The idea behind "The Blind Men and the Elephant" is based
upon the principal that our perceptions are founded on the information that we are able
to accumulate. In the story, each man touches a different part of an elephant, and based
solely on these individual perceptions (from only the sense of
touch), each man has a different idea about the shape of the elephant. However, his
knowledge is limited and inaccurate, for it is the result of partial knowledge, not the
entire "picture."
Literally, we can see how this might be
translated into a real-life experience. If someone lives a humble existence somewhere in
the world, cut off from the news and pictures of the "world outside," that person might
be content with the circumstances of his life, not worried about what exists elsewhere.
However, if another person living in that same community has a visitor who brings a
newspaper or some kind of electronic device (a phone with pictures, etc.), the second
person's mind will be opened to things he or she never imagined in the world. Life on
the outside of this village presents a far larger world than the second person had ever
considered. Where the first person may be content in his limited exposure to the world,
the second person will see his own world most likely with less satisfaction and the
larger world with greater curiosity.
In this case,
"perception" is purely relative—to what we know—and what we have
experienced. If someone believes in ghosts, a bump in the night may be terrifying; but
if someone else does not, he or she will explain it away to the sounds of an old house
settling. The truth for each person is relative to his own experiences, and therefore,
each person's perception will be different (in a large or small way) based upon the
collective experiences and/or knowledge each person
has.
Each of us perceives the world relative to our own
knowledge. We need not be blind to have different perceptions from others—it is all
relative to what we have experienced in our lives.
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