The Blind Men and the Elephant: A Hindoo Fable
By John Godfrey Saxe
I.
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
II.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! --- but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
III.
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho! --- what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
IV.
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
V.
The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"’Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
VI.
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
VII.
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
VIII.
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
Moral.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
Reporting and evaluating life’s experiences often reflects the same “blindness” that is illustrated so aptly in this old Indian poem. Or, as marriage counselors would say, there are at least three perspectives of every situation: what he says happened, what she says happened, and what actually happened. And it can be nearly impossible to determine what actually happened, even if there are witnesses. Ask any traffic officer. When they get witness statements, they will usually get as many different stories as they have witnesses. What they hope to find is a significant number of people who can agree on certain basic facts, even if they disagree on specific details.
Two people may go through the same experience, but come away with completely different impressions. This is especially true in large-group settings. Ask any ten people who have attended the same conference, and you will get ten different stories. There will be some points on which all agree, but details will vary. In a large corporation like FedEx, each individual employee will have a different perspective of the business, how it works, and whether its policies are fair. Ask a cargo handler, a pilot, an accountant, and a secretary for their impressions of the company, and every single one of them will give you a completely different picture.
Part of the disparity hinges on the relative positions of the people involved in a given situation (for example, a teacher might give a different account of a situation than a student would), but part of it also depends on the individual personalities and the concatenation of experiences, preconceptions, and prejudices that each brings to the situation. A person who comes from a very loud, boisterous family will have a very different idea of “shouting” from someone who comes from a quiet, more reserved family.
Similarly, people who have been involved with the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) or the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) all will report different experiences and impressions. Those who have only been through IBLP’s seminars have a different perspective from those whose families joined the ATI, and minimally-involved ATI students have a different perspective from those who worked at Training Centers, went on ministry trips, or attended various training conferences.
You’ll hear stories of people whose families used the ATI Wisdom Booklets as a curriculum adjunct and families who used them as the only curriculum. Some of the kids in both groups thrived academically; others found themselves academically deficient.
You’ll hear stories of people whose parents were extremely strict but who still developed close relationships with their children. You’ll hear other stories of very strict parents who now have little to no relationship with their now-adult children.
There are stories of people who had wonderful experiences at training centers, and there are stories of people who were abused and bullied at training centers. Stories of people who gained opportunities as a result of their training at an IBLP facility, and stories of people whose career possibilities were damaged by their “apprenticeship.” Those who think that they got exactly what they were told they would get, and those who feel that they were misled or lied to.
For every story of positive life-change as a result of involvement with IBLP and ATI, there is also a story of negative results. For every good experience, there is a bad one. Sometimes this happens among people who were at the same training center or conference at the same time.
When you read the personal stories here on Recovering Grace, keep the “elephant effect” in mind. Realize that those who have chosen to share their stories are reporting their side, their story. They are telling what happened from their perspective. Maybe you were there, and maybe you have a different perspective on the events. Send us your story. We’re not in the business of rebuttals, but we do want everyone’s perspective. Not just that of the disgruntled, abused, or unhappy. We also want to hear from the satisfied, favored, and happy.
So true! Thanks so much for this.
I just found your website last evening and decided to post as a gift to myself. (Saturday was my birthday.) I began to go to IBLP seminars in the 1970's in Chicago. I went with friends who read the scripture for the night's session in the car as we approached the meeting. Because I am such an extreme introvert, and because I came from an extremely abusive home life, I was curious about the whole "institute", as to whether it was healthy, safe, loving, mature, etc. I heard about the scandal that took place there from a friend, and was disappointed that it had happened. Over several years, I believe I attended 10 seminars, including one advanced. My husband accepted Jesus at a "chalk talk" back around 1968. IBLP seminars have had such a HUGE affect in the U.S. I don't have my red notebook or any of the literature from those years. I have a lot of empathy for anyone who was abused by leaders and false doctrine. We all have suffered under the leadership of men. Jesus said "There is none good, but God". I do not believe in using a rod on children, so I would never have "made it" as an ATI parent. I do believe that now is a time for healing. Jesus is all LOVE and God is LOVE. My children have gone to public school, but have always been great friends with home schooled children. I Peter 1:22, "See to it that you love one another from a pure heart, fervently", is a wonderful verse that I meditate on.
