Seven Blind Men

John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) wrote The Blind Men and the Elephant, a poem which tells of six blind men experiencing an elephant. I have taken the liberty of adding a seventh blind man, for reasons that will hopefully become clear.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Seven men of Hindustan, to learning much inclined,
Went to see the Elephant (though all of them were blind)
That each by observation might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the Elephant and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side at once began to brawl:
"Bless me, it seems the Elephant is very like a wall".

The second, feeling of his tusk, cried, "Ho! What have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp? This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear".

The third approached the animal, and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, then boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant is very like a snake."

The Fourth reached out an eager hand, and felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant is very like a rope!"

The Seventh swore that he could see, he never would be led.

He found no elephant at all, and this is what he said:

“It’s clear to me the elephant lives only in your head!”

And so these men of Hindustan disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right and all were in the wrong.

So oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant not one of them has seen!

As a Sh’am Buddhist, I choose to believe that everything in my life is there because I chose it, which obviously means that I have chosen, to be in my life, all the theories of the universe held by all philosophers, both ancient and modern. That doesn’t mean that I choose to believe them. Most of them seem fairly confident that they are revealing the whole truth, but the resulting conflict reveals the truth.

When people insist that theirs is the whole truth, and the only truth, they tend to adopt doctrines and dogma to preserve their stand, and thus religions are formed. 

As Tom Robbins so aptly puts it “A longing for the Divine is intrinsic in Homo sapiens... We approach the Divine by enlarging our souls and lighting up our brains. To expedite those two things may be the mission of our existence.” 

People on such a mission are not amenable to control. Politics is the science of control, hence the attraction of organised religion to politicians, and the attempt to confine people within prisons “constructed of ignorance and superstition, held together with fear... [and] called ‘synagogues’or ‘churches’or ‘mosques’”.

“If you experience it, it’s the truth. The same thing believed is a lie.” (Werner Erhard).

Sh’am Buddhists are the blind leading the blind. We understand that when we take a position we are quite likely to be partly right but completely wrong. So we search for common ground rather than differences, or just for insights that are useful. Gradually a picture of the elephant starts to emerge from the mist.