Understanding Elephants
Everyone’s arguing; everybody’s right; no one’s listening. Most fail to realize that:
1) Complex problems seldom have one cause or one solution.
2) There is not always one truth. Both sides can be correct in an argument.
3) True understanding requires us to examine issues from multiple points of view.
Why do we think the most complicated problems can be fixed with one simple solution? We want an easy fix to the turmoil in the Middle East, a problem rooted in thousands of years of history. We search for a simple cure for a disease affecting billions of cells and multiple physiological processes. We think the illegal immigration issue can be easily solved when it is rooted in overpopulation, climate change, and political issues worldwide. And can one bill solve crime? … a problem rooted in the bottomless abyss of human psychological complexity. We are an intelligent but impatient and often biased species. Genuine understanding requires extensive research, access to multiple viewpoints, and considerable time, yet we live in an age of instant gratification; no one likes waiting. Television news now consists primarily of thirty-second sound bites, in which we try to reduce an incredibly complex issue to a 100-word summary. We sum up our viewpoint in a 280-character tweet.
I always chuckle when a friend or colleague tries to explain an issue to me, as if they have it mastered. Occasionally, I’ll fall into that trap, thinking the world can’t figure something out without hearing my analysis. However, age has taught me that there can always be another viewpoint, and different disciplines can view it from various angles. I may have 76 years of experience, but I can still be wrong ... and often am.
As a teacher, I often shared a widely cited Indian parable that illustrates how complexity is frequently misperceived.
As the tale goes, six blind men are standing around an object, trying to identify it. One walks into its immensity and identifies it as a giant boulder. Another is holding a sharp object, which he thinks is a spear. A third feels a long, squirming object and says it’s a snake. A fourth wraps his arms around what he believes is the trunk of a tree, and a fifth is holding on to a “giant fan.” The last claims to be holding a rope. An argument ensues, with no one backing down from their position. They are all positive about their assessment. Which one is correct? They all are... and they all are also wrong.
The problem is that no one can see the whole object, and each bases their guess on incomplete information. In fact, they are all grasping the same object … an elephant. Its body is as immense as a boulder; a tusk feels like a spear; the squirming snake is the trunk; the leg is a tree trunk; the ear is a giant fan; and the rope is the elephant’s tail. Each is both right and wrong. Only observation of the entire elephant would reveal its identity. We understand an issue only by examining every aspect of it. Genuine understanding requires an entirely open mind. Maybe we need to rewrite the parable, substituting American political factions for the characters, with the “elephant” being the question of how to run the government.
How does one understand a sunset? A picture captures photons of light, not emotions. Maybe a poem can capture it far better. Words often fail to capture ideas as they are subjective. An idea is enshrouded in history, colored by personal experiences, and understood in the context of today’s thoughts and ideas, which only lasts until … tomorrow. People make a living by claiming to be authorities on a concept, phenomenon, or process. In the future, individuals will likely chuckle at how poorly we understand the world we live in today.
We are all blind in many ways. At least a visually impaired person knows they are getting an incomplete perception of the object. My lack of knowledge keeps me from being arrogant, yet I sometimes find myself slipping across that line. Ironically, the more we learn about an issue, the less we realize we know. Anyone who claims to understand an issue probably knows little about it. The world of knowledge is an onion with countless layers, and we rarely get past the first layer or two. Many invoke religion, making the complexity divine, something we can never truly understand. This is fine unless it results in one ceasing to look. The joy of learning is the quest, the endless peeling of layers.
There should be a course in schools titled “Understanding Elephants” that focuses on analyzing issues, critical thinking, genuine listening, and intellectual humility. I can be confident in a position or opinion, but I could be wrong. More likely, the person I’m arguing with could also be correct. At least, they see a piece of the elephant I am missing. By listening to them and assimilating their ideas, I probably get closer to the truth. Someone certainly needs to share this parable with most politicians today.
It is easier today to access multiple perspectives. Most choose not to. While we used to receive news through the three major networks and several wire services, we can now stream almost any viewpoint, and social media can turn every individual into their own news network. However, so many get their news from limited sources, frequently friends, blogs, or sites that feed them what they want to hear. What they need are multiple viewpoints. We should take time to examine every part of that elephant. That takes time and risks one discovering their original assessment was incorrect or at least off target; no one likes to admit they were wrong.
The world is full of political elephants (and I don’t mean Republicans): the economy, the relationship between countries, the best education system, the environment, health care, and crime. Most politicians hold only one part of that elephant and are discouraged by like-minded colleagues, lobbyists, or potential voters from moving to another.
We mistrust a scientist who makes that subject their life’s work. We expect a politician to solve a chronic problem with one action. In medicine, we expect our physicians to identify the cause of a range of symptoms immediately and fix it with one pill. Or even worse, many think some simple homeopathic product will remedy a complex ailment. Many believe they are wiser than specialists with years of study and experience, or they listen to the advice of an uneducated, or worse, misinformed, friend. Unfounded skepticism is dangerous.
As life moves faster, driven by technology and the increasing complexity of modern life, will we no longer take time to find that elephant? I am an optimist by nature, the only pathway to hope, but as the world becomes more densely populated, will enough of us take the time to understand the elephants we encounter? Will we have the patience to delve beyond the superficial to reach the core of a problem? Will we stop, look, and listen? That’s the real elephant in the room.