This is an old Hindu fable about a group of blind people who come across various different parts of an elephant. Each one grabs a piece and starts to describe their impression of how the entire animal would be.

The first blind person grabs a leg of the animal and proclaims with satisfaction: "It is tall straight and big; the creature must be like a tree."

"No, no you fool! It is like a hard, thin rope!" indicated the one having examined the tail.

"Both of you could not be further from the truth. For you see;" says the third, who holds the elephant’s ear. "It is more like a huge, flat, leathery leaf."

Scoffing, the fourth declares, "How can you all be both blind and stupid? An elephant is most obviously like a very thick and flexible, strong snake!" — this, of course, from the one holding the trunk.

Of course none of the four had any realistic idea of what the elephant truly was as a whole. Each person had their own partly true judgment of the giant animal. Yet none alone was sufficient as to fully understand the mystery of its being.

The elephant is a metaphor for Life and its entire vastly mysterious entirety. In addition, the four blind people symbolize the numerous views of perception; religion, philosophy, science, art, etc. Each vein of perception carries a tiny piece of relevance. And similar to the blind people, we are all tempted to mistake that relevance as the whole truth.

Once there was a man who hated his own shadow. When he walked and found that his shadow was close behind him, he began to walk faster and faster. But the faster he moved, the closer his shadow came.

So he ran like a madman.. and in the end, he dropped dead. Those who do not understand the Dao are just like the man who hated his shadow. It is actually very easy to be rid of one’s shadow — just rest under a tree. Just rest.