Read the metaphoric story below and in a post you are to share insights, but keep in mind your goal is not to answer the following prompt with which is correct or which you agree with, but rather to share some insights and create at least one thought provoking question worth exploring further as a class. Then, you are to reply to another student engaging with his/her questions, but remember your goal is not to answer a question, but rather share insights and create further questions that deepen the conversation. There is a story of three blind men and an elephant. All three were instructed to feel for the elephant to tell what it was like. One felt the trunk of the elephant and believed the elephant to be like a hose, the other felt a leg and believed the elephant to be like a tree, and the last felt the tail and believed elephants to be like a rope. This story is attributed to the Buddha, who used this to story to cease the arguing of his disciples about what's true in different religious sects. This is a metaphor for the claims of religious truth. Some claim that we only have partial truth as to what real truth is. Others refute that, claiming to even say we only have partial truth is to put yourself into the story as a fourth man who can see the entire elephant. That is itself a truth claim. We can only say that a view is partial if we have the whole view of the elephant, which nobody has. How do you think about this story? What are some questions worth exploring in this dialogue over religious truth?
Read the metaphoric story below and in a post you are to share insights, but keep in mind your goal is not to answer the following prompt with which is correct or which you agree with, but rather to share some insights and create at least one thought provoking question worth exploring further as a class. Then, you are to reply to another student engaging with his/her questions, but remember your goal is not to answer a question, but rather share insights and create further questions that deepen the conversation.
There is a story of three blind men and an elephant. All three were instructed to feel for the elephant to tell what it was like. One felt the trunk of the elephant and believed the elephant to be like a hose, the other felt a leg and believed the elephant to be like a tree, and the last felt the tail and believed elephants to be like a rope. This story is attributed to the Buddha, who used this to story to cease the arguing of his disciples about what's true in different religious sects.
This is a metaphor for the claims of religious truth. Some claim that we only have partial truth as to what real truth is. Others refute that, claiming to even say we only have partial truth is to put yourself into the story as a fourth man who can see the entire elephant. That is itself a truth claim. We can only say that a view is partial if we have the whole view of the elephant, which nobody has.
How do you think about this story? What are some questions worth exploring in this dialogue over religious truth?
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