An elephant was brought to a group of blind men who had never
encountered such an animal before. One felt a leg and reported that an
elephant is a great living pillar. Another felt the trunk and reported
that an elephant is a great snake. Another felt a tusk and reported
that an elephant is like a sharp ploughshare. And so on. And then they
all quarreled together, each claiming that his own account was the
truth and therefore all the others false (traditional parable).
None of the accounts that the blind men made about the nature
of the elephant are absolute truths, nor are the accounts false. An
absolute truth, or one that is true for all, can not be achieved
because of the constant motion of circumstances of who said it, to
whom, when, where, why, and how it was said. Instead of absolute
truths, the concepts or beliefs that the blind men claim are
viewpoints that each one clarifies the nature of the elephant.
Everybody has learned to see......
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