The Blind Perspective

 

Painting by Judith Redman

While reading through one of the national dailies here in Nigeria on 11^th May 2013, I came across the headline, ‘The Blind Perspective’. The narrative was about a blind man, he was married, gainfully employed (worked with one of the prominent banks in Nigeria) and was the president of an association. He was blind yet successful, he had a challenge, but it was never a limiting factor. He is one of the few in his class that would prove forthwith that your inability or disability is not an excuse for you not to make it through life.

One thing I discovered is that this impairment of a sense organ only give room for hypersensitivity of the other senses especially for a person that appreciates purposeful living, not that whose submission is to fate. Fate to me is nothing more than a predetermined or determined evil.

To the subject of my discussion now, I would ask a very simple question, viz: If you were to choose a wife, enter a relationship or make major life decisions, would you do rather as a blind man does often employing a perception based judgment, or would the predominant parameters of choosing (often sight-based or sense dependent) still be your parameters? would it still be about all that you can see?

Image Credit: Bible Oddysey

 It is largely said that when any of the senses become inactive, inoperative, or impaired, the other parts become more sensitive. This wouldn’t just be because the mind principally is put to some work, but also because of the extra demand exerted on the other senses. Man performs really better when there is an extra demand put on his faculties and senses.

The blind is more ‘mind operative’ than ‘sense operative’. Somehow, I draw a perspective from there, that to get the best, while the senses would be important, it wouldn’t be the most important. While it is relevant to know the physical parameters, they shouldn’t be the sole basis of judgment, it is always better to push the senses to even greater limits, by allowing the mind to do more work. When the mind leads the senses in work, the senses would be more active, responsive, and productive however, when the mind is not too active, all that we see is brute strength in action, and here's why we find people working really hard but getting really less and eventually wear out.

A perspective for the blind is such that because of his seeming disability, he places more demand on the other sense faculties and push them to reasonable limits, this ensures that he can still do as much as a fully lighted and sighted fellow does, or even better in a number of cases. The Message is this: 

You can do a lot more and better by placing demand on your mind than restricting yourself to a sense ability.

The deepest part of this perspective is the faith dimension, where, you depend upon God, not your senses, or understanding. God’s word to Solomon was clear, 

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding'

Prov 3:6   

A challenge that I’d pose to you is this: what’s your excuse for remaining mediocre, you can do it if you will do it… refer to our write up on Yes You Can 1 and Yes You Can 2