I love
elephants. I have been fascinated by the creatures ever since someone described
clouds as hundreds of elephants walking around in the sky.
When I
was younger (probably around 12), my Grandma bought me a little silver elephant
that I carry around with me in my purse; it is barely the size of a penny. It
has resurfaced through several moves and many years, and I consider it my
"good luck" elephant.
A talk
by Elder Uchtdorf has changed my elephant from a luck charm to a symbol of
absolute truth. In his talk What is Truth?, he shared the following synopsis
of a poem by John Godfrey Saxe:
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 poem each of the six travelers takes hold of a different part of the elephant and then describes to the others what he has discovered. One of the men finds the elephant’s leg and describes it as being round and rough like a tree. Another feels the tusk and describes the elephant as a spear. A third grabs the tail and insists that an elephant is like a rope. A fourth discovers the trunk and insists that the elephant is like a large snake. Each is describing truth.And because his truth comes from personal experience, each insists that he knows what he knows. The poem concludes:
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.
I love this poem! It clearly displays how there is absolute truth, and I know that absolute truth comes from God. I do not want to be a blind man, but I want to ask God and see the elephant for what it really is. My little elephant charm can remind me to do that!
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 poem each of the six travelers takes hold of a different part of the elephant and then describes to the others what he has discovered. One of the men finds the elephant’s leg and describes it as being round and rough like a tree. Another feels the tusk and describes the elephant as a spear. A third grabs the tail and insists that an elephant is like a rope. A fourth discovers the trunk and insists that the elephant is like a large snake. Each is describing truth.And because his truth comes from personal experience, each insists that he knows what he knows. The poem concludes:
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.
I love this poem! It clearly displays how there is absolute truth, and I know that absolute truth comes from God. I do not want to be a blind man, but I want to ask God and see the elephant for what it really is. My little elephant charm can remind me to do that!
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