Six Blind Men and an Elephant

"We have to remember that what we observe is not nature in itself,
but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
~ Werner Heisenberg

 

 

 

 

There is a famous parable that comes down to us from India, the land that birthed the zero, that concerns six blind men and an elephant. I shall repeat it here, after my fashion, because among its many facets this parable is a fine illustration of parasimplicity - and parasimplicity thrives on repeated illustration, as Lord Ravenhurst observed.

 

So: there were in a certain village six blind men, whose lack of sight they were determined not to keep them from knowledge (this is an illustration-within-the-illustration of the difference between knowledge and wisdom). They hear that a merchant has brought an elephant to the village, and they are very eager to learn what an elephant is like. None of them wishes to miss the opportunity to experience the elephant directly; all of them hurry out to greet the beast.

 

The first approaches the elephant, reaches out and touches it upon its leg. "Lo!" he cries. "An elephant is like a tree!"

 

The second, grasping its tusk, disagrees. "An elephant," he sagely observes, "is like a spear."

 

"No," says the third, feeling its ear," an elephant is like a sheet."

 

"You mean a rope," says the fourth, feeling its tail.

 

"What are you talking about?" demands the fifth, feeling its side. "An elephant is like a wall!"

 

"Aaaaiiieeee!" screams the sixth, feeling its trunk. "The elephant - it is just like a snake!"

 

And the six blind men fall into squabbling, while the elephant goes on its way.

 

***

 

An alternative version of this story features six blind elephants and a man... the first elephant feels the man, and determines that men are flat. The other five blind elephants agree.

 

Whether that's just a joke (only just, at that) or a reflection of the aphorism that elephants never forget is something you'll need to decide for yourself. The parable is another parasimplex: it becomes something different as your understanding of it grows, without ever changing from what it always was. Elephants are again elephants.