- Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
FROM THE EXTRACT: THEY DID NOT GIVE UP
TOPIC: CREATORS AND FORGIVENESS
We are in the Image of God and the first account about Him in the Holy Scriptures is CREATING. Therefore we are also Creators the difference is that like Thomas Edison we fail 999 times and only create in the 1000th time. Therefore we need the environment that will forgive the 999 mistakes in order to produce 1 successful creation. It is a forgiving atmosphere that produces creators.
The education system of Thomas Edison’s times; like today’s system; was very unforgiving it could not wait for one mistake to conclude that he is stupid. The other meaning of unforgiveness is: having or making no allowance for error or weakness. Here was a child with original imaginations who refused to mimic the system; he needed the help of his teachers to reach those imaginations and in the process he made so many mistakes. No one gave him a room for error or weakness therefore the creation abilities in him were limited. Today we have failed a lot of creators because our education system does not accommodate creators, it is designing employees who will keep the status quo.
The likes of Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein are numerous and their sin is Creative Imagination. Our Systems are unforgiving to these people. Meaning of unforgiving is
1: unwilling or unable to forgive
2: having or making no allowance for error or weaknessan unforgiving environment where false moves can prove fatal— Jaclyn Fierman
The workplace of Thomas Edison was an unforgiving environment it did not even wait for three errors and he was fired
We have created unforgiving institutions; our schools; our work places; our church institutions; our governments and our family institutions. Our unforgiveness is hidden under the guise of perfection. Our perfection is limited to what we know. The Creators venture into the unknown inventing from original imaginations. The journey of the mortals to this destination is full of mistakes. We therefore become enemies of the image of God which is Creativity. If God was unforgiving He would not be called Creator.
Creativity means
the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness. Today we are afraid to use imagination we rather keep the status quo. We are afraid to come with original ideas we are afraid to create something. We do not want to be like God. The atmosphere of unforgiveness is limiting us. In our eagerness to create we make so many mistakes. The 999 mistakes Thomas Edison made were expensive mistakes. Somehow Thomas Edison tapped into a forgiving atmosphere.
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22 KJV
The Creator says if we want to be Creators we need to give each other 490 times of forgiveness each day. CREATIVITY is the reward to a forgiving mind and a forgiven mind. When you forgive you enlarge your imagination. When you are forgiven you create.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots.
Luke 23:34 KJV
Creators always forgive for their reward is original imagination. They forgive those who have stopped creating. They forgive those who have become enemies of original ideas. When you forgive you become bigger. You think afresh you are not trapped in revenge and anger. For 999 times Thomas Edison learned to forgive his mistakes. He forgave his detractors and the reward was a new invention. Stay in forgiveness and stay above miscreations.
Let us bring this home, you need an atmosphere of forgiveness which you will create for yourself. The closest atmosphere of forgiveness is the mental atmosphere. This is the atmosphere that made Thomas Edison conquer. The school atmosphere was not ready to forgive him; to give him the space to make mistakes until he succeeds with his creative mind. He gave himself in his mind the atmosphere of forgiveness. The business atmosphere was not forgiving either because very few were ready to accept his ideas.
It is evident that Albert Einstein had a lot of unforgiving atmosphere. The Academia atmosphere was very much unforgiving to him as he came up with the theory of relativity. The government of the day was unfortunately unforgiving to him because he had to escape to the USA. The family atmosphere was not so forgiving of his mistakes as well. In spite of that much unforgiveness, he had a strong sense of self-forgiveness and thus protected the creative genius in him. His final work of nuclear energy continues to give life to many today though unfortunately, Hiroshima got the wrong side of this wonderful contribution to world energy.
There is another case study however that did not survive these unforgiving atmospheres. The German billionaire Adolf Merckle the 94th richest man in the world committed suicide after failing to save his business empire. He had 1000 employees. When your mental atmosphere does not forgive you, depression always becomes the result. I am making an example of a billionaire to say that suicide and depression are not always of the poor. The business atmosphere and the family atmosphere, from his perspective, were not going to forgive him.
Forgive yourself like Einstein and Edison, forgive others as well, and have the mental energies to go through all life’s challenges. Forgivers are creators, unforgiveness takes a lot of mental energy that could be used to bring innovation to a life-saving project. Not everyone will forgive you, people are always on standby to blame you for their failures in life. We are not perfect, unfortunately knowing or unknowingly we hurt some people in the journey of life.
Our entire network of relational systems is unforgiving. From Governments, politicians, business competitors, media, church members, and even spouses at times. You can rise above the system and take the Forgiving Image of God which will make you a Creator according to His will and truly you shall become a Son and Daughter to a Loving, Forgiving Father of the Family which is both in Heaven and on Earth. Forgiveness is truly the atmosphere of Creators. I would highly recommend the blog: You can sign a new contract with the happy hormone.
Let me hear your thoughts.
