There is an old parable from India that goes like this:

One day three blind men come across something they had never encountered before, an elephant. Each one touches a different part, tusk, tail, ear and begins describing it to the others. No one can agree on what is before them because they each offer only what they know, their partial information. Then ensues a big fight, creating distrust and disbelief in what the others are saying. The moral of the story, and probably our biggest obstacle to greater understanding, is that we take what we believe to be true for the whole and complete truth. It means we’re missing the much larger picture of what’s really going on. Something similar happened when physicists discovered super symmetry.

When super symmetry was first stumbled upon it blew the doors off the way the way physicists had been thinking about the universe. It offered a new lens with which to view the obstacles and issues surrounding our understanding of the way the universe works. What’s interesting is that all of these physicists working on the same theory came up with vastly different calculations and formulations. Each sure their way was the most comprehensive and correct version, but the twist was they all appeared to be right. As it turns out each scientist worked out a different piece of a larger puzzle, each had grabbed hold of a different part of the elephant. In fact super symmetry was renamed M Theory to accommodate all the different calculations hinting at a larger, and as-of-yet, unexplainable theory. M Theory is merely the amalgamation of all the pieces discovered so far that could possibly come together to answer the questions currently eluding physicists. We just don’t know how they all fit together.

This got me thinking about the idea of enlightenment and the way we live our daily lives. We are each working on our own issues and problems in a sort of vacuum. Rarely do we notice the finer connections and the ways in which we are linked to everyone and everything else. There is a beautiful idea of the world soul, the anima mundi, a larger reality we each play a part in that virtually goes unnoticed. The truth of enlightenment, or whatever name we choose to give it, is that we are called to see this larger picture. Staying safely tucked in the details of our own world may feel comfortable and safe but it also means we’re missing the deeper connections that put us in touch with what’s larger than ourselves, perhaps something eternal. When we go deep enough within we see where seemingly unrelated things and people connect and come together. Only by thoughtfully, and sometimes ruthlessly, looking at ourselves do we begin to understand the mystery that binds us all together. And in the final equation it’s our biggest flaws and colossal blunders that end up being our greatest teachers. Being humbled in the face of all we don’t know offers us a glimmer of something infinitely bigger than just our daily struggles. There are important lessons to learn if we’ll take the time to connect the dots. In that way we are all working on our own part of a larger M Theory of life, our lives and the work we do hint at a bigger wholeness that’s just waiting to be tapped into.

We don’t have to think of enlightenment as solely mystical and unknowable, it can be practical and grounding. How we get a glimpse of the something larger than ourselves is as individual as we are, whether we’re in the mountains meditating or marching on Washington. But it does require our passion to cultivate a greater depth of vision that allows us to make connections that have been previously overlooked. Physicists try to decipher the secrets M Theory has to offer, but who’s to say that each of us working out our own issues and growing towards something larger isn’t the same thing. We each just have a hold of a different part of the elephant and all of it requires the hard work of really looking and not being afraid of what might be found.

So let’s keep chipping away at our own piece of the puzzle until it opens up new vistas never imagined that take our breath away.

kb