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Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way
In response to the many inquiries he has received about the Sufi tradition from people from all walks of life, leading Sufi expert Idries Shah presents a clarifying series of questions and answers that illustrates how traditional Sufi concepts can resolve our social, psychological, and spiritual problems.
302 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
61 people are currently reading
863 people want to read
About the author
Idries Shah
447books416followersIdries Shah (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي), was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.
In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.
Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.
Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words � "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."
Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim
Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.
In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.
Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.
Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words � "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."
Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 10, 2018
Idries Shah’s extraordinary conversations with ordinary people apply traditional psychology to contemporary problems of humanity. The book contains over 100 ancient & modern Sufi tales & extracts detailing how, what and why Sufis learn and more. It’s a surprisingly practical assortment of delicious mental exercises: invigorating, challenging & necessary. I felt obliged to read more openly, without assumptions or expectations; to be patient & watchful. Here are a few tantalizing tidbits:
“If you cannot laugh frequently and genuinely, you have no soul.�
“There is no wisdom where there is no common sense: it cannot under those conditions find any expression.�
“When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.�
“Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.�
“The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality.�
“If you cannot laugh frequently and genuinely, you have no soul.�
“There is no wisdom where there is no common sense: it cannot under those conditions find any expression.�
“When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.�
“Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.�
“The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality.�
October 25, 2017
To say that this is an important book is a mega-understatement. As an individual, reading it with attention can benefit you more than you will ever know. But Shah also identified blind spots in our culture which have far reaching effects on our ability to solve the many problems which beset us.
One of these is disguised gratification-seeking � believing you are doing something useful when you are only entertaining yourself.
‘This is a most important technical problem. It can be solved certainly in the case of some people. But first it must be observed. No culture of today provides any generally applicable theoretical or practical method of drawing attention to it, let alone doing anything about it. And yet it remains one of the major stumbling blocks to human progress.�
Has anything changed since 1978?
Forty years ago Shah also drew attention to attention, devoting five pages of ‘Learning How to Learn� to the ’Characteristics of Attention and Observation�.
‘Study the attracting, extending and reception, as well as the interchange, of attention� because, he wrote, ‘One of the keys to human behaviour is the attention-factor.�
To see how our attitude to attention has changed I recommend reading the blog on the Idries Shah Foundation website:
This, and the other blogs on the website, fine tune Shah's work to the present.
One of these is disguised gratification-seeking � believing you are doing something useful when you are only entertaining yourself.
‘This is a most important technical problem. It can be solved certainly in the case of some people. But first it must be observed. No culture of today provides any generally applicable theoretical or practical method of drawing attention to it, let alone doing anything about it. And yet it remains one of the major stumbling blocks to human progress.�
Has anything changed since 1978?
Forty years ago Shah also drew attention to attention, devoting five pages of ‘Learning How to Learn� to the ’Characteristics of Attention and Observation�.
‘Study the attracting, extending and reception, as well as the interchange, of attention� because, he wrote, ‘One of the keys to human behaviour is the attention-factor.�
To see how our attitude to attention has changed I recommend reading the blog on the Idries Shah Foundation website:
This, and the other blogs on the website, fine tune Shah's work to the present.
July 17, 2012
A book designed to help those like me who come at the ageless wisdom from a Western viewpoint to understand that we in the West are missing some vital steps in trying to understand certain concepts. It helps in putting back that missing info. I re-read this book recently, and again gained much from it.
February 8, 2010
note: don't attempt to read this book while driving.
March 9, 2019
A very useful work in that it reiterates questions & answers pertaining to Sufi psychology that have been asked and answered time and time again.
July 6, 2018
I wish to thank the Idries Shah Foundation for the publication of the works of the Sufi Teacher Idries Shah.
In ‘Learning How to Learn�, the author is the “tour guide� of a spiritual landscape whose roadmaps, landmarks, language, and postures, etiquette etc., are not known to the seeker. In his discussions, examples, stories, comments, answers to the questions etc., Idries Shah provides a set of thinking tools to the beginner to clear his/her mind and shed the un-necessary “intellectual baggage� (including rationalized preconceived notions and concealed prejudices), to be able to benefit from the Sufi Psychology. Because Intellectuality and compartmentalized thinking can itself become a veil to higher understanding. In this context the story of “SHARP SHOOTING SCHOLARS� on p. 253 of this book is worth mentioning!
