Welcome to RISE²

The Elephant and the Blind Monks

In a remote mountain village, six blind monks were disturbed by an extraordinary commotion. A strange creature had arrived—an elephant. None had ever encountered such a beast, and none knew what an elephant was.

Curious, they made their way to the village square to discover its nature for themselves.

The first monk grasped the elephant’s trunk. “An elephant,” he declared, “is very much like a great serpent.”

The second felt its enormous ear. “Nonsense! It is plainly a fan.”

The third embraced a massive leg. “You are both mistaken. An elephant is a pillar.”

The fourth pressed his hands against its broad side. “A wall!” he announced.

The fifth seized its tail. “A rope,” he insisted.

The sixth examined a tusk. “You fools! It is a spear.”

Each had encountered something real. Each had drawn a conclusion. And each was certain the others were wrong.

Before long, their disagreement became a quarrel, and their quarrel nearly came to blows.

None had discovered the elephant. Each had mistaken a part for the whole.

RISE² Is Your Elephant

RISE² is an approach to understanding reality—and improving the way we think and act within it.

Like the elephant, it can be approached from several directions. Each reveals something important, but its greater value emerges when the parts are understood together.

The first monk discovers a Book: [Superforecasting].

He learns that even the most celebrated experts often make remarkably poor predictions. Their explanations may be impressive, their credentials impeccable, yet their maps of the future frequently bear little resemblance to what actually happens.

The second monk encounters a Concept: [The Map Is Not the Territory].

He discovers why the first monk’s experts failed. Words, theories, predictions, and beliefs are maps—not the reality they claim to describe. A map is useful only insofar as it helps us navigate the territory.

The third monk acquires a Tool: [Operational Definition].

He learns to move beyond arguments about words. What, precisely, do we mean? What could we observe or measure? How would we know whether our claim was correct?

The fourth monk watches a Movie: [The Name of the Rose].

He sees two ways of thinking brought vividly to life: one that submits to established authority and another that examines evidence, questions assumptions, and follows the investigation wherever it leads.

The fifth monk enters the Dojo: [The Mind of the Martial Artist].

Here he discovers that understanding is not enough. Knowledge must become skill; skill must become disciplined action. Excellence is not merely what you know or possess. It is what you become.

And the sixth monk?

He begins to see what the others have missed.

The book exposes the failure of conventional thinking. The concept explains the error. The tool offers a means of correction. The movie makes the conflict visible. The martial artist demonstrates how understanding becomes action.

These are not five separate subjects. They are five approaches to the same elephant.

That elephant is RISE².

Its purpose is not to give you another collection of beliefs, but to equip you with better ways of examining the beliefs you already possess.

Welcome to RISE². The journey begins when you recognize that the part you have grasped is not the whole.