Share
your point of view with the world. Remember that only you can see
things from where you're standing. You can't see things from where I'm
standing, only I can. I can see something you CAN'T, and you can see
something I CAN'T, and that person standing on the corner can see
something NEITHER of us can see (or feel, hear, or understand), nor
anyone else. Each one of us is holding our very own le...ns
through which we each experience the world. The only way we can learn
what another sees is to listen to what they report from their unique
perspective. And the only way for anyone to hear our report from our
unique point of view is to tell it. You can't stand in my shoes, it's
not possible. You can try, but you can't really. What you can do,
however, is stop arguing and judging, trying to tel me what you think I
see, or what I "should" see, and just listen. Anyone else who
understands will listen to YOU report YOUR unique perspective as well,
because they want to know what you see through your own eyes.
The story of the Elephant and the Blind Men, below, is well known to many, but few seem to remember the meaning of the story and practice it in every day life. What a wonderful, much more peaceful and prosperous world we would have if everyone understood and practiced this. It's not a religious concept so much as logic. ~I can't see what I can't see, and you can't see what you can't see, so if we argue about what we're seeing it's pretty ridiculous, isn't it? If each of us are standing on opposite sides of a house, we can only tell each other what we're each looking at, we can't actually SEE the other side of the house from where we're each standing. Even if we've stood there before, we still can't see what the other person is seeing, and they can't see what we're seeing, or how we're seeing it. To some this is an obvious concept, to others it is difficult to comprehend, possibly because they were not taught that other human beings are real people like themselves, or they may have been taught that "reality" is the same for everyone, and therefore if someone else sees something else, they must be mistaken.
(However, if one examines this further, one will see that those who accuse others of being mistaken or delusional also submit to whomever they have identified as a "Leader", so when this "Leader" says that they see something different, they will listen, and say "ah, he/she is wise", even if the "Leader" says the same thing as another who was called "mistaken" or "crazy". This is still related to the Elephant and the Blind Men; dismissing one person as value-less and then therefore dismissing whatever they say, but exaggerating the value of another and hearing whatever they say as Divine Wisdom. If the Blind Men did this in the story, then everyone would believe that the entire Elephant was ONLY a trunk, or ONLY a tail, etc., depending on which men they dismissed as "lesser", and which men they chose as "Leader".)
The story of the Elephant and the Blind Men, below, is well known to many, but few seem to remember the meaning of the story and practice it in every day life. What a wonderful, much more peaceful and prosperous world we would have if everyone understood and practiced this. It's not a religious concept so much as logic. ~I can't see what I can't see, and you can't see what you can't see, so if we argue about what we're seeing it's pretty ridiculous, isn't it? If each of us are standing on opposite sides of a house, we can only tell each other what we're each looking at, we can't actually SEE the other side of the house from where we're each standing. Even if we've stood there before, we still can't see what the other person is seeing, and they can't see what we're seeing, or how we're seeing it. To some this is an obvious concept, to others it is difficult to comprehend, possibly because they were not taught that other human beings are real people like themselves, or they may have been taught that "reality" is the same for everyone, and therefore if someone else sees something else, they must be mistaken.
(However, if one examines this further, one will see that those who accuse others of being mistaken or delusional also submit to whomever they have identified as a "Leader", so when this "Leader" says that they see something different, they will listen, and say "ah, he/she is wise", even if the "Leader" says the same thing as another who was called "mistaken" or "crazy". This is still related to the Elephant and the Blind Men; dismissing one person as value-less and then therefore dismissing whatever they say, but exaggerating the value of another and hearing whatever they say as Divine Wisdom. If the Blind Men did this in the story, then everyone would believe that the entire Elephant was ONLY a trunk, or ONLY a tail, etc., depending on which men they dismissed as "lesser", and which men they chose as "Leader".)
Story(25)
ELEPHANT
AND THE BLIND MEN
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One
day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in
the village today."
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even
though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it
anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone
of them touched the elephant.
"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man
who touched his leg.
"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who
touched the tail.
"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said
the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who
touched the ear of the elephant.
"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who
touched the belly of the elephant.
"It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who
touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them
insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting
agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped
and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said,
"We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each
one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise
man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The
reason every one of you is telling it differently because each
one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So,
actually the elephant has all those features what you all
said."
"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They
felt happy that they were all right.
In Jainism:
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what
someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not
because they may have different perspective which we may not
agree too. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should
say, "Maybe you have your reasons." This way we
don’t get in arguments. In Jainism, it is explained that
truth can be stated in seven different ways. So, you can see how
broad our religion is. It teaches us to be tolerant towards
others for their viewpoints. This allows us to live in harmony
with the people of different thinking. This is known as the
Syadvada, Anekantvad, or the theory of Manifold Predictions.
