In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man will be king.

Calque of Latin in regione caecorum rex est luscus, credited to Desiderius Erasmus's Adagia (1500).

A similar (yet much earlier, dating to the 4th or 5th century CE) turn of phrase, and Erasmus' possible inspiration, appears in the Genesis Rabbah as בשוק סמייא צווחין לעווירא סגי נהור, meaning "In the street of the blind, the one-eyed man is called the Guiding Light".

Believing in the proverb, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man will be king," the story is about a man who comes from a village of only blind people and thinks he can be king, but in reality he is treated like a madman because of his maladjustment.

The value of "the one who can see is better" is only valid in an environment where people who can see are in the majority, and in a village of only blind people, there is no value of "the one who can see is better".

So if a person who can see claims that being able to see has value, he or she is considered a "madman who claims that something that no one in society values has value."

omni.icon

It describes a situation in which a partially sighted person becomes the leader among those who have limited vision. Those with no vision at all are dependent on those with partial vision and have no choice but to trust their perspectives and interpretations. However, the leader himself cannot see the whole picture, and his interpretations and judgments based on partial vision become the absolute truth.

We need to recognize that our vision and knowledge are limited and that this affects our understanding of the big picture. We should also recognize the danger of assuming that our own viewpoints and interpretations are the absolute truth. This can lead to misunderstanding and prejudice, which in turn can lead to the acquisition of inappropriate power.

---