know about the mistakes I've made, and the valuable lessons these mistakes have blessed upon me.  Theologically we call this grace, and as Paul Tillich said, grace is accepting the fact that you are accepted by God.  We're accepted, completely, with everything, every blessed thing, good and bad, that lies in our souls.
      In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that the eye is the lamp of the body.  The source of The Light is our souls, and sometimes the bigger the mistake means the bigger the life lesson, which means the brighter the Light can now shine.

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