Absolute Truth and Absolute Understanding
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.