It took me years to get some idea of what Idries Shah is trying to communicate to his readers in ‘Learning How to Learn�. For me the “trouble� with using an old copy of his book (fifth printing by the Octagon Press,1992), over and over again is this: it starts giving me what I want instead of what might be there!!! The newly printed edition of this book with a fresh look and a different page order “disrupts� my stereotyped behavior and gives me a better chance to read it objectively and also keep it as a desk reference.
In ‘Learning How to Learn�, the author is the “tour guide� of a spiritual landscape whose roadmaps, landmarks, language, and postures, etiquette etc., are not known to the seeker. In his discussions, examples, stories, comments, answers to the questions etc., Idries Shah provides a set of thinking tools to the beginner to clear his/her mind and shed the un-necessary “intellectual baggage� (including rationalized preconceived notions and concealed prejudices), to be able to benefit from the Sufi Psychology. Because Intellectuality and compartmentalized thinking can itself become a veil to higher understanding. In this context the story of “SHARP SHOOTING SCHOLARS� on p. 253 of this book is worth mentioning!
It took me years to get some idea of what Idries Shah is trying to communicate to his readers in ‘Learning How to Learn�. For me the “trouble� with using an old copy of his book (fifth printing by the Octagon Press,1992), over and over again is this: it starts giving me what I want instead of what might be there!!! The newly printed edition of this book with a fresh look and a different page order “disrupts� my stereotyped behavior and gives me a better chance to read it objectively and also keep it as a desk reference.
March 7, 2019
What if everything you know is wrong? Okay, maybe not everything, but then again. What do you know about learning? Even if you are a well-qualified expert on learning; if you don't know the contents of this book, your expertise is deficient. If you don't know much about learning, why not? If you don't know about learning and consider it to be a good subject to know; then you ought to know this book. Know it well and it will serve you very well. Good luck and best wishes.
April 10, 2019
This book is deep psychological test. For in its contents there is no self help teaching tales, philosphy or wisdom but an abudance of opportunities for insight, of not just psychological but social and ecological funtionings of human societies. And note that it is not ready to inhale content but an exercise in the sincerity of the reader to engage with various domains of his/her perceptual framework and to deconstructed its various self feeding mechanisms and self indulging processes, so that a concrete development of a human being and its awareness within the induvidual may take place. By meditating on the varous Sufi stories within the book an induvidual may be able to get the reflection of his/her mind and shared cognition of societies as a whole and can challenge of deconstructing its various mechanisms through learning, relearning and unlearning process for better functioning interventions in life.
November 2, 2024
Learning how to Learn. The whole book a corrective to one's way of thinking. As with all Idries Shah's books it reveals more the more it is read. Question: ' What can you do about imitators...et al..? 'That reminds me of a joke. It is said that a small boy was faced with an examination question: What is rabies and what can you do about it? He wrote as his answer: ‘Rabies is Jewish priests and there is nothing you can do about it!''... I am however interested in the inherent assumption: the one behind the question- that one should do anything about it or that one could indeed do anything about it...' As quoted in the book- a quote from Rumi- False gold exists because there is such a thing as real gold. This book is real gold. It’s a guard and a protection. Helps one, if one can concentrate for a second without one’s mind wobbling all over the place to arrange one's thoughts, to think clearly. Idries Shah’s book are the materials from which evolutions are made: pearls by any other name. Learning how to Learn.
December 29, 2017
There is only one book worse than this among those I tried reading - Warcraft but that's a YA book.
Let's start saying that the author thinks too highly of himself and of his "sufi brothergood". Calling your "brotherhood" "a great brotherhood" is a bit arrogant.
I'm not sure if I got it correctly but this guy says his fellow sufies are capable of doing miracles. Sounds like some sci-fi. I like sci-fi but when it's stated "sci-fi" not when I'm reading a serious book.
The books title has nothing to with the book itself. It contains lot's of "water", sci-fi, self-prising and
5-10% of the book is useful. So basically if you cut out all self-prising, "water" and sci-fi I would rate it as 2.5 stars. Now it's 1 start coz there is no 0 star.
Let's start saying that the author thinks too highly of himself and of his "sufi brothergood". Calling your "brotherhood" "a great brotherhood" is a bit arrogant.
I'm not sure if I got it correctly but this guy says his fellow sufies are capable of doing miracles. Sounds like some sci-fi. I like sci-fi but when it's stated "sci-fi" not when I'm reading a serious book.
