Blind Men and the Elephants

From: Martin Crim <mcrim_at_erols.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 1996 19:59:46 -0400 (EDT)

Simon Phipp, in GD 3.621 opines on the eternal Yelmalio thread:
>2. Think of it as like the view of the elephant and the blind men - one near
>the trunk thinks it is a sanke, one near a leg a tree, one near a tusk a
>spear and so on. Yelmalio (the big god) is worshipped in many ways by many
>people.

This accords very substantially with my view, except that I think the same metaphor applies to the sun and that Yelmalio, Yelm, Somash and the rest are connected in some way which does not register with humans. One key to the elephant metaphor, it seems to me, is that the blind men can never see, and that we are all blind men, rather than (as some interpret it) the blind men represent the ignorant and we privileged ones can see. N.B.: this metaphor comes from a Jaina parable on God, and the familiar children's poem on the subject has a final verse, not usually reprinted, making the connection between the metaphor and the human inability to perceive God explicit.

>By the way, I don't actually think that anyone believes that Yelmalio was
>made up from another cult, or whatever. People believe that Yelmalio is, was
>and always has been.

By "anyone," you mean "anyone in Glorantha," right?

• --Martin Crim

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