TOUCHING THE ELEPHANT takes its title from the parable of six blind men trying to understand what an elephant is. One touches the tusk and concludes it’s like a spear, while another touches the trunk and likens it to a snake, and so on. Each draws a conclusion based on the finite experience of that to which he is exposed. Author Nancy J. Thompson points out, “The irony is that all six men are correct, yet they are all wrong. Each is limited by his insistence that what he feels is all there is.”
Thompson thinks that this lesson applies to our experience of being compassionate human beings. Regardless of what we believe in—or if we believe in anything at all—Thompson assets there is more to know, and that we have much more in common then we realize. She writes, “We can benefit if we stop insisting that people should believe in God. We can benefit if we focus instead on the shared spiritual values that shape human society. We can benefit if we will admit that there are beliefs and actions that can beneficially bind human society together and work to cultivate them.”
Thompson suggests that there is a fundamental human need to care for one another, and that we need to look for commonalities (starting with the “same basic needs for survival and safety”) in order to internalize this understanding. She identifies “eight specific traits that the world’s major religions all prize”—effort, compassion, generosity, acknowledgment, order, truth, mindfulness, and humility—and shows how each trait shows up in stories from some of the world’s major religions (including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, among others).
To make her argument, Thompson draws from current examples as well, including American superheroes, articles from The New York Times and other periodicals, social media references and online polls, and experiences drawn from classes and workshops taken, as well as ones she taught. Most fascinating are her personal stories of motherhood, having adopted two older children (ages 9 and 12) from China. (Thompson confesses, “My kids are atheists. I am a Buddhist who worships at a synagogue.”)
TOUCHING THE ELEPHANT is concerned with questions (namely ethics and morality) that concern not only individuals, but the society to which they belong. Even before the current COVID-19 pandemic (which predates the book), Thompson points out that the 21st Century world has been plagued by a refugee crisis, an opioid crisis, threat of nuclear war, terrorism, sexual violence, and what Thompson calls “environmental mayhem.” She posits, “Right wing nationalism, racism, and xenophobia are tipping elections and targeting citizens and non-citizen workers with hate and violence,” and writes the short story of human history as one of “sacrifice and murder.”
Despite its admirable aims, TOUCHING THE ELEPHANT would’ve benefited from a better organizing structure. Its chapters and sub-chapters are not clearly defined, and Thompson herself has a habit of digressing. Everything runs together, and feels less meaningfully, purposefully connected than just messy. Thompson might’ve done well to put her own story front and center, as the glimpses of it are quite intriguing.
TOUCHING THE ELEPHANT is moving in its honesty, sincerity, and childlike conviction that the future can still have a happy ending. Dipping her brush in several different pots, author Nancy J. Thompson paints a hopeful picture of humankind; while something like a rainbow, the colors get muddied in the end.
~Michael Quinn for IndieReader