You’re more than the labels you’ve been defined by — MUCH more!
Astounding insights from turning a popular parable on its head
Most people are familiar with the story of the six blind men and the elephant. If you’ve never heard of it before, here’s a summary of it:
Six blind men are walking in a field, when they encounter a creature. They aren’t sure what it is, so they start touching it to figure it out. But since they’re each feeling different parts of it, each of the men confidently declares it’s something different.
One felt the trunk and thought the animal was a snake.
Another felt the ears and decided they were giant fans.
A third felt the legs and decided they were four big tree trunks.
All of them were quite adamant that they were right.
But they were wrong, of course. Their perceptions were completely shaped — limited — by their unique points of view.
This popular parable helps us understand why it’s so important not to rely on our assumptions. Our brains filter the world through multiple biases that we may not even be aware of. Because of this, they often blind us to the bigger picture that makes up the truth.
