Interesting challange...

Avesther

Avesther

New Member
...to everybody. (multi part...but the additional parts have been witheld for the time being until some responses

This may not be readily appearant as to why it is in the Religious Discussion forum, I do believe it belongs here because it really sums up all or most of the issues that keep coming up here.


...

One day, a blind man comes up to you. He has been blind since birth and knows nothing of what sight is. He tells you, he has heard it said that the sky is blue. He asks you to describe to him what sky is, what colour is, and to describe blue to him.
...

Your challange is to, not only in your own words, but in words a blind man would understand, describe to him what sky and the colour blue is.
 
I will take a stab at this.

The colour blue is....

the feeling of running your hand over the surface calm cool water
the exiliharation of the first deep breath you take in the morning
the satisfaction of a job well done
the creamy taste of a Cadbury Easter Egg (the ones with the hard candy shell) melting in your mouth
the sound of the bees flying from flower to flower
 
...Blind person has never experienced sight...
...Now explain to him what sight is, but not just sight in general, but something abstract like colour in specific as well..



---

So you are a math teacher...draw on that. Its not meant to be easy...nor is there a right or wrong answer. But the challange is to explain to somebody a reality that they have never seen, didn't know existed and requires complete faith to accept that it does.

How does a blind person (who has never known sight) comprehend a blue sky?
 
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This is a tough one! To really consider it is sad and frustrating. I agree with Gen, since the blind person has his/her other senses heightened, you would have to explain it using their other senses. As food has different tastes, and different experiences give us different feelings, everything has a color. I think starting with fruit and explaining the shape and color of each as they tasted it might be a good start.
The sky is a canopy for earth...similiar to the roof over our heads...cotton for clouds...
You have my curiousity piqued!
 
I think I know where Cory is going too but I do not want to spoil the fun. I will think on what he will ask last though and see if I can come up with something.
Blessings,"Angel"
 
Yeah, Gen did a really good job explaining the color.
 
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Why thank you very much. Anyone else going to explain the color?


(I think I know where this is going, but would love to see some additional descriptions)
 
hmm...well, not many are going to take up the challange because it is really hard. It is meant to be...I've ponder it for hours on top of hours. How do you explain a reality to somebody who has never experienced it.

To further develop this:

Most people are born with sight. They understand only this reality. We can close our eyes and image a blue sky. We can even go blind and still understand the colour blue, white or concepts such as sky. We know what a couch looks like. Somebody can describe something we have never seen but because we have a store of memories, we can imagine it based on descriptions that use sight predominatly.

If you were to go blind at 25 and somebody described a red car, you would have a very good idea of what they are talking about. You could possible describe to them the fit of a chair, and the blind person will understand. But if a person born with sight looses sight early in life, are they any different then the person who never had any sight?

Think about what it takes to devolop an understand the world around us using sight. Its not enough to see a car to understand a car. We see a car but we have to learn to drive, we learn how to put fuel in, some learn to repair them, others build them.

Back to a challange:

A person is born with sight and looses it at 25. This person was born in a remote village in Mexico. They have never seen an airplane. Describe an airplane to this person using only words or items (from around a secluded village that may not even have electricity) this person understands. Make sure to describe what the purpose of an airplane is, where it is found, what is flight, what it looks like. (the villager probably doesn't even know what steel is...)
 
If you have ever seen dust blowing in the wind, or clothes on a line, or a bird in flight. The shape of this object would be similar to a bird in flight when it's wings are outstretched. It has comfortable seating, like the comfort of lying in the grass, and it carries people through the air to faraway places.
GP! I consider myself to have a good imagination that loves to romanticize everything...but this...I have never imagined! When I was a little girl I used to imagine how lonely God must have been before He created the world. Our precious Lord was teaching me long before salvation the concept of creation and His Love for us. While imagining Him alone in nothingness was impossible to comprehend...this comes close.
 
CHALLENGE 1:

One day, a blind man comes up to you. He has been blind since birth and knows nothing of what sight is. He tells you, he has heard it said that the sky is blue. He asks you to describe to him what sky is, what colour is, and to describe blue to him.



The sky is simply the air you breath, the wind you feel on your face, the very space you move around in. This air we live and breath in extends far above us.

