A question to everybody...?

Question

Let's say we put a vase with flowers in a center of a room, and we have four people looking at the vase from different corners of the room. A fifth person is looking at a fish bowl.

Person A: I see the vase. It is purple. The water is dirty. I see three yellow flowers and the shadow fo the vase on the table.

Person B: No, no, I see the vase. It is blue. The water is not dirty, but the glass is dirty. I see two red flowers.

Person C: You're crazy. I see the vase. It is blue, but I can only see one yellow flower. I see a bee.

Person D: All wrong. I see the vase and it is purple. There's no bee. I see three red flowers, and I am sure of it.

Person E is looking at the fish-bowl: All of you are dellusioned. THERE IS NO VASE... I can't see any, therefore, there is no vase. I can only see the fish-bowl. I only believe what I see and no matter what you guys tell me, I will stick to the fish-bowl.

Now this: the vase and the flowers is God and the Spirituality. Each person represents each religion. The person looking at the fish bowl is Atheism.
Would you agree that every religion has a different point of view, a different corner to see and understand God and Spirituality and yet, everybody is right, talking about the same thing?
Would you agree that even if it atheists can't see God, that doesn't mean He doesn't exist? And yet, atheists are not wrong, because the fish-bowl is their reality. They are not lying, they just dont give credits to those that "see" things differently.

Therefore, nobody is wrong. We are all in the same room, looking things differently and making part of the same Truth.

Some of you might say this is silly comparison, but would you accept to exercise your mind with this and be more respectfull to those around you?

I liked all the answers and it is funny how some of you didn't even try to consider this exercise, refusing to see the situation as a parable.

Someone suggested to take the vase out of the room and we all would be proven to be dellusioned. But the point is that even it is taken away, it was there before (fact), so it wouldn't make difference in the Faith that it existed.

Someone said that if one of the four turn the atheism head towards the vase, he will see the vase, but I would say that until then, there is nothing we can do other than respect they see the fish bowl.

I want to add that the discussion about the vase would become a fight when intolerance and fanaticism get into the picture. Thats when whe have terrorists and other crazy people that kill in the name of what they believe to be the vase.

The blind men and the elephant is a good one too.

Answer 1

YOU ARE ABSOLTUELY RIGHT. It has been said before that money is the root of all evil- its not. INTOLERANCE IS. If people would look at their fellow man, accept him, and call him their brother, we would live in a much better world. Like I have said numerous times, I believe in many paths and many good religions. God comes in many forms, and there are just too many non-Christians for them to all be wrong. What I believe as a good religion may be different than that of you, but I assess them as merely different paths to get to the same place. The fault is that we all want to be on the right path. just suppose you come to a split in the road with a group of people and you all take different paths. You hope you are on the right one. You rarely consider maybe you all are.

Answer 2

Great story, it reminds of the story of the five blind men that Hindus often tell. It's a story about five blind men who leave their respective villages to go out for a walk in the woods. Along the way each of them comes across an elephant that walks by them. The first one reaches out and touches the trunk. The second one when he comes across an elephant reaches out and touches the tusk. The third reaches out and touches a flapping ear. The fourth touches the tail and the fifth touches the body. Each then goes back to their village to tell about their experience. So which man had the true experience of the elephant? The point that Hindus make is that the elephant is like God and we are like the blind men that reach out and touch part of it. God is infinite according to Hindus and we realize that we exist in a finite body. Each of us reaches out and touches only a fraction of a fraction of God. We each experience God differently (define that word differently, too) and that's why there is so many different religions and even why there is so many different denominations, sects, and subsects within the many religions.

Thus those that experience "a vase" can agree they experience "a vase", but there are still those that experience "a fish bowl" and not a vase at all. And even then the people experiencing "a vase" fight amongst themselves about the nature of the"vase" and people experiencing the "fish bowl" fight amongst themselves about the nature of the"fish bowl".

Answer 3

I understand what you're saying.

The point though is that there is one truth about the vase. Someone knows the absolute truth about the color of the vase and what's in it. Nobody knows the absolute truth about if there is a god or not, and nobody knows the absolute truth about what religion, if any, is the right one.

