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Knowing How to Know: A Practical Philosophy in the Sufi Tradition

Idries Shah

Top 10 Best Quotes

“In the modern world we are in a paradoxical situation; because although in theory man knows that he can extend his attention to something and then remove it, he very often does not do so. In many areas he does not look at something and then detach from it, and look at something else. Once he has found something to interest himself in, he cannot detach himself from it efficiently, and therefore he cannot be objective. Note that, in most if not all languages, we have words like 'objectivity' which leads people to imagine that they have it, or can easily use it. That is equivalent (in reality if not in theory) to saying 'I know the word “gold”, so I am rich.”

“In a village where everyone has only one leg, the biped will hop about more lamely than anyone else, if he knows what is good for him.”

“If you do not understand, you cannot love. You can only imagine that you love.”

“You must improve yourself on a higher level if you are to be able to help people, and not just weep over them.”

“Do not think that your magic ring will work if you are not yourself Solomon.”

“It is as true as anything else which can be spoken to say that all knowledge is really available everywhere.”

“Western society has in the past few decades taken a great step forward, which gives its members a perhaps unparalleled opportunity. This has been due to the final recognition of the way in which people can be (and are) conditioned to believe virtually anything. Although this knowledge existed earlier, it was confined to a few, and was taught to relatively small groups, because it was considered subversive. Once, however, the paradox of change of 'faith' began to disturb Western scientists in the Korean war, they were not long in explaining - even in replicating - the phenomenon. As with so many other discoveries, this one had to wait for its acceptance until there was no other explanation. Hence, work which Western scientists could have done a century or more earlier was delayed. Still, better late than never. What remains to be done is that the general public should absorb the facts of mind-manipulation. Failure to do so has resulted in an almost free field for the cults which are a bane of Western existence. In both East and West, the slowness of absorption of these facts has allowed narrow, political, religious and faddish fanaticism to arise, to grow and to spread without the necessary 'immunization'. In illiberal societies it is forbidden to teach these facts. In liberal ones, few people are interested: but only because mind-manipulation is assumed to be something that happens to someone else, and people are selfish in many ways, though charitable in others. Yet the reality is that most people are touched by one or other of an immense range of conditioned beliefs, fixations, even which take the place of truth and are even respected because 'so-and-so is at least sincere.' Naturally such mental sets are not to be opposed. Indeed they thrive on opposition. They have to be explained and contained. The foregoing remarks will not 'become the property' of the individual or the group on a single reading. An unfamiliar and previously untaught lesson, especially when it claims careful attention and remembering, will always take time to sink in. This presentation, therefore, forms a part of materials which need to be reviewed at intervals. Doing this should enable one to add a little ability and to receive a minute quality of understanding each time.”

“There is something in man which can detect real love. We rub it out, or muffle it, by substitute-love.”

“Sufi service has to be the right kind of service; neither servitude nor hypocrisy.”

“Sufi Teachers are not, as you might hope, people who make you feel peace and harmony.”

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Book Keywords:

humanity, knowledge, hafiz, sufism, sufis, wisdom, evolution, love, truth, sufi-wisdom, behaviour, rumi, sufi-teacher, idries-shah, love-quote, psychology, proverb

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