The different perceptual realities we all hold

The Different Perceptual Realities we all hold

In the eighteen hundreds there was a poet named John G. Saxe who wrote about six men in a village named Indostan “to learning much inclined, who went to see the Elephant (though all of them were blind), that each by observation might satisfy his mind”.

Any reader that is familiar with that poem will remember that the first blind man felt the broad side of the animal and described the elephant “to be like a wall.” The second gentleman, feeling the elephant’s tusk, was very surprised: “Did you say that it is like a wall? I can’t believe it, it is more like a spear! The third blind man, grappling with the elephant’s squirming trunk, said, “Wall? Spear? That elephant is more like a snake!” The fourth man, touching the elephant’s knees, said “Stupids! The elephant is like a strong tree!” The fifth gentleman, feeling the ear, said “Have you all gone mad? An elephant is like a fan!” The sixth man, feeling the elephant’s tail, said, “Any chump can see that an elephant is thin as a rope.”

If we analyze each man’s answer perceptually, we must conclude that all of them are right. I mention this anecdote in this article because most efforts to persuade human beings are no more than one blind person asking another blind person to “see or perceive” the elephant as he or she does.

Have you ever considered that your friends, your bosses, coworkers, customers and your politicians live in their own personal perceptual realities?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to instead of expecting them all to see the elephant as you do, why not make an attempt to see what they are seeing? If you persevere and make an honest effort, you might be able to see enough parts of the elephant from different perspectives so as to have a much better chance at understanding the reality of the situation and finally make sense of it all.

Doing this is applying a very wise principle, “seek to understand and then be understood”, one of the seven habits my friend Stephen Covey wrote about.

Human beings must someday understand that most of the truths we adhere to depend greatly on our point of view, on our paradigms, on how we interpret reality.

Right now the Israeli government is battling a problem of perception because they boarded a ship that was supposed to take food and supplies to people in Gaza and they were attacked with sticks and knives. Many people were hurt and about ten died. The Israelis say that the ship belongs to a terrorist organization and that it was within their right to board the ship and the occupants of the ship didn’t want that to happen. The world press perceives that it was an unjustified attack, so unless the Israelis are able to prove their point, they will be in serious trouble. Sometimes, even if you prove a point, the perception still remains and you are also in trouble, especially since for reasons that are not within the scope of this article, the world press is against you.
Right now, there is a strike at the University of Puerto Rico. That strike is affecting thousands of students that want to go to the University to study and advance their lives. Both sides must understand each other or we will get nowhere.
We have serious problems in P.R and because of these disagreements, nothing is getting done. Is our government going through difficult times? Shouldn’t the budget be balanced? Should the government reduce working hours from the employees or should they be fire more of them? Why is the cost of water and electricity so high? Why hasn’t our economy grown some more? What should we do about it?

All of our leaders have different points of view, different ideas on what to do and how to do it. Could it be that they are all blind and they are seeing different parts of the elephant?

There is an old legend I read about in a magazine many years ago about a tribe that was always at war with other tribes. They murdered, raped and stole. They had no morals, love or compassion. Sooner or later they were all going to kill each other.

An alarmed old man called together the few reasonable members of all the tribes to try to save the violent natives from themselves. After much discussion the reasonable members decided to take the secret of success and happiness away from those who abused it and hide it from them. But where should the secret be hidden? Some suggested it be buried inside the earth. Others said to hide it on top of Mount Everest. Still, others suggested it be sunk in the deepest ocean. There was no agreement until the wise elder who had called the meeting made a suggestion:

“Let us hide the secret within the people themselves”, he said. “People like this will never find it there.”

To this day, all over the world, all over Puerto Rico people have been persistently pursuing success and happiness, searching for the secret. Very few indeed, have found its hiding place—within themselves.