Person E would be able to see the vase though if someone would just turn their head to the side. The vase would be something they could touch. God, unlike the vase is not tangible.

Answer 4

Maybe you should quit passing out drugs at your parties if all can't see the same thing - or have something more interesting to look at then a vase and a fish bowl.

:)

Or we all perceive everything with our own filters and will only see what we choose to see and interpret it as best we can given our life experiences and how our mind/heart/soul works.
Faith and spiritual matters are beyond the scope of some and easy perceived by others. What is there truly is no vase, no flowers and no fish bowl?

Answer 5

This is a good depiction of how we can walk around spiritually blinded and unaware of what is around us, but seem as if we know what's happening.

Even sometimes when I think I have moved forwards, I have actually ran backwards. I soon realise it too! We should try to get along with each other more, for sure. It just depends on how much effort we are prepared to make in doing so, but as you say, it's not easy.

One of the hardest things that I struggle with is that I try to help people sometimes, because I know we all see things differently, so we try and share a little understanding in an appropriate and sensitive way.

The problem for me is that when it comes to the people closest to me, we have difficulty communicating properly sometimes because of other people causing us problems, which often brings harsh words and stress and unhappiness, which gets taken out on each other. I hate this and pray that we can sort it out. I try to search for the way to be communicate better but I elude it. I hope I can find the right way to build bridges not barriers.

Answer 6

Interesting theory.

The problem is if you take a part of something that is 100%, the object ceases to be 100%. Meaning, something is changed and the object is no longer complete.

Though some religions may be spin-offs of the main religion, they spin-offs are indeed wrong. Case and Point: There is only one God who sees over all that he created. Now, the greeks took all that he created and made lesser gods (Thor, Venus, Mercury, Zeus, etc.). Those "spin-off" gods are wrong because it disrespect the one true God.

Let's just say that your theory is correct: That would mean those terrorists who blow themselves up (along with those unfortunate innocents) are correct when they say they are doing it for their "god". This, of course, is wrong. But your example gives way for cults and violent sects to sprout out of what 'they interpret to be god's word'. Also, years ago (and to this day), the KKK uses certain verses out of the bible to support their view that slavery should exist. This is their view of 'God's Word' - which of course if wrong. But according to your theory, they would be right in a way.

The bible states that evil (darkness) cannot coexist with good (light). Also, it is a sin to take bits and pieces away from God's word. ---- Remember Satan did that to Adam & Eve (and also Jesus). If you take 10% after from something, you are still wrong because you have rejected the other 90%. Any Lawyer will tell you that.

Answer 7

Right and the question is? By the way, this is similar to "The Blind Men and the Elephant" (or some poem/parable close to that name).

The point to these artificial situations is that often the truth seeker's view on "Truth" is limited by perception without allowing for the truth seeker to explore all facets/views and to continue to explore as they have new means.

I don't mind respecting people's religious views and/or their religions. What I don't respect is blind, unquestioning faith or flip, un-tought out answers.

Your example might be more appropriate if the 4 people were wearing virtual reality glasses with a undetectable signal feed and person E had all manner of microscopes, instruments, room history, building plans, etc...

Answer 8

This is just dumb. Sorry, but it is. Vases exist. Person E knows that flowers and vases exist. He may not be looking at them at the moment, but he has seen them before. You cannot compare things in the world that are known to exist with an entity that does not show itself. This is just as stupid as the you can't see the wind argument.

Answer 9

it's the same parable as the 3 blind men and the elephant. We all see what we want to see and what we CAN (mentally) see, not the whole.

There is a real problem with "can't see the forest through the trees" mentality these days.

I like to think of "god" as one of those glass stars you put a candle in. There are all these different panes of glass, and you have a different view of the light through each pane. None are "better" or "worse" than any other, just a different view of the same light.

Answer 10

I would add two that the room is totally dark and that the people in it are prevented from touching anything. The people are under the impression that they must see either a vase or a fishbowl, but in fact none of them see anything.

There is a person F in the room. He says. "We have no way of knowing whether there is a fishbowl or a vase."