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Ecclesiastes 3:11 – Man’s Limited Knowledge
John Godfrey Saxe put it in a poem, “The Blind Men of Indostan.”
It was 6 men of Indostan to learning much inclined,
Who went to see an elephant tho’ all of them were blind,
That each by observation might satisfy his mind!
The first approached the elephant, and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl,
“God bless me! But the elephant is nothing but a wall.”
The second feeling of the tusk, cried: “Ho, what have we here?
So very round and smooth and sharp, to me it’s mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!”
The third approached the animal and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake,
“I see,” quoth he, “The elephant is very like a snake.”
The fourth reached out his cagey hand and felt about the knee,
“What must this wondrous beast be like, is mighty plain”, said he,
“Tis clear enough the elephant, is very like a tree.”
The fifth who chanced to touch the ear, said, “Even the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most, deny the fact-who can?
This marvel of an elephant is very like a fan!”
The sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope,
When seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope.
“To me,” quoth he, “the elephant is very like a rope.”
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.
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