The story of the Blind Men, the Elephant, and the King

I bet you've been told the Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant in one form or another. A King asks some blind men who have been directed to an elephant:

"'Tell me, blind people, what is an elephant like?'

"Those blind people who had been shown the head of the elephant replied, 'An elephant, your majesty, is just like a water jar.'

Those blind people who had been shown the ear of the elephant replied. "An elephant, your majesty, is just like a winnowing basket.'

Those blind people who had been shown the tusk of the elephant replied, 'An elephant, your majesty, is just like a plowshare.'

[...]

Those blind people who had been shown the tuft at the end of the tail replied, 'An elephant, your majesty, is just like a broom.'

"Saying 'An elephant is like this, an elephant is not like that! An elephant is not like this, an elephant is like that!' they fought each other with their fists. And the king was delighted (with the spectacle).

"Even so, bhikkhus, are those wanderers of various sects blind, unseeing... saying, "Dhamma is like this!... Dhamma is like that!'"

It is a story often used by those in favour of either agnostism or syncratism in talking about the plurality of religions. The elephant represents god, the blind men, adherents of various religions; but who is the story-teller? Lesslie Newbigin, long-time missionary to India, understands:

The story is constantly told in order to neutralize the affirmation of the great religions, to suggest that they learn humility and recognize that none of them can have more that one aspect of the truth. But, of course, the real point of the story is exactly the opposite. If the king were also blind there would be no story. The story is told by the king, and it is the immensely arrogant claim of one who sees the full truth which all the world's religions are only groping after.

(The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 9, London:SPCK)

I thought I would give you the smallest of Newbigin tasters, in the light of my previous post. One might also ask, what if the elephant could speak?