Sight, as you know, is the ability to see things that are far off, things we may not be able to immediatly touch or feel. The sky is the distant air up above. And where surfaces can go from being very smooth to very rough, so the sky and things around us change color from one extreme to another. Color is a property of sight just as smoothness is a property of touch.

Now. Just as something soft feels different then something sharp and painful, different colors also 'feels' different in the area of sight. The color blue is cool and soothing. The sky is blue, and helps us equate blue to that of freedom, fresh air, and cool breezes. Water is also blue, and that helps us equate blue to the sound of soothing water or how refreshing it feels when you are thirsty and take a drink. This is what comes to the mind and heart when we see the color blue.




CHALLENGE 2:

A person is born with sight and looses it at 25. This person was born in a remote village in Mexico. They have never seen an airplane. Describe an airplane to this person using only words or items (from around a secluded village that may not even have electricity) this person understands. Make sure to describe what the purpose of an airplane is, where it is found, what is flight, what it looks like. (the villager probably doesn't even know what steel is...)



Ah. Airplanes. You know how long it can sometimes take going from one place to another? It can take a long time when you walk. And you know that it takes less time to get there when you run? Of course you have to go around trees and over hills and rocks and stuff, and those can slow you down can't they? Sometimes crossing a river may slow you down also.

Well, there are certain places in the world where the houses are many and are very far apart. It would take you many days to walk from one house to another, and sometimes years just to walk. Well, people have created something that work like birds do. Basically, a plane is a giant building in the shape of a bird that can fly through the air. It is loud and very fast and makes it easier to go from one place to another. Its used in places where it would take months or years to walk from one place to another and can be found in extremely large villages.






Just thought I'd give it a go.
 
Good job. It takes courage to step up to the plate and offer ideas that come from the abstract.

As I mentioned before, there are no right or wrong answers. Just ideas and attempts. I wish I could provide somebody who doesn't know what an airplane is so you can gage how you are doing.

btw...I am buidling up to something. And it is something that has been pressing on my heart to explore and it has been pressing on my heart to share it with people here as well.

Some may have guessed where I am going, please try not to jump ahead. Just work in the framework I've set forth. I've been finding it an interesting journey reading peoples responses.
 
I have tried to guess, but I think, "No, I have been there",..at least I think I still remember what it was like! Somehow, I feel like we are unknowingly baring a our naked soul! :) It reminds me of something from a Junior High class...I think I will start a thread!
 
No...you are not bearing anything. I am not planning on exposing your soul! or some deep secret.

Just trying to get you to think differently, outside of the box. To consider the context of the framework and work within. It will all come together.

--

I can understand why you think or feel as though you may be exposing your naked soul unknowingly, and that is because this excercise is actually outside of your comfort zone. I know how you normally post (and how most people do) and I know this excersize is getting you to think outside of how you normally post. Most people (like 99.9%) post well thought out, structured, based on what they know or have experienced, posts. This is new, its not based on what you have experienced (or is it?) and its getting you to think about how to solve a problem in an abstract fashion versus "based on what you know" or experienced.


Which is why I started with asking how do you describe to somebody a reality or experience that they never have. It gets you out of what you know and into their shoes to figure out how they think and come up with a solution.

Second step was to use something common between you and the other person to explain to them something new.

There will be a third step...and then the conclusion, the windup, the pulling it all together, and it will be based on scripture. I think its kind of neat how it all pulls together.
 
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Patience is a virtue...I want to see who else is going to dive in before moving on. I can feel the third challange, but God hasn't given it to me in fullness yet. On his timing, we will move on.

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In the mean time, all we can do is contemplate on that which is before us. I know I do all the time.
 
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Tambien, tendremos el problema de los idiomas. Ellos solamente hablan espanol, y hablamos ingles.

Trying not to butcher the language...

here is the english version.

We also have the problem of languages. They would speak only spanish, and we speak english.

Gen
 
idiomas? Hey! I resemble that! lol I would be chattering away to the poor Spanish soul, and he nodding his head in agreement! :) Gen! Just when I thought I had it all figured out!
 
Hey Peon. Not sure where you're going with all of this, but its certainly interesting. I'm looking forward to your next challenge. :)
 
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