The six blind wise men and the elephant: a story to value the opinions of others

Do you value the opinions of others? Do you take into account perspectives that are different from your own? The story that we present to you today invites you to reflect in this sense.

It is not always easy to value the opinions of others because when they clash with our own we tend to give priority and greater veracity to our own. This causes us to become intransigent people and refuse to analyze the way in which others perceive reality. Instead of enriching us, this situation rather impoverishes us.

Among other reasons, if we act this way it is because, although we deny it, we like to be right. However, as a quote from the article states Relationship between two concepts: information, knowledge and value. Similarities and differences “You can only be right if you run the risk of being wrong.“.

In order to open our eyes to this widespread attitude, today we will discover a story that will help us value the opinions of others with the knowledge that is derived from their background. To do this, we invite you to read it carefully.

The tale of the six blind wise men and an elephant

Once upon a time there were six wise men who lived in a small village. All six were blind. One day, someone brought an elephant to the village. Given such a situation, The six men looked for a way to know what an elephant looked like, since they couldn’t see it.

“I know,” said one of them. Let’s feel it!

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“Good idea,” the others said. This way we will know what an elephant is like.

No sooner said than done. The first felt one of the elephant’s large ears. He touched her slowly back and forth.

– The elephant is like a big fan -said the first wise man.

The second, feeling the elephant’s legs, exclaimed: “it’s like a tree!”

“You are both wrong,” said the third wise man and, after examining the elephant’s tail, he exclaimed. The elephant is like a rope!

Just then, the fourth wise man who was feeling the tusks bellowed: the elephant is like a spear!

– No no! -the fifth shouted-. It’s like a high wall (the fifth sage had been feeling the elephant’s side).

The sixth wise man waited until the end and, holding the elephant’s trunk in his hand, said: “You are all wrong, the elephant is like a snake.”

– No no. Like a rope.

– Snake.

– A wall.

– You are wrong.

– I’m right.

– No!

The six men They engaged in endless discussion for hours, without agreeing. about what the elephant was like. If they had agreed, they would have drawn an elephant in its entirety.

To value the opinions of others, you have to listen

Something that we can make clear from this story is that to value the opinions of others we must learn to listen. The six wise men in the story did not pay attention to what their companions said, they only stated what they had felt with their hands. But that it was just a guess.

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In the end, None of them came close to the true image of what an elephant looks like., although everyone tenaciously defended their opinion. This, which may seem so absurd to us, happens frequently. Certainly, all of them were right in their perception. However, none of them matched reality. Neither was capable of valuing the opinions of others.

How can this story help us? The next time you have a different opinion than the people around us, I suggest you try look at the situation from your perspective. For this, it is essential to listen, ask if we do not understand something and also express our own position.

This does not mean that others cannot be wrong, but that we will learn to be aware that each person perceives reality in a different way, everyone having a portion of reason. In fact, as the article points out The search for reality or truth: an approach based on sociological theory and Plato, with the Myth of the Cave, pointed out that it is possible that there are different interpretations of the same reality.

Influenced by our experiences, values and beliefs, our way of seeing reality can differ greatly from that of others.. But does that mean that there are some that are true and others that are not? The answer is no. Therefore, valuing the opinions of others will allow us to enrich ourselves instead of impoverish ourselves, defending our own truth which, as we have seen with the story of the elephant and the six wise men, is probably not as “adjusted” as we think.

“The idea of truth is a mental interpretation of reality transmitted by the senses. Meanwhile, we must remember that mental interpretation includes beliefs, values and, ultimately, consciousness, because it can deceive us by constructing a truth only for ourselves.

-Josep Vidal-