Does the proportion of an eraser on a pencil imply the number of mistakes that are allowed? A quarter of an inch of eraser to five-and-a-half inches of graphite.

Art schools are known to insist that students do not use erasers when drawing. Psychologist and activist John W. Gardner said, “Life is the art of drawing without an eraser”, suggesting we must not fear failure and contribute to society by being the person we are.

Robert Rauschenberg used 40 erasers over two months to carefully erase a drawing by fellow artist Willem de Kooning, which was framed and titled “Erased de Kooning Drawing,” 1953. A digitally enhanced infrared scan shows traces of the original drawing. In other words, mistakes cannot really be erased, only made less obvious.

As Kathryn Schulz writes in her book Being Wrong, we all love the feeling of being right, so accepting one’s mistakes can be a complex matter. From childhood we are taught that those who make mistakes are inferior and those who succeed in life do so without making mistakes. On the contrary, errors, she says, provide an opportunity to revise our understanding of ourselves and to amend our ideas about the world.

Mistakes can also lead to new inventions, from potato chips to penicillin, pacemakers to post-its. Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” And “There are no mistakes, only lessons” is an oft-repeated phrase.

In legal terms, a mistake is usually an unintentional error in action, opinion or judgment, while a misdeed would be an intentional, dishonest and immoral action. Most legal systems and religions do not hold a person responsible if they err unwittingly, but a deliberate wrongdoing is a sin with consequences.

Error, when acknowledged, is accompanied by anxiety, a realisation that amends have to be made. Sophocles writes, “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil.” The majority of us try to move away from our mistakes rather than acknowledge and correct them.

Mistakes as moral transgressions are far more complex. Extreme forms of atonement may be undertaken, such as self-flagellation and other forms of physical suffering, practised by extremist Christians. The ‘sale of indulgences’, instituted by Pope Urban II in the 11th century, created a system by which sins and punishment in the hereafter could be erased by donations to the church.

The Jews fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Muslims are encouraged to fast and give charity after true repentance or taubah. Those who are not religious, may, for example, deal with the guilt of excessive wealth by establishing charitable organisations.

Pakistanis, known today for giving in to the faster route of expediency rather than moral correctness, are nevertheless very anxious about forgiveness or maghfirat. When leaving a job or embarking on a journey, it is common to ask forgiveness for anything said or done by them [‘kaha suna maaf kar daen’].

Amjad Sabri’s qawwali Karam Maangta Hoon [I Ask For Your Mercy] moves listeners to tears. Junaid Jamshed’s Meri Ghaflat Mein Dooba Dil Badal De [Change My Heart That Has Sunk Into Carelessness], is seeing a revival on social media. People pray all night for Allah’s mercy during special months or nights. At funerals, mourners are asked to forgive the departed.

Most believe Allah will forgive even the worst of their transgressions, because humans are an assemblage of mistakes [‘ghaltiyon ka paikar’] and Allah is Merciful. In Rumi’s words “Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times.”

But there is always the fear that, as Omar Khayyam puts it: “The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.”

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 6th, 2022