Idries Shah
Idries Shah
Idries Shah, also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimiand by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth16 June 1924
CountryIndia
glasses water colour
The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured'.
teacher convince-us path
If the path has been laid down, why the successive appearance of different teachers? Why would anyone reinvent the wheel, if everything were as cosy and sequential as primitive longing so easily convinces us?
kings fear scorpions
A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung to death by scorpions.
differences realizing containers
When you realize the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.
kindness mean exercise
Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
wise book ass
Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise.
progress thieves murderer
If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
humility humble trying
Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
running fashion men
People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher experiences. But because they do not rage around, wild-eyed, people think that they are very ordinary folk and therefore not aware of anything unknown to the general run of man.
criticise
Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.
secret sufism
The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
hate enemy want
If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.
moments trusting-someone humans
The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.
prayer mean emotional
When prayer, rituals and ascetic life are just a means of self-indulgence, they are harmful rather than beneficial. This is quite obvious to people nowadays, when it is widely recognised that fixations are not the same as valuable and laudable observances. One should not pray if that prayer is vanity; rituals are wrong when they provide lower satisfactions, like emotional stimulus instead of enlightenment; he or she should not be an ascetic who is only enjoying it.