The books title has nothing to with the book itself. It contains lot's of "water", sci-fi, self-prising and
5-10% of the book is useful. So basically if you cut out all self-prising, "water" and sci-fi I would rate it as 2.5 stars. Now it's 1 start coz there is no 0 star.
September 25, 2017
This is a new edition from ISF Publishing of one of my favourite books. I had an earlier edition which had become battered through travel - I carried it around when travelling as it is not the kind of book that I could devour at one sitting. So reading a little when I could would help me refocus and notice more. Shah's books have the quality that you can read the most extraordinary statements without noticing what has been said. So I very much welcome this new edition, attractively produced in a flexible binding to enable me to continue exploring it.
May 11, 2016
There's an almost inexhaustible quality to this book, which Psychology Today described as a watershed in studies of the mind. Shah uses stories, jokes, Questions & Answers, and essays to delve into the psychology of learning. He illustrates many assumptions that can get in the way of learning and also that techniques useful in one kind of learning may be self-defeating if used in a different field.
One of the most interesting and insightful sections is on the giving and receiving of Attention. People need a certain amount of attention. Recognition of this need, and understanding when it is in play, can help people to be more efficient at getting what they need and perhaps waste less time engaging in arguments, gossip and the like.
There is a tremendous amount of information and insight in this book, and though it is written in a clear, coherent manner, it's hard to imagine anyone absorbing it all in a single read.
One of the most interesting and insightful sections is on the giving and receiving of Attention. People need a certain amount of attention. Recognition of this need, and understanding when it is in play, can help people to be more efficient at getting what they need and perhaps waste less time engaging in arguments, gossip and the like.
There is a tremendous amount of information and insight in this book, and though it is written in a clear, coherent manner, it's hard to imagine anyone absorbing it all in a single read.
April 7, 2019
Some profoundly insightful material here about the conditions under which real learning occurs, largely conveyed in an effective and engaging Q&A format. Those dialogues are mixed with traditional teaching stories, anecdotes and articles from newspapers to illustrate the prerequisites to Sufi development. The section about human attention, unprecedented at the time, is of inestimable value.
The authors of 'Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions' described this as one of Shah's best works. They noted that the book provided a solid orientation to Shah's "psychological" approach to Sufi work and added that Shah, at his best, provides "insights that inoculate students against much of the nonsense in the spiritual marketplace."
The authors of 'Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions' described this as one of Shah's best works. They noted that the book provided a solid orientation to Shah's "psychological" approach to Sufi work and added that Shah, at his best, provides "insights that inoculate students against much of the nonsense in the spiritual marketplace."
April 7, 2015
This book is replete with lessons on how to orient one's mind so that one can learn. A number of the lessons seem to have to do with discrimination, as expressed in this couplet (p. 208, Octagon hardcover edition):
Put your dough into the oven when it is hot:
After making sure that it is in fact dough.
Put your dough into the oven when it is hot:
After making sure that it is in fact dough.
April 16, 2019
This book elucidates why so many of us have assumptions about how to learn, and rarely veer from them. We rarely give a thought that we may not have a clue how to learn, especially about higher, spiritual matters. This series of tales and extracts from traditional Sufi lore helps us define a new track of learning, and perceive the world in a new light.
August 25, 2015
I think this was an excellent book.
It is not what I expected with the Q&A format.
But alhumdulilah it answered many questions I have had and some I never thought about.
It is not what I expected with the Q&A format.
But alhumdulilah it answered many questions I have had and some I never thought about.
January 31, 2020
“Forms are vehicles and instruments, and vehicles and instruments cannot be called good or bad without context.�
� Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way.
� Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way.
August 12, 2020
Looking back now at the extraordinary achievement of Idries Shah in publishing an entire introductory course in Sufism, a subject that even today seems to be misunderstood and wrongly classified by scholars in the West, it seems that this book plays a key role in the entire corpus. The earlier books began by introducing the subject in his monumental work The Sufis, then focusing on specific teachings and especially teaching methods employed by writers in the genuine Sufi tradition, then publishing numerous examples of teaching stories, including many of his own. During the same period, as we know from various writers who were involved with Shah, he was forming and examining various groups attracted by the early books, inviting interested parties to his country house for weekend visits that included various forms of physical work, and culminated in large dinners at which he would throw out ideas and teachings. It now seems that at least one reason for this routine was the opportunity it gave him to record and later use the various interchanges that took place in subsequent books -- of which Learning How to Learn was the first. And that makes this a key book, because it includes, perhaps more so than any other single work, some absolutely explicit clues about how Sufism works in practice and which aspects of the teachings included in his other works actually need to be ignored or re-evaluated for the process to be effective.
