Three blind men and their description of an elephant

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It is clear that the first blind man grabbed the elephant’s legs and imagined them as pillars. The second one stuck to his trunk and imagined it to be a snake. The third one held his tail and, for some reason, imagined it to be a broom.

The perceptions of each of them were the result of their previous knowledge and experiences in life, without giving the experiences of others the importance they deserve.

They were all wrong but none of them a liar, and their differences came because of our difficulty in realizing that truth has more than one face. When we disagree, this does not always mean that one of us is wrong. We may all be right, or we may all be wrong. Each party sees what the other does not see, just as two people opposite each other are asked to describe a piece of coin for their part!

Therefore, it is a mistake to completely believe that everyone who is not with us is against us, just because, for a reason beyond his control, he did not understand the idea that our opinion is not necessarily correct just because it is our opinion and the possibility that the other opinion is more correct, even if it is contrary to our opinion! We must not rely on our “unilateral” view of things, and benefit from the opinions of others, as they may see important and dangerous matters, but we cannot see them from our perspective.

I say this from the standpoint of the ideological and political differences of individuals or components of any society, and the belief of every individual, party, and group that he is right, and that the opinions he believes in, whether religious or political, are correct or represent the truth, while the opinions of others are wrong, worthy of ridicule, and unacceptable, and this is natural.

It has been a characteristic of human beings since the dawn of history, and it will continue forever, as long as our cultural and educational backgrounds and our experiences in life are varied and diverse.

This diversity usually results in a lot of beauty, if it is dealt with correctly and considered as personal opinions that everyone has the right to believe in. But the matter is different in backward societies, such as ours, where the difference often becomes sharp, and often bloody.

Despite many insisting on repeating Al-Shafi’i’s saying that “my opinion is correct and may be wrong, and someone else’s opinion is wrong and may be correct,” we often resort to our tongues, then to our hands, and many times to our weapons to confirm to others the correctness of our opinion.

This is a characteristic of societies that have not been taught or raised on the virtue of difference, and this is one of the defects of our educational curricula.

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By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 849 times!