A reflection blind men, an elephant, and on the many spiritual paths.
(Warning: In this reflection I am going to paint the essence of several religions with a broad stroke. You may not agree with what I say about the particulars of each religion, but I hope you will get my overall point. Please forgive my generalities.)
Lao Tsu correctly makes the point that the Tao is unknowable, and yet living in accordance with it is the highest state we can achieve. Quite a paradox! But Lao Tsu embraces that paradox, and (like the koans of Zen Buddhism) he seems to believe that being trapped in a paradox is one way the controlling mind finally has to give up and let go and deeper realization can occur. But Lao Tsu does not have all the answers about how to live a life filled with spirit.
As I was writing this book I constantly ran into areas where it seemed that Lao Tsu, the Buddha, the teachings of Jesus Christ, Jewish sacred How do we live with what we know texts, Sufi mystical thought, and the discoveries of modern science bumped heads with each other. What to do with these apparent contradictions finally became clear when I remembered an old parable that first appeared 500 BCE in a Buddhist text. It goes like this:
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable”. So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake”. For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, “is a wall”. Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
They argue loud and long. In some versions a fight breaks out. In some versions they agree to disagree. In some versions a sighted person helps them understand the disagreements.
This is a powerful metaphor for the many spiritual paths that exist. Buddha sees the path as one toward profound mental clarity which results in deconstructing false beliefs and seeing into the true nature of reality. Through many years of study, meditation, and the support of a sangha the practitioner can make this journey. This will free them from the cycle of reincarnation. The path Lao Tsu maps out is more in the world. Through discovering the essence which originated all forms one can more powerfully lead others and one can live a deeply spiritual life. Although raised in a culture of ancestor worship, he does not concern himself with discussing any afterlife. In the Jewish tradition, spiritual growth comes from deep practice, good deeds, and the study of the holy texts. The afterlife is not a central focus of their beliefs, but rather their focus is on what you do in this life. The Christian path involves deepening your love of the divine and making a commitment to service in our community and in the world, for the sake of being an instrument for God’s work in this world. Then, after death, you can be reunited with the departed and with God in the heavenly realms. For the Sufi’s the heart is the doorway to the divine, and cultivating those deep emotions can untie the contractions of the ego and free us to love and merge into the divine. Through following the guidance of your teacher and living with an open heart you can purify the denser parts of your nature. At your death you will be welcomed into paradise. Science is fascinated with the complexity of the mystery of existence and can only guess at its origin. It does not find evidence for an afterlife.
Each path has a piece of truth in it. Each path provides a glimpse of something far vaster than our own life, something that calls our heart, our mind and our will to go a little further, and know a little more, about ourselves and about the universe we inhabit. And each path is incomplete, a tusk here, a tail there. We can never know and understand the immensity of creation. But, in seeking that impossible task, we become better human beings.