If Seeing is Believing, then what about Blind People?

I know you may read the title of the post and think this is a joke but out of all honesty it's not. I really wonder what it's like being blind, how much trust you have to put into your other senses and the people around you. That is why I don't believe in that phrase "Seeing is believing". Because it's not always true instance the phrase "I cannot believe what I am seeing". I think we put way to much trust into what our eyes tell us we forget about all our other senses (even the ones beyond the 5).

Let's say you are in a supposed haunted house and you are skeptical, you live by that phrase "seeing is believing". You walking down a hallway and feel cold and all of the sudden you feel a little push on your back, and you look back to see what it was and see nothing, therefore nothing is there it was your own clumsiness. Now is that the best possible and logical answer?

Here's a thought... what happens if our eyes are not as apt as we think? That there is more to see than meets the eye so to say? For instance the human eye can only pick up light waves from infrared to ultraviolet. We can hear sound but we cannot see sound. We can feel cold but we cannot see cold.

Blind people have such a different way of life if you think about it, if you tell a blind man "A chicken crossed the road." How could he tell if a chicken really did cross the road? He would have to trust you, or to have faith in what you say is true. How would a blind man experience a ghost, a UFO, or alien abduction, or religion? Their senses are tuned differently than ours. We people who "see" think we know everything there is to know, we know more than they do because we "see" but do we really?

All joking aside, you are right. Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". The blind can only have their imagination, they use their other senses to build a mental image of what they do not see. When they say "Seeing is Believing", they forget to mention those who cannot see.

Let's say you are in a supposed haunted house and you are skeptical, you live by that phrase "seeing is believing". You walking down a hallway and feel cold and all of the sudden you feel a little push on your back, and you look back to see what it was and see nothing, therefore nothing is there it was your own clumsiness.

As you say, you FELT a push, and did not see anything. So you are right when you describe, seeing is not always believing.

[edit on 25-5-2009 by Piranha]

Thats like a metaphor for mankind in general. I live in the south (NC) and I'm surrounded by people (including my relatives) that base their whole belief system on what they're told to the point that they totally block out any information that might go against the grain of "what they're daddy told em'". Its really frustrating cause I doubt its any different anywhere else. But maybe if they weren't metaphorically blind, they'd all be depressed and scared. I wonder what that would do to the economy? Maybe its better this way...

I find that generation after generation is more accepting about certain against the grain theories than the previous but sometimes not. It's interesting if you think of how children play they use their imagination to create what is not there, they see it in their mind and hear. And just because we don't see what they do when they play doesn't mean it's not real to them. I like that Einstein quote he really was more than just a scientist, a kind of philosopher too.

reply to post by asmall89


I'd actually say the opposite. Before the days of internet and cell-phones, information spread so much slower that people almost didn't have a choice but to believe what the tv and newspaper told them. But now, even with these tools at our disposal, people still rely on the mainstream media to the point that if they dont hear it there, it didnt happen. Everybody is so consumed by marketing and prime-time television that they've forgotten that they live on a big ol' planet, with a whole bunch of things going on.

reply to post by PolluxCatapult


True you are very right about that, if they didn't see it on TV it didn't happen. I guess I was just referring to newer generations taking more interest in new thought ideas pertaining to science, education & government, new age beliefs, & religious matters. But that's not always true either, such as what people are taught in school that Democrat and Republican are the only two political parties in the US. When that isn't true at all. A lot of people take way to much faith in what they are taught being the only way to things, what they see their teachers teaching must be true and must be the only way, when really that's not always true.

Very true. We give our eyes way too much credit. They are not the end all, be all of our experiences. They play a rather minor roll, if you ask me. Especially since two people can look at the same thing and "see" it very differently.

reply to post by asmall89


The phrase seen is believing has more to do with what we learn and experience in everyday life and when faced with life challenges than actually seen visually something to believe is truth.

Taking into consideration that blind people learn to understand and perceive the world in a different way that we people with sight do, I actually believe that they in their challenging handicap have more perception of things that we do.

Because they don't have to become judgmental when it comes to understanding the physical visual world, so their minds is actually their eyes.

reply to post by asmall89


Try this one! When I was younger (pre teen) I had a friend who was blind. She couldn't see like we do is what i was told; but she did see lights around everything and didn't even use a cane half the time.
At that time being young and all I didn't get what she was doing to be able to get around by seeing the lights and all. But now that I am older and much smarter I fully understand.

reply to post by xoxo stacie




That is interesting so was she not fully blind and just seeing light from the world or was it something entirely different?


Sorry everyone I've been neglecting the thread I'm glad most of your agree with me though!

I think that is why so many blind people are brilliant musicians their ears are their eyes and they kind of use it to describe how they "see" the world. I don't know if this is a fact or not but in the movie Ray there's a scene where he's out with his wife and he can hear a hummingbird across the room, imagine if one could master all their senses like that!