Feeling Our Way

In many ways we are like the five blind brothers described in the Chinese folk tale. The first time they encountered an elephant, each took hold of a different part. The first brother felt the ear and declared, the Elephant is like a great fan! Another grasped the leg of the great beast and said This creature is like a great tree of the forest. The third brother grabbed hold of the tail and said, the elephant is like a sinewy rope. Next, the fourth brother felt the trunk and said this beast is like a large, soft snake. The last brother experienced the great belly and decided that the creature was like a great wall.

As we grapple with the unknowable, we each are privy to but a slice of the whole and we must be forgiven for our lack of understanding of the whole. One of my favorite representations of this idea is from a lost sacred city in Indonesia. All of their Buddha statues are contained within perforated clay vessels. they show us in no uncertain terms that we each are bound by our own perspective, unable to fathom the true nature of the Great Spirit. We are all entitled to our own view, but occasionally we must be forgiven for them as well.

To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. Part of the sweetness of life is knowing that others hold both insight and awareness of things we cannot fathom. Careful listening to the perspectives of others have the potential of helping you to "see around corners" with regard to these hugely unfathomable concepts. That is why the most enlightened people are often the most patient. They realize that after everyone has exhauseted themselves by expressing their beliefs, they will eventually become open to the deeper truths that have the deepest meaning.