This story talks about some very common everyday situations. One of them is the lack of empathy for the other's opinion, a kind of ego protection that considers itself to be in danger when it is contradicted.
We can also think about the lack of attention and respect for the opinion and experience of others, since understanding is conditioned to the experience of each one and not just to technical or scientific knowledge.
The Blind Men and the Elephant is a parable from India that has been adapted by many religions and published in various stories for adults and children. It is about a group of blind men who attempt to learn what an elephant is, each touching a different part, and disagreeing on their findings. Their collective wisdom leads to the truth.
The Blind and the Elephant
In a city in India lived seven blind wise men. As their advice was always excellent, everyone who had problems resorted to their help. Although they were friends, there was a certain rivalry between them that, from time to time, they argued about which one would be wiser.
One night, after much talking about the truth of life and not reaching an agreement, the seventh sage became so bored that he decided to go and live alone in a mountain cave.
He said to his companions:
“We are blind so that we can hear and understand the truth of life better than other people. And instead of advising those in need, you stand there arguing like you want to win a competition. I can not take it anymore! I'm going away."
The next day, a merchant riding on a huge elephant arrived in the city.The blind had never touched this animal and ran out into the street to meet him.
The first sage felt the animal's belly and declared: - "It is a gigantic and very strong being!I can touch your muscles and they don't move: they feel like walls."
"What nonsense!"- said the second sage, touching the tusk of the elephant - "This animal is pointed like a spear, a weapon of war. He looks like a saber-toothed tiger!"
"Both are wrong" - retorted the third sage, who felt the elephant's trunk - "This animal is identical to a serpent! But it doesn't bite, because it doesn't have teeth in its mouth. It is a meek and soft snake."
"You guys are totally hallucinating!"- shouted the fifth sage, who moved the elephant's ears - "This animal doesn't look like any other. It's movements are undulating, as if it's body was a huge walking curtain!"
"Check it out! All of you, but all of you, are dead wrong!"– irritated the sixth sage, touching the elephant's small tail – "This animal is like a rock with a string attached to its body.I can even hang on to it."
And so they spent hours debating, screaming, the six wise men.
Until the seventh blind sage, the one who now inhabited the mountain, appeared led by a child. Hearing the discussion, he asked the boy to draw the figure of the elephant on the ground. When he felt the contours of the drawing, he realized that all the sages were right and wrong at the same time. He thanked the boy and said:
“This is how men behave in the face of truth. They just take a part, think it's the whole, and they're still fools!"
To think!
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