The Blind Men and the Elephant

I heard a sermon today that featured a discussion of truth. The speaker was from a conservative evangelical tradition and was making a very basic comparison of absolute truth versus relativism. He referred to the parable of the blind men and the elephant as a standard relativist’s argument and tried to show how the parable fails as an argument for relativism. The elephant, after all, remains an elephant, regardless of the inaccurate perceptions of the blind men. This is a good critique, but in many ways I think it misses the point of the parable. In the process, some potentially helpful observations about truth and knowledge went by the boards.

If you read the parable carefully, you’ll see that it isn’t a defense of relativism. The point isn’t that each blind man’s perceptions of a part of the elephant is true for himself. Rather, the parable’s moral is summarized as follows:

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

In other words, the parable concludes that all of the blind men were wrong about the elephant because of their limited perceptions and frames of reference. It isn’t a parable against the existence of real ontological truth — it’s a parable against any one person presuming they are capable of grasping the whole truth, particularly concerning something as big as God. In other words, it’s about epistemology, not ontology.

Seen in this light, I think the parable can help the cause of Christian unity. We are fools if we think any among us fully grasps God. Concerning God, we are far less perceptive than even the blind men confronting the elephant. Our statements about God, then, must be cloaked in an appropriate epistemologcal humilty. We love in our evangelical churches to make noise about “absolute truth,” but we hate admitting that we never perceive anything absolutely pristinely, without the biases of our natural limitations, culture, tradition, and sin. This is why an emphasis on “absolute truth” so often leads to arrogance. If we believe in absolute truth and we also believe we absolutely posess the entire truth, we will brook no dissension with our personal views about anything, no matter how distant from the central claims of our faith.

Some may argue that such epistemological humility leads to true relativism. The Hindu context of the elephant parable ultimately isn’t simply about Christians who disagree about the precise order of God’s soveriegn commands, the right method of baptism, or such other peripheral things. Instead, it’s about syncretizing all faith claims — the argument that the various gods invented by men are all paths to the same God.

We can recognize the value of acknowledging our limited perspectives, however, without giving in to this kind of extreme relativism. The fact that we are finite and limited doesn’t mean we are utterly incapable of having any confidence at all in any sorts of knowledge claims. Our experiences of God are not isolated like those of the blind men. We experience God individually through spiritual disciplines, but also corporately in the life of the Church, and we benefit from the wisdom and experience of the Spirit speaking to and through the Church throughout the ages. In addition, as Christians we believe in a God who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ and in His written word. There are many exclusive claims attached to this revelation. God’s revelation to us and the historic wisdom and experience of the Church leave no room for “all gods lead to God.”

Perhaps instead we could recast the parable a bit. We resume the tale after the blind men have offered their theories about the elephant. After the blind men groped about for a while, the elephant spoke. “I am going to tell you some things about myself,” the elephant said. “Some of these things some of you have felt with your own hands; some will be confirmed by others who have felt them; others you will not fully comprehend. After I’ve told you these things, you will be free to explore more of me, and you will understand more and more of what I have told you.”

“I am not, as some of you have thought, a spear, snake, tree, wall, fan or rope. I am the mightiest of beasts. I have sides like the walls of a fortress, safe and unmoveable; great tusks like spears that will vanquish injustice; a trunk like the greatest jungle constrictor that will crush evil; legs like ancient tree trunks that will never topple; ears like lacquered fans, bringing a refreshing breeze to all who ride with me; a tail like the strongest braided cord, which you can hold for dear life whan all else fails.”

“Some day, I will open your eyes and let you see me more directly, and you will understand that all I am telling you is true. For now, what I have allowed you to hear and feel is enough reason for you to trust me. Climb on my back now, then, and we will ride together.”