Imagine you are a fly on the wall, or rather, perhaps out of doors on a tree. An elephant is standing near the tree you're resting on. Along comes a group of five blind people. The first one bumps into the elephant. She begins feeling around to figure out what it is. Three of the friends encircle the unknown (to them) thing and feel around to study, curious... and silent.
One person (touching the elephants front leg) says describes it as a rough yet soft, column-like object. It is still and unmoving.
Another person (touching the trunk) describes a wild, quick moving being, blowing out air. Parts of it are rough, parts are slimy like the bottom of a lake. It is gentle and feels like it is responsive to the person's touch, perhaps reciprocate interested in the person.
Yet another one of the blind people, takes hold of another part of the elephant. He describes it as quick-moving, thin, rough, and hairy. The hairs are course, with grit on them. There is a distinct, earthy smell. The part which he tries to hang onto keeps slipping out of his hands, which makes it a bit more difficult to decipher to feel out what the thing is. He can hear a swish as if it is hitting another object nearby. (It's the tail.)
The fourth friend stumbles underneath the beast and reaches his hands up in the air. He could feel a presence above his head, though he could not feel anything at all. There was warmth, like a nearby body, above him. He made out a slight steady beating, like a hollow drum. It was so slight in fact, that he questioned whether he was hearing something outside and above him... or whether it was his own heartbeat.
The fifth friend had walked around the elephant towards the tree for some shade. She sat down and leaned back against the tree, not knowing that I, a fly, was only a few feet above her observing she and her friends. She had not encountered the elephant in anyway.
The fifth friend called out to the others and announced there was a cool place to rest at the tree. The four friends left the object they had just encountered and explored. They each told each other their experiences as described above.
As we see, none of their descriptions were the same. Each description was different. They had no way of actually knowing if they had encountered the same being, or if they were describing parts of one being. They had all been changed at least in gaining of knowledge by their personal experience, but also were enriched (and perhaps confused) by the difference in each others descriptions of the elephant.
It would be easy for them to argue about what it was they encountered. To compete with each other as to "who was right." Instead they rested for awhile before continuing through the savanna. One wondered if they would encounter the elephant again. One kept the memory of it alive and so close to their heart that they felt as if the elephant was there still. One had a bit of all those, and one never thought of the moment again until 10 years later, as a fleeting thought.
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