Open Your Eyes
An atheist meets a yogi.
Atheist: Please prove to me that God exists.
Yogi: God cannot be proved. He must be realized.
Atheist: Oh, come on! I am tired of this reply. I have heard it a zillion times.
The Yogi calls one of his disciples, who is blind.
Yogi (to the atheist): Please prove to my disciple that the earth is round.
Atheist: Many explorers have circumnavigated the earth.
Disciple: So?
Atheist: So, the earth is round.
Disciple: I don't believe in hearsay.
Atheist (showing a globe): Touch this. This is a model of the earth. This shows that the earth is round.
Disciple: This shows that the globe is round and only you say that it is a model of the earth. I don't believe you.
Atheist: I have seen photos of the earth taken from spaceships and from the moon. In all of them, earth is round.
Disciple: How do I know they are for real? They might be fakes.
Atheist (getting really angry): You blind fool! If only you had eyes you will see for yourself that the earth is round.
Yogi: Dear Sir! Whatever you just said applies to you. Just replace earth with God and roundness with existence. Open your eyes and realize God!
Atheist: Please prove to me that God exists.
Yogi: God cannot be proved. He must be realized.
Atheist: Oh, come on! I am tired of this reply. I have heard it a zillion times.
The Yogi calls one of his disciples, who is blind.
Yogi (to the atheist): Please prove to my disciple that the earth is round.
Atheist: Many explorers have circumnavigated the earth.
Disciple: So?
Atheist: So, the earth is round.
Disciple: I don't believe in hearsay.
Atheist (showing a globe): Touch this. This is a model of the earth. This shows that the earth is round.
Disciple: This shows that the globe is round and only you say that it is a model of the earth. I don't believe you.
Atheist: I have seen photos of the earth taken from spaceships and from the moon. In all of them, earth is round.
Disciple: How do I know they are for real? They might be fakes.
Atheist (getting really angry): You blind fool! If only you had eyes you will see for yourself that the earth is round.
Yogi: Dear Sir! Whatever you just said applies to you. Just replace earth with God and roundness with existence. Open your eyes and realize God!
posted by Murali at 2:55 AM
5 Comments:
hmmm...
What is the use of telling a blind person to open his/her eyes, and even if they miraculously gain their sight, the argument that the photos that show that the earth is round are fake, still holds true. So trying to convince people either way is pretty much impossible. but keep trying...would very much like to see where this goes:)
Deepa:
I think you are taking the analogy too literally. It was just to show that the effort to realize God should come from within an individual and cannot be forced upon them. Note that the yogi was not trying to convince the other guy. He was only responding to the other person's request for proving the existence of God.
BTW, my interpretation of 'Atheist' in this and the previous post may be a bit rigid and one dimensional. I think there are other possible interpretations. I think in Indian philosophy we have things like atheistic-theism etc which are above my head:)
Not taking it literally, I did understand what you are saying. My point is that people choose to believe or disbelieve in things which seem to be so obvious for other people.
As you point out, as long as both sides understand that it is possible for the other viewpoint to be true too, all is well. But that doesn't happen in reality.
And my English has hit an all time low!!!
Nice one,murali...What u have tried to say is correct..One has to realize GOD.
But in order to prove this,is it necessary for the disciple to be blind.We also need not believe in hearsay.
vidyamraag:
I chose to make the disciple blind since it seemed that it will be difficult to influence a person without vision regarding something which they cannot directly touch and verify (the roundness of earth). Also, it serves as a direct analogy to someone who is 'blind' towards God.
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