Five Blind Men

Five blind men wanted to learn for the first time what an elephant was like. They were then led to one and each man grabbed hold of whatever part of the elephant they could. Each man was certain he could describe the entire elephant by merely feeling whatever part of the elephant they had grabbed.

The man holding onto the trunk of the elephant was certain the elephant was the shape of a wiggly snake and said so.

But the man feeling the elephant's ear insisted the elephant was like a palm leaf.

With a firm grip on one of the elephant's legs, the third man declared that an elephant is like a tree trunk.

"No," stated another man patting the elephant's side, "This beast is truly the size of a wall."

Then the fifth man, being the loudest and most impatient of the group, clasped the animal's tail and yelled, "Oh, my brothers, you are not only blind but crazy, for the elephant is the shape of a rope."

This story of the five blind men is actually an ancient Hindu parable illustrating how all religions attempt to describe the nature of God.