Blind Men Groping an Elephant

answered by On partial sight (Zhuangzi, Discourse on Equality)

기원전 4세기경

Blind Men Groping an Elephant asks: Do I take the part I have grasped for the whole, and build my judgment on that certainty? The film Witness for the Prosecution (dir. Billy Wilder) raises it; On partial sight (Zhuangzi, Discourse on Equality) answers: "There is one 'right and wrong' from over there, and one 'right and wrong' from over here."

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

dir. Billy Wilder · USA

How often does the certainty before our eyes deceive us? When plausible evidence and unshaken testimony all point one way, we readily believe what we have seen to be the truth. But the moment we are sure that what is visible is all there is, where does justice slip?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Do I take the part I have grasped for the whole, and build my judgment on that certainty?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

彼亦一是非

彼亦一是非此亦一是非

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

There is one 'right and wrong' from over there, and one 'right and wrong' from over here.

💡 TL;DR

Zhuangzi held that 'right and wrong' divide differently from each vantage.

📝The Classic Answers

Zhuangzi held that 'right and wrong' divide differently from each vantage. However sharp the evidence before me, it may be one part of the elephant, touched from the single spot where I stand. Certainty speeds judgment while it also shuts the eyes. I know that the moment I feel 'I have seen enough' is the most dangerous. Before the truth, I choose first to admit that what my eyes have touched is only a part.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you concluded something 'for certain' today, add one line: 'Which vantage have I not seen?'

📖 Classic Source: On partial sight (Zhuangzi, Discourse on Equality). Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.