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Showing posts from November 17, 2006

Blind men, an elephant

I really enjoy exploring the creative thoughts of others, from around the world and especially the Middle East (where cultural roots run deep). I look in libraries, lecture halls, on the streets or wherever and for whomever has a different or new opinion. Bouncing my ideas off someone else's can be exhilarating or exasperating, but always worthwhile to me. So how do I keep from going nuts with all this difference of opinion... The Blind Men and an Elephant! A Jainist version of the story says that six blind men went to determine what the elephant was like. The blind man who touches a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the tail-toucher claims it's like a rope; the one who feels the trunk compares it to a tree branch; the man who felt the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the belly-toucher asserts it's like a wall; and the tusk feeler insists the elephant feels like a solid pipe. A wise man explains to them: All of you are right. The reason every one of you is t