The elephant and the blind men

Six blind men lived in a small, quiet village

deep in a secluded valley.

One spring day, a circus came far

and settled for a few performances. Among their

animals was an elephant.

Nobody had ever seen such an animal. So that

quickly became the main topic of conversation.

Blind in the middle of this turmoil, there held

more. They decided to approach the animal

get an idea. They could not see, they

could at least touch to realize by

themselves what it was.

- "The elephant is a pillar," said the first, touching his leg.

- "Oh, no, he is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

- "Not at all! Looks like the thick branch of a tree"

said the third man who touched the trunk.

- "It's like a big fan" said the fourth, touching his ear.

- "No, it's a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly.

- "It looked like a big pipe," said the sixth, touching his defense.

They talked well, each believing they are right and not listening to others.

The village elder, who was by then, stopped and tried to

understand the reason for this lively conversation.

Blind said:

- "We can not agree to say what

looks like an elephant ".

Each said what he thought about it. The wise man smiled and said:

- "You are all telling the truth. But you touched a part

different from the elephant. That's why you do not agree.

Each of you has only part of the truth and

together, you can give an accurate description of the elephant! "


The discussion then resumed between the blind but this time

they listened to each other and were able to

build a correct representation of the elephant in

their minds.


We are often like the blind: we all perceive one

part of the reality and we believe fully perceive.

We start at war to defend our point of view

instead of listening to others to enrich our own

representations.


Although we live in a world where multiple coexisting

specializations, multiple languages, multiple knowledge

and it is not easy to remain open to what is not

part of our daily lives.

But this is by adopting this attitude of listening,

openness and exchanges the world reveals its richness

and our mind discovers endless possibilities.

In friendly way