Signs and Portents

I've been doing some more thinking. Oh no, not that again. Bear with me, people. A friend of mine keeps telling me I shouldn't regret anything I've done. But the fact of the matter is, I have done things in the past that I do in fact regret. These are things that, if I could alter the past such that I never did them, I would be happier. Given the impossibility of actually changing the past (at least, given our current understanding of time and space), it seems on the surface that these regrets are wasted energy on my part. However, I think regret does in fact serve a meaningful purpose. It alters the way we look at the rest of our lives, and motivates us to change our ways. The samurai philosopher Miyamoto Musashi recounts how each New Year, he was plagued by regret, and sought to live without it. The secret, he discovered, was not to simply forget the past and never regret anything (which is simply shameful wantonness), but rather to live in such a manner that none of one's actions are worthy of regret. He who lives without regret is therefore either without blemish and is perfect in every way, or is so morally deficient that he no longer recognizes his own flaws. Given that nobody's perfect, regret keeps us humble and reminds us of that on which we need to work and improve. So I say embrace regret, and learn from it. You may not be able to change the past, but you can use it to live in the 'now.'

On a side note, Lars updated again. Check it out!