The Elephant in the Room

You probably have heard the story of the five blind men who were taken to see an elephant. They were placed in oval around the beast and each tried to experience it. Later they were asked to describe the elephant.

• The first said, "It was like great snake hanging down from a tree and feeding itself.'
• The second disagreed, "No. It was like a huge bird, flapping its wings."
• The third said, "You are both wrong. It was like a forest. I could put my arms around the tree trunks."
• For the fourth it was even more different, "The elephant was like a large fly whisk, swing back and forth."
• And the fifth, "It was like a great wall. I could raise my hands and feel the height and width of it."

Of course, they were all right. One experienced the trunk, another the ears, the third the massive legs, the fourth the tail, and the fifth the sides of this huge animal. And, of course, they were all wrong because each of them had only experienced a part of the elephant.

It shouldn't surprise us to learn that we, too, are blind men. At best we only see a part of the problem. If what we see is too big for us to really understand, we chose our best understanding and call it definitive. The truth is that, individually or collectively, we are like the blind men. We can only proclaim as much as we have experienced and our best understanding of it.

God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in mine eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at mine end, and at my departing.

Sarum Primer, 1538.