April 4, 2019
Learning How to Learn was the first of Shah’s books that I ever read. I’ve read it many times over the years. It really is essential reading for anyone interested in learning about Sufism, but as the title suggests, it is also about learning in general.
Not just in a linear fashion, but from a variety of different angles, it covers many of the common pitfalls that so often stymie our attempts to learn right from the outset. For instance, unexamined assumptions are a major hindrance - as Shah writes: “Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.� One of the most basic assumptions many of us have is that we are sincere about trying to learn, when it can often be shown that we are actually engaged in some other pursuit - like the search for emotional stimulation or attention. Really then it is no surprise that we fail to succeed in what we are only pretending to be doing!
If you assume you already know how to learn, you really need to read this book!
Not just in a linear fashion, but from a variety of different angles, it covers many of the common pitfalls that so often stymie our attempts to learn right from the outset. For instance, unexamined assumptions are a major hindrance - as Shah writes: “Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.� One of the most basic assumptions many of us have is that we are sincere about trying to learn, when it can often be shown that we are actually engaged in some other pursuit - like the search for emotional stimulation or attention. Really then it is no surprise that we fail to succeed in what we are only pretending to be doing!
If you assume you already know how to learn, you really need to read this book!
March 9, 2019
With dozens of books to his name, it can be hard to know where to begin exploring the remarkable writings of Idries Shah. His perspectives of Sufism and spirituality are completely different from most of what is written about spiritual development. For me, Learning How to Learn is one of the best entry points to his work. The depth of his ideas is amazing. The book is gathered from question and answer sessions with “seekers after truth”and incorporates traditional Sufi stories, articles from newspapers, personal anecdotes, research in psychology and much more to convey his messages.
One of the most critical of those messages is what he calls overcoming assumptions. Such assumptions can take many forms: thinking that we know more than we do, believing that we are ready for spiritual advancement when we’re not, and so on. Another topic that he gives attention to is greed and at one point Shah writes:
"Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because what they say or do appeals to your greed. This is concealed only by their appearance. If you stop listening to their words and look at the effect, you will soon see it."
I've found the book to be a gold mine of insight, one that I return to again and again. Over time, it's actually changed the way I look at both myself and the world. I think one of the reasons it's so vivid is because the questions are from real interactions. Shah's answers, which are often both sharp and funny, will give anybody who picks up this book new tools, new perspectives and new approaches to “learning how to learn� about ourselves.
One of the most critical of those messages is what he calls overcoming assumptions. Such assumptions can take many forms: thinking that we know more than we do, believing that we are ready for spiritual advancement when we’re not, and so on. Another topic that he gives attention to is greed and at one point Shah writes:
"Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because what they say or do appeals to your greed. This is concealed only by their appearance. If you stop listening to their words and look at the effect, you will soon see it."
I've found the book to be a gold mine of insight, one that I return to again and again. Over time, it's actually changed the way I look at both myself and the world. I think one of the reasons it's so vivid is because the questions are from real interactions. Shah's answers, which are often both sharp and funny, will give anybody who picks up this book new tools, new perspectives and new approaches to “learning how to learn� about ourselves.
July 8, 2021
Quick Review in 5 points
1. Contents of the book are meaningful and worth reading.
2. Idries Shah's writing is not lucid. (long sentences, archaic words). I could not read the book after some 300 pages.
3. The book's core attempt is to hammer our ego, and does a good job in it.
4. There are many harmful preconceptions we live with. We must identify and get rid of those. This book helps if you follow the text sincerely.
5. Read only if you are interested in Sufism or spirituality.
1. Contents of the book are meaningful and worth reading.
2. Idries Shah's writing is not lucid. (long sentences, archaic words). I could not read the book after some 300 pages.
3. The book's core attempt is to hammer our ego, and does a good job in it.
4. There are many harmful preconceptions we live with. We must identify and get rid of those. This book helps if you follow the text sincerely.
5. Read only if you are interested in Sufism or spirituality.
March 9, 2018
Why re-invent the wheel?
