Blind Man, Deaf Man

A blind mans words of wisdom lies on a deaf mans ears.

Can two people perceive the world exactly the same? Can one event lead to the same conclusion for each and every individual? The answer to this question is a clear “No”, yet, we as humans, operate in such a manner that does credit these questions to be a “Yes.”

There is a beautiful Zen Koran that speaks on this concept about letting go of the need for conclusions as the story is always ever evolving. The story is called “The Horse, The Farmer, & His Son” where throughout the story a series of “good” & “bad” things happen to the Farmer. After every happening, his community either praises the perceived “good” or has pity for the perceived “bad” happenings. These events for the farmer are just neutral things that have happened and after each he replied, “well see”, knowing that the story is not over. Each happening builds on top of the previous event in such a way that leads to a new development.

When people look at a single event and draw a conclusion to such happening they become blind to the connections that this single event plays a part, they are unable to see the bigger picture. When they inform someone unrelated to the event about it, their conclusions can land on deaf ears as their perceptions most likely will not align with their narrow understanding.

One issue within personal development, self-improvement or therapy is that those who see the event as an isolated incident will only share this conclusion with those who they feel will draw the same conclusion, thus reinforcing their belief. When opening this up to someone who is not emotionally entranced, their belief of the conclusion(s) they’ve made is challenged forcing the individual to strengthen their defense mechanisms to protect what they have spent their life defending, this could get scary as a new belief (one of “my life is a lie”) might emerge and the individual will retreat back to their comfort zone.

Learning to make connections, not conclusion, and seeing it as it is will help you gain a broader understanding of such events. This implies the ability to re-frame events continuously, with an open mind, as with each new understanding brings new perspectives to each and every happening in your life.