THE BLIND MEN AND ELEPHANT
 
An old story
                                   Stories of ‘the blind men and elephant’ are well known in Indian and Chinese literatures. There are different versions of this story in other languages also. The Chinese story comes with three blind men while the Indian version is with six blind men. The short Chinese version goes like this.Three blind men were arguing about the true nature of an elephant. They were illiterate also. Even after a lot of talks and arguments, they could not agree on an elephant’s nature. Finally they decided to go near to an elephant and feel and understand ‘how does an elephant look?’
 
                                   It so happened that a passing merchant overheard their conversation and offered to let them touch and feel one of his elephants. They became happy and thanked the merchant. The merchant led the first blind man to the front legs of his elephant. The blind man touched and felt the two legs. He came back and told, "the elephant is like trunks of two trees". Now the second one was guided to the back side of the elephant. He could touch the tail only. He came back and told "the elephant is like a straw fan which can go on swinging". At last the third blind man was led to the front of the elephant. He touched the moving trunk and got frightened. He came back and told " the elephant is like a long and strong snake".
 
                                   This story shows 'how much' a person can go wrong in understanding the various things seen around, if relevant attention is not paid to one's own defects firstly and if the whole thing is not thoroughly observed in full (or panoramically).
 
 
A modern version with a lesson
                                   Once an ant, a worm, a squirrel and a crow argued about the nature and uses of an elephant. They talked a lot but could not arrive at an agreeable description. Finally they decided to make independent studies of an elephant by visiting a forest. Next day, they moved to a nearby forest. The squirrel led them to a place close to an elephant and told the ant and worm to go, touch and study the elephant without desturbing it.
 
                                   The ant went near the elephant, smelling foliage which the elephant was eating. Suddenly it was sucked into the trunk of the elephant. It went in and got stuck inside the trunk where it bit the soft flesh. The elephant, due to irritation, sneezed and the ant was blown out into air. It came back to the waiting friends and told "elephant is like a tornado which can suck in many things and blow out them strongly. Small animals like me might die even". Next went the worm. It crawled up its front leg. It went up and heard sounds of flapping-ear . It got frightened by the sounds and gusts. Somehow it went into the ear and was irritated by bad smell and came out of the ear. By the time the flapping ear hit the worm and it fell down to the ground. It came back to the waiting company and told "elephant is like a cave with a swinging door and is dirty and dangerous". Thirdly, the squirrel ran to the elephant. It ran all over the elephant many times. It collected a lot of details on height, length, legs, tail, trunk etc. It came down to the ground, hid beneath a stone. After thinking about all things it saw, heard, smelt etc., it came back and described all about the huge, wonderful animal. The ant and worm were very impressed but still, doubted the story.
 
                                   Next came crow's turn. The crow was very intelligent. It flew up to a high branch of a nearby tree . The crow could see the elephant clearly and wholly from this high position. Immediately it came back and told. "I saw the elephant clearly and fully at one glance from the tree. It is very big and strong, perhaps thousand times the size of a pig, with horns and a special elongated trunk. All things the squirrel told about the elephant are correct". All became impressed. They saluted the crow for its ability to evaluate things thoroughly from a distance without any personal harm. They became happy about their work and returned together.
 
                                   The lesson is in the regime of learning and studies. The ant and worm are like very ordinary persons. Their intellectual abilities are very low for various reasons. They generally follow some guru, teacher, parents, elders etc. They lack independence and are influenced by others and circumstances(like the ant and worm inside the trunk and ear,respectively). The squirrel is like a learner, researcher or scientist. This type of persons go on searching, surveying, reading and studying. They are curios. They collect a lot of details on interesting things. With time, these details get processed, thought or assimilated, leading to new ideas or concepts. Like the squirrel, they study things in parts, and later put together or collate all parts. The crow is like a philosopher. Philosophers are in a high pedastal of learning with extraordinary mental capabilities. They have wider views (like views from satellites) and deep understandings of things around. Hence they can solve difficult problems easily. The moral lesson is, in society, all have to work together unitedly for harmony, irrespective of personal weaknesses and strenghts.
 
Different views/models of life and society (‘isms’)
                                   Now come to another regime of thinking and philosophy. Different philosophers formulated different models or ‘isms’ of life, society and nature giving principles and morals to live disciplined, familial and social life. Take a case of a popular way of religious life. Many theologians, saints and holy persons preached and taught ways of good life and many religions and faith-groups are popular now. This can be called theological and faith based models of life, with a common father/mother as creator of all. Other models of life are based on materialist, atheistic or scientific philosophies. They teach that there are no ethereal gods or creators; the Universe is formed of matters and energies in various forms and masses and they go on moving, acting, reacting, mixing, forming, transforming , deforming etc. So matters, energies and motions in innumerable forms and masses are building blocks of Universe. Life and humans evolved over billions of years, out of this dynamic and infinite ocean of matters and energies. This is modern, scientific and empirical, whereas creation models are based on myths, faith and worship. Other models of life, viz., positivism and agnosticism are similar. Nihilism goes to extremes of negation and rejection of reality. Naturalism is the oldest of all philosophies and is a natural model of life. It teaches physical ‘Nature’ as mother of all things, living and nonliving; nothing like supernatural beings or forces exist; all known and unknown things in the Universe go on evolving etc. Many out of wonder and awe worship or respect this mothr-nature, similar to many tribal groups.
 
                                   Now we have theists, atheists, materialists, naturalists, scientists and their different types of followers. Out of these, who is correct (the ant, worm or squirrel), or none is fully correct, all sects are only partially right? This is another philosophical problem. What are the prevailing global intellectual situations? There are tribals and rural people who live naturally depending fully on nature. They are happy to call nature as mother or goddess and symbolise and worship. This is pantheism. There are also modern urban naturalists with scientific ideologies. Many religious groups exist with millions of followers of different types, e.g., many groups of Christians , Islamists, Jews, Hindus, Budhists etc. They are simply followers and worshippers. All theistic and worshipping ‘views and ways’ of life are similar to opinions of the ant and worm. They have no capacity to see life, society and nature wholly together. They symbolise, image, iconise, worship and deify a common father or creator. They blind themselves by faith, belief and rituals. Since these are communal/social ways of life, over long periods of time, society/community become corrupted due to sensualism, immorality, greed etc. Intelligent ways of life is similar to the views of squirrel about the elephant. The squirrel studied the elephant by running over different organs and correlating and thinking on all observations. Intelligent and scientific ways of life are of same nature. They are based on observations, experiments and studies and are real if objectively carried out. The ant and worm observed only a small part of the elephant and misunderstood it, due to partial information and fear. These led them to false impressions and opinions. The squirrel moved all over the elephant many times, collected data and studied various aspects to understand the elephant fully. This is exactly what the scientists and scholars do in their life. (Among scientists also, there are different specialists, viz., biologists, entomologists, human physiologists, geniticists, specialists of brain, eye, skin etc.)
 
                                   Try to understand the crow’s views. The crow due to its high altitude on tree, could see the elephant fully well from head to tail and comprehend well different organs and their functions, sizes, strengths, movements etc. Philosophers who formulate models of life, society, nature and Universe are also like this. Similar to crow’s high view, they have panoramic mental views and think, analyse and synthesize various aspects to bring out fundamental and philosophical aspects. If the forest is seen together, the ants, worms, squirrels and crows live well and proper under nature’s benevolent and frightening forces. Nature’s ‘goad’ is “to each as their needs are and from each as their capacities are”. There is no scope for overeating, wealth accumulation, waste and luxuries. All live evolvingly, naturally, communally/socially, following nature’s norms and laws and common sense.
 
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