Blind Men And Elephant

[hinawashi]

I'm not sure if you heard the story, but it goes like this: A group of blind men are trying to figure out what an elephant is, so they each feel a different part of the elephant with their hands. But an argument breaks out afterwards because they every single one of them believe the part they touched is all of the elephant, which leads to comments like "the elephant is a pillar" and "the elephant is a wall" and "the elephant is a long, thin pipe" and so on and so forth.

Here's how I interpret all this. Note the story is about blind men. Blind men can't really see beyond themselves. Their blindness is a barrier between them and whatever object they're trying to interact with, and in this case, the elephant. Now if one of them can let go of their part of the elephant and go around and feel all the other parts that he can reach, maybe he'll understand that the elephant is something much bigger than he initially imagined to be. Although his blindness prevents him from seeing the big picture, what he can potentially do is to acknowledge that the elephant is big beyond his ability to touch and feel, and the elephant is comprised of many parts that are vastly distinct from each other, and that the shape and size of each part only applies to that particular part and not all of the elephant.

While this story sounds ludicrous to us who have seen elephants with our own eyes whether on National Geographics or at a zoo, but it actually illustrates what enlightenment is like (at least to me). I don't know why but even with my knowledge about what an elephant looks like and what it eats and what it does, I still don't know what an elephant really is. I can almost guarantee that if you ask somebody what an elephant is, the only way they can describe is what it looks like and what it does. Maybe someone will say an elephant is really big, and it has horns, and it can pull a cart, and it can roll up into a ball and chrage up a spin dash like Sonic the Hedgehog (OK I'm making that last bit up) but none of these statements has anything to do with the elephant itself. In fact, it's not possible to describe the elephant's being.

So I think maybe we should just stop asking what enlightenment is, and just experience it. I felt "spiritually blind" but now I sort of accepted this blindness because it doesn't really stop me from touching and feeling different bits and pieces of enlightenment and self-awareness. What do you think?

[Prabhaker]

6 minutes ago, hinawashi said:

In fact, it's not possible to describe the elephant's being.

If we collect the opinions of the all blind men and put all those opinions together, and say, "This is the right thing. I have made the synthesis, this is the truth." This is not the way to find the truth. By putting all blind men's opinions together, you don't arrive at the real elephant. The real elephant needs EYES to be seen.  

Blind men are feeling parts of the elephant. And the elephant of life is really huge, enormous.

[hinawashi]

Yes, right now I'm at the stage where I sort of opened my eyes and saw the elephant of life for the first time, and it's definitely much bigger than I imagined even though my mental image of it is still quite blurry. But that's the beauty of it, by seeing the big picture I don't have to get involved in arguments anymore. I feel a bit more at peace, and open-minded too.

Here's the catch though, in order to see the whole elephant, you gotta let go of it. You have to let go of the part of the elephnat that you're holding on to, and distance yourself away from it, and only when you're far enough from it can you see all of it. That's why enlightenment was really tough for me in the beginning, because I had to let go of everything that I thought was right or "more correct", in order to open my eyes. Who knows where this journey will take me next?

[philosogi]

14 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

If we collect the opinions of the all blind men and put all those opinions together, and say, "This is the right thing. I have made the synthesis, this is the truth." This is not the way to find the truth. By putting all blind men's opinions together, you don't arrive at the real elephant. The real elephant needs EYES to be seen.  

Blind men are feeling parts of the elephant. And the elephant of life is really huge, enormous.

Even with EYES, the true essence of elephant cannot be known.

[jse]

17 hours ago, hinawashi said:

I still don't know what an elephant really is. I can almost guarantee that if you ask somebody what an elephant is, the only way they can describe is what it looks like and what it does.

I live in a place near elephant camps, and I can confirm that below their tough hide, elephants are made of marshmallows.