Idries Shah Quotes - Page 4

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• Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature

  Idries Shah

  Spiritual, Struggle, Sleep

  Idries Shah (1964). “The Sufis”, Anchor Books

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• The Way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.

  Idries Shah

  Book, Mean, Ordinary

  Idries Shah (1999). “The Sufis”, p.9, Octagon Press Ltd

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• No practice exists in isolation.

  Idries Shah

  Practice, Isolation

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.91, Octagon Press Ltd

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• The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.

  Idries Shah

  Believe, Sufi, Sufism

  Idries Shah (1999). “The Sufis”, p.36, Octagon Press Ltd

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• It is not enough that there is a collection of people with the common aim of working in unison towards an objective... Aspiration and desire only are not enough.

  Idries Shah

  People, Desire, Common

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• When the lion had eaten its fill, and the jackals had taken their share, the ants came along and finished up the meat from the bones of the haughty stag.

  Idries Shah

  Taken, Meat, Lions

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.72, Octagon Press Ltd

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• A certain person may have, as you say, a wonderful presence; I do not know. What I do know is that he has a perfectly delightful absence.

  Idries Shah

  May, Wonderful, Absence

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.18, Octagon Press Ltd

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• He that is purified by love is pure; and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and hath abandoned all else is a Sufi.Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah.

  Idries Shah

  Love Is, Beloved, Sufi

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• 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.

  Idries Shah

  Kings, Fear, Scorpions

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.22, Octagon Press Ltd

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• None should say: 'I can trust' or 'I cannot trust' until he is a master of the option, of trusting or not trusting.

  Idries Shah

  Should, Masters, Not Trusting

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.12, Octagon Press Ltd

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• 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.

  Idries Shah

  Running, Fashion, Men

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.15, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Dramatic. A well developed sense of the dramatic has values beyond what people usually imagine. One of these is to realise the limitations of a sense of the dramatic.

  Idries Shah

  People, Imagine, Dramatic

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.5, Octagon Press Ltd

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• The main problem is that most commentators are accustomed to thinking of spiritual schools as 'systems', which are more or less alike, and which depend upon dogma and ritual: and especially upon repetition and the application of continual and standardised pressures upon their followers.The Sufi way, except in degenerate forms which are not to be classified as Sufic, is entirely different from this.

  Idries Shah

  Spiritual, School, Thinking

  "The Commanding Self".

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• When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.

  Idries Shah

  Men, Doe, Admiration

  Idries Shah (1971). “Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism”, p.198, Octagon Press Ltd

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• But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.

  Idries Shah

  Trying, May, Able

  Idries Shah (1990). “Sufi Thought and Action”, p.5, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.

  Idries Shah

  Advice, Priceless, Interference

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.60, Octagon Press Ltd

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• We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science that can exert a beneficial influence on individuals and societies, in accordance with the needs of those individuals and societies ... Sufi study and development gives one capacities one did not have before.

  Idries Shah

  Art, Views, People

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• The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.

  Idries Shah

  Heart, Learned Person, Listening

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• Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.

  Idries Shah

  People, Secret

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.64, Octagon Press Ltd

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• To be obsessed by the idea of freedom, for instance, is itself a form of slavery. Such people are in the chains of the hope of freedom, and are therefore able to do little else than struggle with them.

  Idries Shah

  Struggle, Ideas, People

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.54, Octagon Press Ltd

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• If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.

  Idries Shah

  Greed, Desire, Ifs

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.91, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

  Idries Shah

  Daughter, Independence, Conceit

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.109, Octagon Press Ltd

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• MAN: Kick him-he'll forgive you. Flatter him-he may or may not see through you. But ignore him and he'll hate you

  Idries Shah

  Hate, Men, Forgiving

  Idries Shah (1988). “Caravan of Dreams”, p.226, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Talking about straws and camels' backs is just one way of approaching things. If you have enough camels, no backs need be broken.

  Idries Shah

  Talking, Broken, Preparation

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.134, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.

  Idries Shah

  Kindness, Mean, Exercise

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.91, Octagon Press Ltd

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