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Who has not heard of the story of the blind men and the elephant? It has stood the test of time, and of universality. There are so many lessons it teaches that it's worth going over them.[FOCUS AND PERSPECTIVE] [The Arjuna Factor] [Window into Ourselves] [The Healer's View-Allopathic/Homeopathic/Ayurvedic/Energy] [The Tree in the Storm] [HOLISTIC LIVING HOME][If you would like to go over the story, it is easy to find the story on the web- just type in the words "blind men and the elephant" in a Google search engine. There is a poem by John Godfrey Saxe which is also quoted in full.]
At various times in life, each of us is blind. When faced with a novel situation, we use our knowledge to understand it. Our brain, wired with the gestalt principle, fills in the gap. And voila! The leg of an elephant becomes the trunk of a tree, and the tail: a stout rope! Bringing this into everyday life: the different manners of people become "bad manners" or "wrong behavior", and their customs, "strange customs".
Each of us plays different roles: son/daughter, sibling, spouse, friend, companion. Our behavior in each of these roles reveals only a facet of ourselves. In the same way, we can see only a facet of the people whom we meet. Here is a question to ponder on and share: Is it important to get to know the facets of people we meet? The ones we don't see in interacting with them? Why? Why not? How can we see those facets?
The blind men are also our senses. Each is beautifully designed to respond to one specific type of stimulus. Thus, eyes respond to light only and cannot sense sound waves, while ears do just the opposite. It would be fun to think how we would perceive the world if we had only one sense organ. Very limited! The lesson here is that it is the senses working in unison that make us understand the world around us.
But do we fully perceive even our physical reality? What about infra-red rays? Or ultra-violet? Scientific evidence shows us that they exist; and they can affect our well-being, but we cannot perceive them. Examples can multiply of physical things that we do not sense, but which do affect us. It's amusing to think that if we had the eyes of a fly and could see 360�a, the world would be very different from what it seems to us. When we say "I believe only what I can see and hear and touch"- let us keep in mind this limitation.
Yet doesn't each mother rightly claim to have "eyes at the back of my head"?
Well, somewhere we are aware that we have senses that extend beyond the conventional five! Or at least, we know that we need more senses than we have?
Perhaps we already do. We all are aware of "gut-feel", prickly feelings, shudders at some places, a feeling that something is not quite right, a nice feel about a person or place which has nothing to do with the looks.
We have more senses that we know about. Isn't it time to learn to use them?
Try an exercise.
When you are alone, whether in bed or in the shower, out walking or working out: take three deep breaths. Then become aware of all the things that your eyes can see: in front, focus on the nearest and farthest things. On the sides, focus on all the things that your eyes can see near and far. Then- close your eyes. Just watch what you see against the screen of your eyelids. Yes, there are names for those things: after-images, negative after-images. Yes, there are explanations. But just for now, just watch. No judging, no categorizing, no explanation. Just watch.
The blind person can open his perception to what s/he senses. Yes, the blind can see. They do see. They just have to know that they do. There are none so blind as those who WILL not see!
You can do this exercise with sounds. After the three cleansing breaths, become aware of all the sounds that you can hear around you. After a few moments, become aware of sounds that are outside the room that you are in. And then the very farthest sounds that you can hear.
How is it that we are not always aware of the sounds so far from us? Our ears are sensing them, but our brain is keeping them in our subconscious, because it can deal with only a few sounds at a time. It selects. We hear but we do not listen.
Now draw your attention inward, to the sounds made by your own body. What are the closest sounds that you can hear?
Isn't it interesting how many sounds are all around and within us? The brain limits us to what we can deal with. Perhaps we need to stay in awareness of these sounds whenever we can. We are not limited by our senses. We are limited by what we have taught our brains that we can deal with.
Please write in and share your experiences. It is only through sharing that the blind men can get the whole picture of the elephant!
� Meenakshi Suri 2002