The Green Elephant Of India. Understanding The Parables Of Buddha, Jesus, Science

Today, we study figures of speech, but especially metaphors. Why? George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, linguist & philosopher, in their book Metaphors We Live By published in 1980 (theliterarylink.com) tell us: ´We live by metaphors.´ Even if we don´t understand them.

Examples from the book (my examples in parentheses): ´He attacked every weak point in my argument.´ (I ducked every time.) ´You need to budget your time.´ (I don´t have the time.) ´His income fell last year.´ (He dropped out of sight.) ´He is high-minded.´ (You are low-brow.) ´Lazarus rose from the dead.´ (Jesus had listened to the heart of Mary Magdalene.) ´When you have a good idea, try to capture it immediately in words.´ (Seize the moment!)

A parable, I realized just now, is a metaphor. In the Bible, in the New Testament, the parables of Jesus are like that, metaphors:

The kingdom of heaven is a sower who went out to sow his seed …
If a grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit …
He who loves his life will lose it …
The kingdom of heaven is a net thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind …
The kingdom of heaven is a grain of mustard seed a man took and sowed in his field …
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them …

´And why do you speak to them in metaphors?´ the disciples asked. ´Because that´s what they understand,´ Jesus said. The disciples didn´t know the power of the metaphor. But, you protest, the parables of Jesus were really not all metaphors. No, of course not; I know a simile when I see one; but if you remove the word ´like´ or ´as´ from each simile story, you have your metaphor story. I did just that in 3 of my examples above.

The metaphors I´m thinking of right now are those concerning the elephant of India. I´m not talking Greek here, am I? I know I´m not talking out of my hat. You must know the elephant. You know, it´s a wall, if all you can see is the body. It´s a spear, if all you can see is the tusk. It´s a snake, if all you can see is the trunk. It´s a tree, if all you can see is the knee. It´s a fan, if all you can see is the ear. It´s a rope, if all you can see is the tail.

Usually, the elephant is what you see at first sight, your metaphor. So, it seems to me that a metaphor is a limited tool for communicating what we mean. But it´s handy. As long as we know its limitations, it´s a good device to use to suggest what we mean when we can´t say what we mean. Which is most of the time. We must come, say George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, ´to a new recognition of how profoundly metaphors not only shape our view of life in the present but set up the expectations that determine what life will be for us in the future.´

I´ll keep that in mind, George. I hope it doesn´t get erased from my memory, Mark. Metaphors. May their tribe increase!

Now, let´s see how the metaphor of the elephant can shape our view of science. I say: We can´t understand science if we can´t understand the elephant. This animal is a symbol of wisdom, luck, loyalty (crystal-cure.com). So, let´s study the elephant. You think you know the white elephant? This was chosen by the Buddha as one of his many incarnations.

There was a white elephant superimposed on the red field of the national flag of Siam, the old name of Thailand. To the Thais, the elephant is a symbol of fortune, of intelligence, as it has ´a fine memory,´ hence the expression ´an elephant never forgets´ (chiangmai-chiangrai.com).

´Perhaps no other animal is as glorified in the East as the Elephant´ (statue.com):

As the largest creature to walk the earth, the elephant is seen as a symbol of strength and power. It is an extremely hard working animal that is revered in countries like Thailand that have made it one of their national symbols. Unlike many members of the animal kingdom, the elephant is blessed with super intelligence and a very long life span. Because of this, it has become a symbol for wisdom and dignity.

Sometimes I have to return to where I just came from because I forget what I have come for. I´m 67 years old. I envy the elephant´s long memory and covet its long life. I´m a Filipino; I´m not a member of the Republican Party of the US who adopted the elephant as its mascot in 1874 when Harper´s Weekly came out with a cartoon of ´an elephant trampling on inflation and chaos´ (fleurdelis.com). I never did entertain violence even in cartoons.

There is more to this elephant business than I had imagined yesterday when I thought of using the elephant as a metaphor for science. Today I learned that (buddhism.kalachakranet.org):

The Precious Elephant is a symbol of the strength of the mind in Buddhism. Exhibiting noble gentleness, the precious elephant serves as a symbol of the calm majesty possessed by one who is on the (Buddhist) Path. Specifically, it embodies the boundless powers of the Buddha which are miraculous aspiration, effort, intention, and analysis.

Aspiration, effort, intention, analysis – why, those words remind me of science. Aspiration reminds me of the objective of my research, effort of the work that has to be done, intention of the meaning or rationale of what I´m doing, analysis of the interpretation I still have to make out of the results.

My study is of course the elephant. So now let me tell you my version of the story as told in the parable by the Buddha (´The Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant,´ kheper.net); I call my story The Blind Indians Nine. They wanted to know what an elephant was, so the servant of the Raja brought them to the elephant, each to a separate part of the animal. Their excited reports?