What a fantastic article! Such good points! I hope everyone reads it, especially those who are inclined to throw out the word 'bitter'. It took me a very long time to believe that any family in ATI could possibly have had a good experience, not just because I had a terrible experience, but most of the ATI families I knew were falling apart because of it. I couldn't have been more astonished to realize that there actually were good, positive experiences. (And not just the kind where God used a bad experience for good, as He has turned my bad experience for good...) Let me say this though. From everything I've seen and heard, EVERY single family that had a good experience, were NOT fully entrenched into ATI, they were balanced, and sought the Lord, took things with a grain of salt. To me, this is very telling. I couldn't be happier for those of you who have been fortunate enough to have that good experience. I am now able to accept your experiences as valid and realistic, and the Lord has done quite a work in me to keep my heart from hate or bitterness.
Great article!
However, it leaves me curious. We have discussed often how good it would to be to have actual statistics concerning the impact ATIA has had on the families involved in it since it's inception.
I.e., how many families suffered - or were strengethend - as a direct result of applying BG's teachings given in ATI materials, conferences, TC's, etc.
From personal exposure, it seems more to be at least 2 to 1 ratio of negative impact vs. positive impact... but of course that's biased and undocumented opinion on my part. =)
Will, I agree and I think you are very much giving the Institute the benefit of the doubt on that 2 to 1 figure. One possible way to frame that question might be, "Where are the 102 now?" referring to the original 102 pilot families. Surely there are some that are still in the program but I believe the great majority are long gone, Bill's bright promises for the future unfulfilled.
An interesting phenomenon that happens is when the kids will report that it was a negative experience and they distance themselves from it, sometimes leaving religion behind altogether; the parents meanwhile defending Gothard and taking any and all blame on themselves - sort of like, "the principles are sound and Gothard had it right, you can't blame him for our failures." This makes it a very hard metric to measure when the parents will report "success" even if the family crashed and burned (I don't mean that in a judgmental sense as if the family failed but rather in a sad sense that there is a great deal of pain and heartache). In an authority-heavy family where a parent abused their position, the parent (sometimes both parents) may remain completely clueless about what the kids are dealing with. Also, sometimes the kids just don't want to talk about it, and other times some kids in a family report that it was OK while other kids in the same family are very upset about it. And one subnote there, another thing I have seen (you probably have, too) is where some kids will drift away from the faith and sort of lump Christianity and Gothardism together all in one lump, and maybe not even be all that upset about it, just say they outgrew it or some such, while other kids choose to remain in the faith after discovering Galatians or other grace-based teachings and they might take the specific problems with the Institute more seriously. It's a messy situation to try to quantify.
Of the families I have known, none of them experienced the bright promises and optimistic future that was held out like a carrot. Most of the families that did the best were the ones who held ATI the loosest and eventually drifted away from it. I know that there are some second-generation ATI families but it's a very small ratio. The ATI leadership, unless they totally have their head in the sand, must be asking themselves from time to time why there are so few repeat customers. We'd be happy to explain if they'd quit yelling insults at us long enough to actually listen to the actual results of their product!
I wish this was Facebook and I could "like" this comment, except once would not be enough.
I can only think of ONE person I know who was a child of ATI and still thinks positively of it. I can think of several parents (including my own) who still think it was the best thing and that disagreeing with the principles just prove you are an ungrateful and rebellious kid.
Right on the money and well-said, Wendy!
Very good point, Wendy! What many students are realizing is that their experience was vastly different from their parents' experience. But students and parents use all the same terminology and talk about all the same events, and it makes is very difficult to hear what the other is actually saying.
My experiences at Training Centers, seminars, and Children's Institutes were almost all good. My family is a good family. And finally, we were involved in ATI for only about six years. That's why it's easier for me to point to the cause of my spiritual damage: I can trace much of it directly to the TEACHINGS, not my parents' failures.
IBLP and ATI have a much broader, deeper, wider effect than we, (any of us ever involved), probably imagine. The church my family is part of is full of lives affected in every way by the ministry. My family is not what you would call a good family, but I am reconciled to one sibling and I experience storge love in that relationship, (which was a very long time coming). I fully believe the fact that the teachings were "messed up", because I watched from the sidelines, wondering where all this was leading and where the ministry was headed. I heard false teachings that would give license to parents who were bent toward being a tyrant. I was just talking to someone the other day who was raised in ATI and very happy with their experience. I was watching OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), and Oprah said "We all have one thin in common, we all want a better life." Jesus said, "I came that you might have life and that more abundantly." So we all agree on some things! PEACE