The Six Blind Wise Men and the Elephant

              

On one occasion there were six wise elders who did not enjoy the gift of sight, being blind and using a sense of touch to experience and know the different realities, beings, and objects of the world. None of these sages had ever seen an elephant, and after knowing that their king had one they humbly asked him to know him. The monarch decided to grant them his request and took them to the pachyderm, allowing the elders to approach and touch him.

The sages approached the animal and, one by one, touched the elephant in order to know what it was like to be.

The first touched him a tusk, and considered the elephant to be smooth and sharp which spear. The

second sage approached and touched the elephant's tail, answering that it was actually more like a rope. The third would come into contact with the trunk, claiming that the animal looked more like a snake. The fourth would indicate that the others should be wandering, because after touching the elephant's knee he came to the conclusion that it was something like a tree. The fifth defied him by touching the ear of the being, valuing that he resembled a fan. Finally the sixth sage came to the conclusion that the elephant was actually like a strong rough wall, having touched its back.

Having reached different conclusions, the sages began to discuss who possessed the truth. Since they all defended their positions hard, they envocously envoced the help of a seventh sage who could see. This made them see that in reality they were all of the reason, since they had been describing a single part of the whole animal, while even without making a mistake any of them had been able to know it in their entirety."

A classic tale from India; this story tells us about the need to bear in mind that our point of view is not the only one that exists on reality: we must appreciate that other people's opinions, beliefs or knowledge can be as valid and true as ours, without the need for either of us to be wrong.

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