Different ways to view life

Sham S. Misri

Each religious tradition has its own ideas about the nature of life. Different people and traditions see life differently, whether as a game or as a divine play. Some believe that life is made of suffering, while others say it is of the nature of supreme bliss. Seen from a more universal perspective, these views are neither right nor wrong, but merely different faces of the ultimately unknowable nature of life.

There is a beautiful story of six blind men who came upon an elephant.

The first man touched the elephant’s leg and announced, “The elephant is a pillar.”

The second man touched the tail and disputed the first, saying, “Oh, no, it is like a rope.”

The third touched the trunk of the elephant and said, “It is like a thick branch of a tree.”

The fourth touched the elephant’s ear and said, “It is like a big hand fan.”

 The fifth blind man touched the belly of the elephant and declared, “It is like a huge wall.”

And the sixth man touched the tusk of the elephant and said, “It is a solid pipe.”

Different philosophical approaches to the nature of the universe are like the different interpretations of these six blind men. All these blind men are both right and wrong, with each giving a different piece of the puzzle of what an elephant really is. Each viewpoint is valuable to consider and contemplate, but you wouldn’t want to limit your understanding of the elephant or the universe to any one definition or close the door to other possibilities.