´It´s a mound of clay!´ He had been holding the head; he was the potter.
´It´s a winnowing basket!´ She had been holding the ear; she was the farmer´s wife.
´It´s a plowshare!´ He had been holding the tusk; he was the farmer.
´It´s a plow!´ He had been holding the trunk; he was the farmer´s neighbor.
´It´s a granary!´ He had been holding the body; he was the merchant.
´It´s a pillar!´ He had been holding the foot; he was the architect.
´It´s a mortar!´ He had been holding the back; he was the builder.
´It´s a pestle!´ He had been holding the tail; he was the worker.
´It´s a brush!´ He had been holding the tuft of the tail; he was the painter.

You are entitled to your own metaphor. But do not be blind to the fact that you must know that a metaphor represents only a part of the reality of the whole elephant.

And why today did I come to study the elephants when I´m in the Philippines and the nearest elephant to where I sit in front of this PC is thousands of miles away in India and Thailand ? I wasn´t thinking of elephants at all when I began to read ´ICRISAT´s New Vision and Strategy To 2010´ (icrisat.org) – I have been trying to understand the theory and practice of science of ICRISAT so that I can find out for myself if it´s creating any impact on the world at all as it claims, as it should be. I thought about the many different things I had to understand of ICRISAT, and then I remembered the parable of the elephant. I needed to see the Big Picture.

Another problem of the popularizer of science like me is the science itself, the language that comes out of the mouth of dudes, the torrent of words that spew out of the mouth of experimenters, the slew of terms that scientists use to describe their work, or to explain their behavior.

Because of the language barrier, you must pity us poor science writers who must visualize their vision, who must master their mission, who must make no mistake about their mandate, who must integrate everything in our mind before we can write intelligently, not to mention interestingly, about it.

So, what do you make of these? (icrisat.org):

Vision & Determination - The continued improvement of the well-being of the poor of the semi-arid tropics (SAT) through agricultural research for impact. With this impact we have the determination to substantially contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, specifically, those tackling poverty, hunger, gender and health issues.

Mission - To help the poor of the semi-arid tropics through Science with a Human Face and partnership-based research for development to increase agricultural productivity and food security, reduce poverty, and protect the environment in semi-arid production systems.

Mandate – To improve people´s livelihoods in crop-livestock-tree production systems in the semi-arid tropics through integrated genetic and natural resource management.

I have to make a whole elephant out of the body parts! Original photo by Jessie Cohen, from Smithsonian, nationalzoo.si.edu. So, here´s my first try:

Vision + Determination + Mission + Mandate + Program + Project + Activity = Elephant.

That is the elephant of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which is 1 of 15 centers of excellence of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The CGIAR describes itself as ´a strategic alliance of members, partners and international agricultural centers that mobilizes science to benefit the poor´ (cgiar.org). ICRISAT´s target is hundreds of millions of people in the drylands of Africa, Asia, Latin America, not to mention part of Australia. Since ICRISAT is pursuing a ´Grey to Green Revolution´ as Team ICRISAT puts it; and since this elephant is working for hundreds of millions of people, it must be a mammoth mammoth. I shall call it then The Green Giant Elephant of ICRISAT; since ICRISAT is based in India, this is The Green Giant Elephant of India. Elephant. That means you cannot separate one part from the other parts. Yes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, according to the precepts of holism. No, you can´t appreciate that if you´re using reason, if you´re being logical, if you insist on critical thinking. Think about that.

For we are members of one body, writes St Paul, having one Head, enjoying the effusion of the same grace, living by the same bread, walking in the same way, and dwelling in the same home. In short, in all that makes up our being – in the whole faith and hope by which we stand in the present life, or labor for that which is to come – we are both in the spirit and in the body of Christ so united, that if we fell from this union we would cease to be. (newadvent.org)

For the people, the elephant is a workhorse, if you will pardon the expression. For ICRISAT, the biblical injunction to be one elephant means the Activity must relate to the Project, that which must relate to the Program, that which must relate to the Mandate, that which must relate to the Mission, that which must relate to the Determination, that which must relate to the Vision, that which must relate to the People. The people are the ultimate judge of your elephant, if it be green.

Now then, I believe that when scientists finally learn to speak in parables, that is, in metaphors – since they´re more educational than similes – then, we can appreciate science theory more, if not understand science practice better. And if the scientists don´t learn to speak? Then we´ll have to speak for them! Remember, science is for the people, not scientists.

´Why do you teach them science in parables?´
´Because that´s what they like.´
´I like it when everything comes together,´ says Col John ´Hannibal´ Smith (George Peppard), Captain of the A-Team.
As in The Parable of the Green Giant Elephant. *