Elections are over yet it seems we can not let go. So many opinions …what pollsters missed, what parties learned…
I offer this post from ancient Indian tradition for your reflection. It offers a perspective when facing many different options. I have also been thinking about how it applies to blind men in my mind.
An ancient parable
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.”
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.
“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.
“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
“It is like a big hand-fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, “What is the matter?” They said, “We cannot agree to what the elephant is like.” Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like.
The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched a different part of the elephant. So, actually, the elephant has all those features what you all said.”
“Oh!” everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
The moral of the story is that there may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not because they may have different perspective which we may not agree too. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should say, “Maybe you have your reasons.” This way we don’t get in arguments.
As I dialogue with my inner pollsters and other voices there is much I can learn… if I am truly smart.
John, normally I love your posts but the timing of putting this up today seems off to me. The country is going down the tubes, in many ways the US is who loses this election no matter the outcome, so we HAVE to have discussions and yes arguments if we are to have any chance of a common future.
Respect perspectives, yes; argue for the sake of a common future, yes too! We cannot accept “this way we don’t get into arguments.” I get the point….just not right now..
In the old days, the argument against religious freedom was that “error has no right.” We know better today and admit that every person has rights.
Accordingly, I submit that the dignity, good and rights of every person should be our starting-point. In this way, I think, we can rise above arguments and contribute to knowing the truth better and more fully, and also transition smoothly and peacefully from the tyranny of both relativism and absolutism to service.