When the Book Says One Thing and Your Eyes See Another

What happens when what we believe no longer matches what we can clearly see? In his column 'From the Silence Within', Santosh Nair reflects on truth, observation, self-correction and the courage required to question even our own conclusions.

A child is reading a book beside a window. The book says, “It is raining.” The child looks outside. The sun is shining. What should the child believe? The answer seems easy because it is only a children’s example. Look again. Check the page. Check the sky. Perhaps you read the sentence wrongly. Perhaps the book is describing another place. Perhaps the weather has changed. But after checking everything, if the book still says rain and your eyes still see sunshine, honesty requires a small act of courage: you must admit what you see. This simple moment contains a difficult lesson for an entire lifetime. When the book and your eyes disagree, check again, and be honest about what you see.

Read more: When Every Step Becomes Someone Else’s Wound

Respect knowledge, but do not surrender your ability to observe

The first layer is about facts. We are taught to respect books, teachers, experts, traditions and institutions because human beings cannot discover everything alone. A book can carry centuries of learning into the hands of a child. But respect for knowledge is not the same as surrendering our ability to observe. An old principle of wisdom says that knowledge must be examined through learning, reasoning and experience.........

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