Once, four blind men went out to see an elephant.
One touched the leg of the elephant and said, “The elephant is like a pillar.”
The second touched the trunk and said, “The elephant is like a thick club.”
The third touched the belly and said, “The elephant is like a big jar.”
The fourth touched the ears and said, “The elephant is like a big winnowing basket.”
Thus they began to dispute hotly among themselves as to the shape of the elephant.
A passer-by, seeing them thus quarreling, asked them, “What is it you are quarreling about?”
They told him everything and asked him to arbitrate.
The man said: “None of you has seen the elephant. The elephant is not like a pillar, its legs are like pillars. It is not like a winnowing basket, its ears are like winnowing baskets. It is not like a stout club, its trunk is like a club. The elephant is the combination of all these — legs, ears, belly, trunk and so on.”
– Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhans
Ramakrishna Paramhans (1836-1886) was an Indian Hindu mystic whose parable-based teachings espoused the ultimate unity of diverse religions as being means to enable the realisation of the same God. After his demise, his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda popularised his ideas and founded the Ramakrishna Order, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees, and the Ramakrishna Mission which provides charity, social work and education.