I’m giving a talk at a Seattle University seminar dealing with the topic of legal ethics. My talk deals with truth during jury selection. In preparing for the seminar I’ve come across some ideas that are worth pondering. Take the John Godfrey Saxe poem The Blind Man and the Elephant. It’s really a story, poem and metaphor about the how we can conclude, from limited information, that we have the whole truth whereas we really only have a part of the truth. Saxe’s inspiration for the poem was a similar story which originated in India, but has been attributed to several different religious groups. One source is Buddha who told about a Raja who had six blind men examine a elephant. The application of the lessons fits India well. There are some one billion people in India of which 82% are Hindus. But, it also has the second largest Muslim population in the world along with Christians, Jews and Jains, so Buddha’s lesson applies to this mix of religious beliefs in that vast country. In my view, it also expresses a profound truth that applies to the world today and all the violence  committed in the name of religion in the conviction of possessing "whole truth." These religious perpetrators of death and violence on others would do well to consider, if, in fact, they are merely one of the blind men described in Saxe’s poem "The Blind Men and The Elephant."

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!"

The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E’en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
"I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,
and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!

John Godfrey Saxe (1816 – 1887)