A community of blind men once heard that an extraordinary beast called an elephant had been brought into the country. Since they did not know what it looked like and had never heard its name, they resolved to obtain a picture, and the knowledge they desired, by feeling the beast - the only possibility that was open to them! They went in search of the elephant, and when they had found it, they felt its body. One touched its leg, the other a tusk, the third an ear, and in the belief that they now knew the elephant, they returned home. But when they were questioned by the other blind men, their answers differed. The one who had felt the leg maintained that the elephant was nothing other than a pillar, extremely rough to the touch, and yet strangely soft. The one who had caught hold of the tusk denied this and described the elephant as, hard and smooth, with nothing soft or rough about it, more over the beast was by no means as stout as a pillar, but rather had the shape of a post. The third, who had held the ear in his hands, spoke: "By my faith, it is both soft and rough." Thus he agreed with one of the others, but went on to say: Nevertheless, it is neither like a post nor a pillar, but like a broad, thick piece of leather." Each was right in a certain sense, since each of them communicated that part of the elephant he had comprehended, but none was able describe the elephant as it really was; for all three of them were unable to comprehend the entire form of the elephant.
This is something that can be viewed on the news. A car accident happens and three witnesses state something different. Can we really trust our mind? Not so much. It isn't always reliable. It is hard to believe that all mass in the universe is just atoms and the arranged atoms that make up our brain, in turn our mind, generates something that never existed.
2 comments:
I think about this topic a lot myself. I'm to the point in which I think reality is an illusion. I don't mean this solely on a person-by-person basis either.
I know that one theory is that there is an ultimate or absolute reality, but what does that really mean? Reality is based on perception and what kind of entity or essence could perceive everything INCLUDING itself perceiving the perception?
Our senses serve to inform us, in the physical world.
But there exists a form of Direct Perception that bypasses the physical senses, completely.
This may be achieved via meditation, at great length, and if one is fortunate enough to get everything just right.
This is what is said to be enlightenment.
The kind of reality that is perceived without use of the physical senses may be actual reality. And it has nothing in common with the everyday reality.
No judgement takes place.
No mental processing occurs.
No separation exists between perceiver and perceived.
From experience, I can report that this reality is complete bliss.
I believe that enlightenment is a preview of death.
And being such, there is absolutely nothing to fear.
I may be wrong.
Post a Comment