Started doing a review on this book when I remembered I had a tattered photocopy of an old one by Doris Lessing somewhere. "Why re-invent the wheel", I thought, and found it after scrabbling through messy files. Dated July 1982 from The Literary Review`, I typed it up because it forthrightly said more than I could 36 years later. See what you think, and if you can do better � then have a go yourself. But I'll just pause here in historical re-cycle mode. Call me lazy if you must, but in fairness read the book first.
"SEEKER AFTER TRUTH has in it twelve traditional tales � 'teaching stories' � as beguiling as our familiar fairytales, and I believe until now unknown in the West...tales of Sufi ancients, chosen to illustrate problems of now as much as of then� exchanges from the supper table talk of a modern Sufi teacher and his pupils...difficulties of of contemporary Sufi teachings in the West�...samples from a letter bag that must be unique in our time, set out in question and answer form�.anecdotes and narratives designed to show Sufi thought in action...results of current sociological and psychological research that throw light on defects in our thinking. This book, which describes itself as a handbook, is food for many different kinds of study � a book unlike anything our own society has produced until recently, in its richness, its unexpectedness, its capacity to shock us into seeing ourselves as others see us, both personally and as a society.
What can be the source of such a book, that so defies our conventions, putting together subjects that we agree should be kept separate, like science and religion, entertainment and learning? Those who have already met the books of Idries Shah will know the answer. Few who fairly and openmindedly examine his books fail to find nutrition and interest in them, and all kinds of people eagerly look out for the arrival of a new one, not only the students who try to learn the Sufi way with Shah for whom they are part of the 'curriculum.' This ideas that twenty years ago, appeared for the first time in Shah's early books have become commonplace and can be seem at work everywhere. Particularly in the realm of the sciences has this way of thinking been found useful. Sociology, anthropology, psychology � these owe, and acknowledge, a debt to the Sufi bequest, which is thousands of years worth of skilled expertise in the art of human development.
I have to declare my bias: while it is a mistake, leading to onesideness, to put emphasis on one area at the cost of others, I am particularly fascinated by how these ancient ideas translate into modern terms, into what Shah describes as 'the infant soft sciences.' It is now a psychological commonplace, though of recent origin to say that we can see only what we are conditioned to see: the Sufis have said for millenia that their problem is always that a new introduction of Sufism has to find ways of crossing the barriers of the assumptions of a particular culture.
It is precisely because of the unreliability of vision, of memory, of wanting to believe, of induced belief� that the Sufis say that an objective perception must be acquired before even familiar things can be seem as they are.
We are invited, over and over again, from a hundred different angles, to acknowledge our animal legacy, so that we control our behaviour instead of being controlled by instincts that that we sometimes do not acknowledge. Very abrasive some of these insights are. For instance, our social habits are seen by us in flattering terms, but rats behave as we do.
"�..when rats are offered alcohol, recreation, food, in circumstances to those afforded man, they tend to adopt similar forms of behaviour�.humans say that they drink alcohol to reduce tension, to be sociable, to do business with their fellow drinkers, to avoid loneliness and so on. Can it be the same with rats? The explanation seems to be that some social behaviour, at least, is rooted in the animal level of behaviour."
We live in a society where emotionalism is prized; to say that something has moved us, is the equivalent of saying that it is good, worthy, admirable.. But the Sufis say that many of the 'higher' feelings we prize are merely crude emotionalism; and 'It is characteristic of the primitive to regard things which are felt strongly to be of importance..' And, again, ' the importance of something is in inverse proportion to its attractiveness.' (Students of traditional mysticism will find an echo here.)
'Secrets' are casually offered. For instance to the question: 'By what method do the Sufis extract information of value to present day psychology and higher knowledge from ancient written materials?, Shah replies in terms of recent scientific research in Syria, explaining how a biblical anecdote about a miracle done by Elisha can be seen as simple ion exchange. He added salt to water that had zeolite in it, thus making a spoiled spring healthy again.
A genuine Sufi path has to be expressed within the terms and modes of a contemporary society, using its language. A new Sufi Exemplar will make sure that traditional Sufi literature is available while introducing new material created for the new time."
Started doing a review on this book when I remembered I had a tattered photocopy of an old one by Doris Lessing somewhere. "Why re-invent the wheel", I thought, and found it after scrabbling through messy files. Dated July 1982 from The Literary Review`, I typed it up because it forthrightly said more than I could 36 years later. See what you think, and if you can do better � then have a go yourself. But I'll just pause here in historical re-cycle mode. Call me lazy if you must, but in fairness read the book first.
