Some
years ago, we were conducting training for an organisation. The lunch was
served in their canteen. The person who accompanied us was very courteous but
did not partake in the meal. He sheepishly admitted that he would not eat as
his mother had instructed him to abstain from food during the solar eclipse
that was occurring that day.
He told
us that during the eclipse, all water and cooked food would be thrown out. After
the end of the eclipse, all would bathe and fresh water would be filled from
the tap and used to cook fresh food. He explained that during the eclipse, the
food and water would be contaminated. My colleague asked him, ‘Do you empty the
overhead tank, the reservoirs and rivers as well? Surely they would be under
great exposure.’
Even the educated succumb to the fallacy, because we think that
it does no harm to follow a tradition with seems to bring no harm. But a
fallacy will eclipse our thinking abilities in more ways than one. While fasting
during an eclipse, or any other time, is not bad as long as our body can take
it; surely throwing away edible food and water is not condonable.
So often we base our actions on erroneous beliefs. Premises based
on invalid references lead to the empowerment of fallacy. False notions and
misplaced logic leads to wrong conclusions. In fact, most fallacies are propped
up by the crutches of distorted scientific principles. After all, we so easily allow
our knowledge to be eclipsed by erroneous reason.
Let’s
BE BETTER at keeping every fallacy at bay...
By not
allowing reason to be eclipsed any way!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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