I am sure that many of us, even when we were in the truth, were uncomfortable with the notion that we had all the answers, but others just could not see the light.
I came across this great Persian story today that illustrates the folly of thinking we have the only view of what is true. Incidentally, for those who have read his works, although it sounds like a Deepak Chopra story, it isnt. It is a story told by an old Persian scholar who lived and worked in Delhi, India.
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Somewhere to the north of Afghanistan there was a city inhabited entirely by the blind. One day the news came that an elephant was passing outside the walls of the city.
The citizens called a meeting and decided to send a delegation of three men outside the gates so that they could report back what an elephant was. In due course, the three men left the town and stumbled forwards until they eventually found the elephant. The three reached out, felt the animal with their hands, then they all headed back to the town as quickly as they could to report what the had felt.
The first man said: an elephant is a marvellous creature! It is like a vast snake, but it can stand vertically upright in the air! The second man was indignant at hearing this: What nonsense! he said. This man is misleading you. I felt the elephant and what it resembles most is a pillar. It is firm and solid and however hard you push against it you could never knock it over. The third man shook his head and said: both these men are liars! I felt the elephant and it resembles a large broad fan. It is wide and flat and leathery and when you shake it it wobbles like the sail of boat.
All three men stuck by their stories and for the rest of their lives and refused to speak to each other. Each professed that they and only they knew the whole truth.
Now of course all three men had a measure of insight. The first man felt the trunk of the elephant, the second the leg, the third the ear. All had part of the truth, but not one of them had even begun to grasp the totality or the vastness of the beast they had encountered. If only they had listened to one another and meditated on the different facets of the elephant, they might have realized the true nature of the beast. But they were too proud and instead they preferred to keep to their own half truths.
So it is with us, what we forget is that before God we are like blind men stumbling around in total darkness.
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I have got a couple of other stories; If any are interested Ill write them up.
eyeslice