"SEEKER AFTER TRUTH has in it twelve traditional tales � 'teaching stories' � as beguiling as our familiar fairytales, and I believe until now unknown in the West...tales of Sufi ancients, chosen to illustrate problems of now as much as of then� exchanges from the supper table talk of a modern Sufi teacher and his pupils...difficulties of of contemporary Sufi teachings in the West�...samples from a letter bag that must be unique in our time, set out in question and answer form�.anecdotes and narratives designed to show Sufi thought in action...results of current sociological and psychological research that throw light on defects in our thinking. This book, which describes itself as a handbook, is food for many different kinds of study � a book unlike anything our own society has produced until recently, in its richness, its unexpectedness, its capacity to shock us into seeing ourselves as others see us, both personally and as a society.
What can be the source of such a book, that so defies our conventions, putting together subjects that we agree should be kept separate, like science and religion, entertainment and learning? Those who have already met the books of Idries Shah will know the answer. Few who fairly and openmindedly examine his books fail to find nutrition and interest in them, and all kinds of people eagerly look out for the arrival of a new one, not only the students who try to learn the Sufi way with Shah for whom they are part of the 'curriculum.' This ideas that twenty years ago, appeared for the first time in Shah's early books have become commonplace and can be seem at work everywhere. Particularly in the realm of the sciences has this way of thinking been found useful. Sociology, anthropology, psychology � these owe, and acknowledge, a debt to the Sufi bequest, which is thousands of years worth of skilled expertise in the art of human development.
I have to declare my bias: while it is a mistake, leading to onesideness, to put emphasis on one area at the cost of others, I am particularly fascinated by how these ancient ideas translate into modern terms, into what Shah describes as 'the infant soft sciences.' It is now a psychological commonplace, though of recent origin to say that we can see only what we are conditioned to see: the Sufis have said for millenia that their problem is always that a new introduction of Sufism has to find ways of crossing the barriers of the assumptions of a particular culture.
It is precisely because of the unreliability of vision, of memory, of wanting to believe, of induced belief� that the Sufis say that an objective perception must be acquired before even familiar things can be seem as they are.
We are invited, over and over again, from a hundred different angles, to acknowledge our animal legacy, so that we control our behaviour instead of being controlled by instincts that that we sometimes do not acknowledge. Very abrasive some of these insights are. For instance, our social habits are seen by us in flattering terms, but rats behave as we do.
"�..when rats are offered alcohol, recreation, food, in circumstances to those afforded man, they tend to adopt similar forms of behaviour�.humans say that they drink alcohol to reduce tension, to be sociable, to do business with their fellow drinkers, to avoid loneliness and so on. Can it be the same with rats? The explanation seems to be that some social behaviour, at least, is rooted in the animal level of behaviour."
We live in a society where emotionalism is prized; to say that something has moved us, is the equivalent of saying that it is good, worthy, admirable.. But the Sufis say that many of the 'higher' feelings we prize are merely crude emotionalism; and 'It is characteristic of the primitive to regard things which are felt strongly to be of importance..' And, again, ' the importance of something is in inverse proportion to its attractiveness.' (Students of traditional mysticism will find an echo here.)
'Secrets' are casually offered. For instance to the question: 'By what method do the Sufis extract information of value to present day psychology and higher knowledge from ancient written materials?, Shah replies in terms of recent scientific research in Syria, explaining how a biblical anecdote about a miracle done by Elisha can be seen as simple ion exchange. He added salt to water that had zeolite in it, thus making a spoiled spring healthy again.
A genuine Sufi path has to be expressed within the terms and modes of a contemporary society, using its language. A new Sufi Exemplar will make sure that traditional Sufi literature is available while introducing new material created for the new time."
November 18, 2017
A jewel about the human psyche and the structure of study groups and organizations.
July 6, 2018
Fantastic book. A must-read. :-)
December 19, 2018
Really cool way to experience Sufi wisdom. Enriching, beautiful, funny, meaningful stories.
May 25, 2019
Maybe I'm not ready for the book yet !!
August 26, 2019
Da riprendere e da rileggere, un quantitativo non indifferente di materiale di studio. Che possa aiutare ogni lettore alla propria preparazione.
November 8, 2019
Good book with philosophical approach and enlightenment.
January 17, 2020
Amazing work on personal development which will open your third and fourth eyes!
October 4, 2020
A book laid out as two to three page answers to questions relating to Sufi teaching methods, particularly the importance of the correct approach or intent of the student.
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