medieval jain version of parable

 

lost property

Part of the reason I've been on an elephant kick lately is that the fable is one of the better ways to make sense of religious diversity. It is humble and modest. Many other approaches to religious difference end up coming from a place of arrogance or presumption. I mean, in order to have a grand unified vision of all religions you are almost necessarily claiming to be able to judge the merits of vast traditions and spiritual systems from a place of authority and knowledge. A very top-down vision. And sure, maybe there are certain scholar-saints with the comprehensive knowledge to pull it off, but they'd have to be few and far between in human history. Everyone else is going to have non-trivial limitations and "blind spots".

A more modest ground-up approach makes more sense to me. I'm not a Perennialist who claims to know the Sophia Perennis. I'm just a Muslim with a charitable view of other religions. So I'm tentatively open to the idea that Buddha, Zoroaster, Aesop, Akhenaton, Lao Tzu and others were prophets and that the Book of Coming Forth By Day, Mandaean scriptures, the Gathas, the I Ching and other writings contain prophetic guidance (or at the very least, some good advice).

I'm not trying to advocate for a syncretic approach. We should only follow one shariah, not mix-and-match among different rituals and commandments.

But at the same time, we should be willing to learn from various sources.

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer. Wherever he finds it, he is most deserving of it.”

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2687)

"of elephants and blind men" by david meng

 "Of elephants and blind men" by David Meng

grenada's past

 I don't want to do a lot of public navel-gazing on here but a certain amount seems unavoidable. From 2005 - 2010 I was blogging over 200 times a year. After 2011 I was down to a couple of times a month and then only a few times a year. This month I've started to blog a lot more frequently and I'd like to continue this uptick.... at least for a while. Let's see what my work schedule allows....

Also, as I've made a return to blogging I've started to go back and look at old posts. I now realize that, unfortunately, my tendency to share links to content I found interesting did not age very well and so a non-trivial fraction links to pages and blogs are no longer functioning. This means that some parts of Planet Grenada are like an internet graveyard. Occasionally I can fix the links for some content which can still be found elsewhere, but other times there is no real solution (which I hope folks can forgive).

elephant by beauchamp

 

I saw this on the Etsy page for Gregory Beauchamp

quarreling over names

A man gave four persons a silver coin. The (first) one (who was a Persian) said, "I will give this for (buying) some angûr."

An other one (who) was an Arab said, "No! I want `inab -- not
angûr, O deceitful (man)!"

The (third) one was a Turk and he said, "This (coin) is mine. I
don't want `inab. I want üzüm."

The (fourth) one, an Anatolian Greek, said, "Quit (all) this talk! I
want istâfîl."

3685 In (their) disagreement, those individuals were (soon) in a
fight -- since they were uninformed of the hidden (meaning) of the
names.

They were striking at each other (with their) fists out of ignorance.
They were full of foolishness and (were) devoid of knowledge.

If a master of (the meaning of) secrets, a venerable one (with
knowledge) of numerous languages, had been there, he would
have given them reconciliation and peace.

Then he would have said, "By means of this one silver coin, I will
grant the wishes of all of you.

"This coin will cause effects such as these when you submit (your)
hearts (to me) without deceit.

"Your one coin will become (like) four (coins) for the desired
(result). (And) four enemies will become (as) one from unity (of
friendship).

"The words of each one of you offer (only) fighting and separation.
But my words will bring you harmonious agreement.

"Therefore, you be quiet (and) stay silent! So that I may
become your tongue for (needed) conversation."

-- Rumi

Dar-al-Masnavi: Quarreling Over Names

Mughal painting of the blind men and the elephant, from the 1600s AD (now in Walters Art Museum)