I am Kiki Chen.

My essential question is: how are negative experiences as equally important as positive ones?

In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley portrays a world in which the government effectively controls its subjects by not giving them the opportunity to learn from experience. Inventions such as “soma” (a substance similar to drugs) distract people in the society from their troubles, except for the characters of Bernard and Helmholtz, whose disadvantages and failures allow them to see more clearly and have mental excess. The equal importance of negative and positive experiences is demonstrated through Bernard and Helmholtz, who realize that they have more important goals to accomplish after they have experienced negative emotions. Their realizations allow them not to be brainwashed like other people in the society. Thus, I wonder about how negative experiences are equally as important as positive ones. In “Learning from mistakes”, Ion Valis asserts the importance of considering failures in the society.

Ion Valis states in "Learning from mistakes" that the modern society follows "an unrealistic success culture" that amplifies success and hides failures. However, he renounces the self-help movement of the 20th century, which taught people to follow the steps of some famous person to achieve success. He believes it is useless because success stories depend largely on serendipity and are "non-transitive" (Valis 9). Similarly, in the novel, people do not face their negative experiences because they are distracted by soma and various activities that are a means of controlling people: "such is progress ... the old men have no time, no leisure from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think" (Huxley 84).

Ion Valis claims that mistakes are chances to grow and improve, so his goal is "to help people and organisations see mistakes as a gift; a necessary part of the improvement process" (Valis 3). Some of his clients who followed his ideas, embracing their mistakes in their companies through different plans, were able to achieve advantageous results. Thus, his method is a challenge to the modern success culture. In Brave New World, the members of society are conditioned to societal norms throughout their childhood and youth; they do not have the ability to question their conformity through their past experiences and learning. Thus, in the end, John and Bernard failed in their fight for individuality.

To help people effectively learn from blunders, Ion Valis presents a solid method of learning from one's mistakes, known as the M.A.S.T.E.R Framework. First, one must make peace with one's mistake. Then, analyze the mistake and find the reasons. The next step is to search for the true source of the mistake. Consequently, one should take in lessons from the mistake. Lastly, one should reprogram oneself to avoid similar mistakes in the future (Valis 14). This method can be used repeatedly on different mistakes to continue improving oneself.

The societies in Brave New World and today resemble each other because the people in both societies are conditioned to a certain culture — the former believes in conformity while the latter idolizes success. However, they are different in the way that, in the novel, people are shaped since childhood through scientific methods and methods such as sleep-teaching to prepare them for a predetermined occupation. Thus, they do not have any opportunities to learn from past experiences but only consider those teachings as irrefutable truths. Ideas they receive through their whole lives are designed for them to be restricted; they do not have serendipity nor free will because everything is predetermined and controlled. In conclusion, even though the book ends with the failure to be awakened, in today’s society, one can awaken and follow the steps to learn from past experiences, either successes or failures.

Here are my works cited.