Somewhere in India, several citizens got into a heated argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree on a common answer. So they went to Buddha and asked, “ what exactly does God look like?” The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind men over to the elephant and told them to tell me what they think the elephant would “look” like.
The first blind man touched the elephant leg and reported that it “looked” like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant's stomach and said that the elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant’s ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man held the elephant by the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. Then all the blind men got into a heated argument about the “appearance” of an elephant.
The Buddha asked the citizens: “Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?”
MORAL: There may be some truth to what someone says. Sometimes we can see that truth and sometimes not… because they may have different perspective which we may not agree with. So, rather than arguing like the blind men, we should respect the other person’s point of view. Osho once said, if you say your truth, it’s really just YOUR truth. Everyone has their truth based on how they see the world. But there is universal truth. The one truth that you can feel is right, that you just know is true. Understanding this allows us to live in harmony with the people of different thinking.