Once upon a time, there were five blind brothers living together in a peaceful little village. Surrounded by lush vegetation and bright tropical flowers, their village was nestled in a beautiful valley protected by majestic mountains. A babbling brook running through the valley provided cool, clear water for all. The rich soil made farming easy and productive. Days in the valley were warm and sunny; nights, just right for restful slumber. All in all, life was good.

Introduction:
A Fable
An Analogy
Beliefs, good and bad
Fixing Beliefs
Elsewhere in the Library:
Enter
First Aid: Individuals
BluesBusters
Anxiety Relief
First Aid:Relationships
The right stuff
Tool Room I
Sub-modalities
Parting Thoughts

Almost as if to compensate the brothers for their lack of vision, nature had granted them great intelligence. As respected wise men, they were asked to teach at the village school. The villagers, in return, provided the brothers with hearth and keep. Now, being very smart, the brothers knew a great deal about a great many things... a great many things that is, except elephants. Amazingly, they knew almost nothing about elephants. They had heard of them, of course, but they had never actually encountered one, and the fates had seemingly conspired to keep them from learning about them in other ways. But that was about to change.

On a particularly fine day, while taking their usual afternoon walk about the village, the five brothers stumbled upon a friendly elephant the villagers had left in their path. As luck would have it, each brother encountered a different part of the elephant. The first, found the elephant's trunk. "Finally!" he exclaimed, "Now, I understand elephants. They are just like big snakes." The second wise man, holding the elephant's ear, had made a different discovery. "What are you talking about, brother? Isn't it obvious to you that elephants are actually like giant leathery leaves?" The third wise man, having wrapped his arms around a leg of the elephant, piped in, "Say what?! Are you both screwy? How could you delude yourselves into believing that an elephant is anything other than a tree-like creature... that hops!"

By this time, the fourth brother was relaxing against the elephant's side. "I'm surprised and disappointed by you three," he said, sadly shaking his head. "Have you taken leave of all your senses? Can you not see that an elephant is like a huge, breathing drum"? The unfortunate fifth brother had come upon the elephant from the rear, and was reluctantly holding its tail. "Any realistic view of an elephant," he pontificated, "will admit that an elephant is nothing more than a hairy rope that smells bad and produces falling chunks of odoriferous, mushy paddies. Yuk!! Icky!"

At this point, the brothers, each having stated his honest opinion based on objective observation, proceeded to argue about who was right. The elephant, having more important things to do, happily shuffled off in search of some nice ripe fruit... leaving the five brothers to their deliberations.

As far as I know, they are arguing to this very day.