The elephant in the village of the blind is a traditional Indian story about a village where everyone was blind. A traveler came to the village with an elephant. The villagers did not know what an elephant was and the traveler asked them to see for themselves. Since none of the villagers could see, they had to touch the animal and draw their conclusion on what the elephant could be. Several villagers went and touched the animal. They all formed their different views based on the part of the animal that they touched. At the end of the day, there were six different views of what the elephant was; a fan a smooth staff, rope, a water pipe and a hairy pillar.
An elephant is a very big animal, and it is very …show more content…
Most judged the elephant based on what they were told. In today’s world, the same happens. Many people argue based on facts they have heard of rather than what they have experienced (Galesse, 38). Most perceptions are formed by people at first glance or rather the first idea they get about the issue. For instance, if a student goes to school and finds everyone saying Biology is a difficult subject, they tend to believe that. Even when they get into a Biology class for the first time, they will not expect to grasp more than those who told him the subject it is hard. In the story, people believed what they were told about the elephant and formed a perception without actually going to touch the animal themselves. They were ready to fight for what they believed even if they had no real proof. The people took what they believed seriously, and no one could easily change their mind. Therefore they even formed groups based on their …show more content…
In the story, the people of the blind village had never heard of such a being as an elephant. Therefore when the elephant came to their village, they had to form a perception. Whether an elephant was dangerous, how it was able to carry so many goods among other things. The behavior of people changed towards each other because of their thoughts of the elephant, even if no one had an exact proof of their allegations. An example in our current world is religion. Different religions have different beliefs. We respect the position a person takes and the religion they choose to follow. However, in some instances, people’s different beliefs tend to stir up emotion and quarrel. Our different religious perspectives could lead to war simply because people do not understand different things the same