05-01-2014, 12:00 AM
I was thinking about the saying In the land of the blind the
one eyed man is king and began to wonder if I really understand this metaphor
the way it was intended and indeed if this really is a metaphor? If
this phrase is in fact a metaphor then it is not to be taken literally, those
are the rules, but while considering this I noticed I have always taken only
the first half of the phrase as metaphor and the second half as a factual
statement. I have always understood the first half to mean a land of
spiritually blind people not a land of actual blind people. The second
part however I have always understood to refer to a man who actually has one
eye presiding over a kingdom of literal blind people. I see now that all
along I have been using the first half of the phrase as a metaphor and the
second part as a statement about how good it would be to have one eye supposing
everyone else is literally blind. The value of one eye in a place where
others are blind is indeed note worthy but the fact that I personally consider
having one eye not quite as bad as not being able to see at all is really
neither here nor there in terms of the metaphor. Focusing on the factual
side of the text abandons the rules of the metaphor altogether and
makes the first half literal also, having one eye in a land of literally blind
people is not at all relevant to the condition of spiritual blindness!
I have always assumed that when I read a text and understand it in a certain
way then the way I have understood it is what the text actually means and why
wouldn't it? we all live in the same world and the number three is the
number three however you look at it or choose to describe it. Perhaps it
is because spiritual or abstract concepts cannot be written down which is why
we need to use a metaphor in the first place! How much of what I believe
myself to have understood may in fact mean something else altogether? Are
my understandings rather than illuminating keeping me from the truth of what I
was trying to understand?
So I wonder what is the metaphor to be had in the second half of the saying? What does the one eyed man mean?
one eyed man is king and began to wonder if I really understand this metaphor
the way it was intended and indeed if this really is a metaphor? If
this phrase is in fact a metaphor then it is not to be taken literally, those
are the rules, but while considering this I noticed I have always taken only
the first half of the phrase as metaphor and the second half as a factual
statement. I have always understood the first half to mean a land of
spiritually blind people not a land of actual blind people. The second
part however I have always understood to refer to a man who actually has one
eye presiding over a kingdom of literal blind people. I see now that all
along I have been using the first half of the phrase as a metaphor and the
second part as a statement about how good it would be to have one eye supposing
everyone else is literally blind. The value of one eye in a place where
others are blind is indeed note worthy but the fact that I personally consider
having one eye not quite as bad as not being able to see at all is really
neither here nor there in terms of the metaphor. Focusing on the factual
side of the text abandons the rules of the metaphor altogether and
makes the first half literal also, having one eye in a land of literally blind
people is not at all relevant to the condition of spiritual blindness!
I have always assumed that when I read a text and understand it in a certain
way then the way I have understood it is what the text actually means and why
wouldn't it? we all live in the same world and the number three is the
number three however you look at it or choose to describe it. Perhaps it
is because spiritual or abstract concepts cannot be written down which is why
we need to use a metaphor in the first place! How much of what I believe
myself to have understood may in fact mean something else altogether? Are
my understandings rather than illuminating keeping me from the truth of what I
was trying to understand?
So I wonder what is the metaphor to be had in the second half of the saying? What does the one eyed man mean?