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The World of the Sufi
Books by Idries Shah Sufi Studies and Middle Eastern Literature The Sufis Caravan of Dreams The Way of the Sufi Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-stories Over a Thousand Years Sufi Thought and Action Traditional Psychology, Teaching Encounters and Narratives Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism Wisdom of the Idiots The Dermis Probe Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way Knowing How to Know The Magic Monastery: Analogical and Action Philosophy Seeker After Truth Observations Evenings with Idries Shah The Commanding Self University Lectures A Perfumed Scorpion (Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and California University) Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas (Sussex University) The Elephant in the Dark: Christianity, Islam and the Sufis (Geneva University) Neglected Aspects of Sufi Study: Beginning to Begin (The New School for Social Research) Letters and Lectures of Idries Shah Current and Traditional Ideas Reflections The Book of the Book A Veiled Gazelle: Seeing How to See Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humour The Mulla Nasrudin Corpus The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin The World of Nasrudin Travel and Exploration Destination Mecca Studies in Minority Beliefs The Secret Lore of Magic Oriental Magic Selected Folktales and Their Background World Tales A Novel Kara Kush Sociological Works Darkest England The Natives are Restless The Englishman‟s Handbook Translated by Idries Shah The Hundred Tales of Wisdom (Aflaki‟s Munaqib) THE WORLD OF THE SUFI An anthology of writings about Sufis and their work Introduction by IDRIES SHAH ISF PUBLISHING Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah The right of the Estate of Idries Shah to be identified as the owner of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. -
The Spiritual Teacher Or Guide
THE SPIRITUAL TEACHER OR GUIDE ‘Water needs an intermediary, a vessel, between it and the fire, if it is to be heated correctly.’ Rumi Necessity for a Spiritual Teacher Spiritual teachings are traditionally transmitted by the human exemplar, the teacher or guide. The teacher’s significance as an instrument of the teaching is based on “function, not appearance.” In the words of Ibn el Arabi: “People think that a teacher should display miracles and manifest illumination. But the requirement in a teacher is that he should possess all that the disciple needs.” The journey to Truth begins with a guide who has travelled the path, and who can conduct or ‘shepherd’ others to the goal. Gurdjieff spoke of the importance of a teacher in the alchemical process of self-transformation: The ideas are a summons, a summons toward another world, a call from one who knows and is able to show us the way. But the transformation of the human being requires something more. It can only be achieved if there is a real meeting between the conscious force which descends and the total commitment which answers it. This brings about a fusion. A new life can then appear in a new set of conditions which only someone with an objective consciousness can create and develop. But to understand this one must have passed through all of the stages of this development oneself. Without such experience and understanding the work will lose its effectiveness and the conditions will be wrongly interpreted; they will not be brought at the right moment and one will see situations and efforts remaining on the level of ordinary life and uselessly repeating themselves. -
The Shah Movement Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah
The Shah Movement Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:52:24 UTC Contents Articles Idries Shah 1 Omar Ali-Shah 16 Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge 18 The Institute for Cultural Research 21 Saira Shah 24 References Article Sources and Contributors 26 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 27 Article Licenses License 28 Idries Shah 1 Idries Shah Idries Shah Born Simla, India Died 23 November 1996London, UK Occupation Writer, publisher Ethnicity Afghan, Indian, Scottish Subjects Sufism, psychology Notable work(s) The Sufis The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin Thinkers of the East Learning How to Learn The Way of the Sufi Reflections Kara Kush Notable award(s) Outstanding Book of the Year (BBC "The Critics"), twice; six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973 Children Saira Shah, Tahir Shah, Safia Shah Signature [1] also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries ,(هاش سیردا :Idries Shah (16 June, 1924 – 23 November, 1996) (Persian was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen ,(يمشاه سيردإ ديس :el-Hashimi (Arabic Idries Shah 2 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. -
The Boy Without a Name
I d r i e s S h a h A small boy seeks and eventually / C finds his own name and is able to discard a r o an old dream for a new and wonderful one. n This is one of a series of illustrated books for the young written by Idries Shah, whose collections of narratives and teaching stories T h have captivated the hearts and minds of people e B from all walks of life. It belongs to a tradition o y of storytelling from the Middle East and Central W i t Asia that is more than a thousand years old. h o Among the many insights that this story u t introduces to children is the idea A that it takes patience and N a resolve to achieve one’s m e goals in life. Text copyright © 2000 by The Estate of Idries Shah Illustrations copyright © 2000 by Mona Caron ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Boy Without A Name No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from by the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Hoopoe Books, PO Box 381069, Cambridge MA 02238-1069 Idries Shah First Edition 2000 Reprint Edition 2007 Paperback Edition 2007 Spanish English Hardcover Edition 2007 Spanish English Paperback Edition 2007 Published by Hoopoe Books, a division of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge Visit www.hoopoekids.com for a complete list of Hoopoe titles, CDs, DVDs, an introduction on the use of Teaching-Stories TM Learning that Lasts , and parent/teacher guides ISBN-10: 1-883536-20-0 ISBN-13: 978-1-883536-20-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shah, Idries, 1924- The boy without a name / written by Idries Shah ; illustrated by Mona Caron.— 1st ed. -
The Way of the Sufi Books by Idries Shah
The Way of the Sufi Books by Idries Shah Sufi Studies and Middle Eastern Literature The Sufis Caravan of Dreams The Way of the Sufi Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-stories Over a Thousand Years Sufi Thought and Action Traditional Psychology, Teaching Encounters and Narratives Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism Wisdom of the Idiots The Dermis Probe Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way Knowing How to Know The Magic Monastery: Analogical and Action Philosophy Seeker After Truth Observations Evenings with Idries Shah The Commanding Self University Lectures A Perfumed Scorpion (Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and California University) Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas (Sussex University) The Elephant in the Dark: Christianity, Islam and the Sufis (Geneva University) Neglected Aspects of Sufi Study: Beginning to Begin (The New School for Social Research) Letters and Lectures of Idries Shah Current and Traditional Ideas Reflections The Book of the Book A Veiled Gazelle: Seeing How to See Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humour The Mulla Nasrudin Corpus The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin The World of Nasrudin Travel and Exploration Destination Mecca Studies in Minority Beliefs The Secret Lore of Magic Oriental Magic Selected Folktales and Their Background World Tales A Novel Kara Kush Sociological Works Darkest England The Natives Are Restless The Englishman’s Handbook Translated by Idries Shah The Hundred Tales of Wisdom (Aflaki’s Munaqib) The Way of the Sufi Idries Shah ISF PUBLISHING Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah The right of the Estate of Idries Shah to be identified as the owner of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. -
The Silly Chicken Stories by Idries Shah, Learns to Speak As We Do
Idries Shah • Jef f Jackson Written by Idries Shah The sixth title in this award-winning series of children’s stories by Idries Shah, The Silly Chicken is the delightful tale of a chicken who learns to speak as we do. What follows will intrigue young children and, at the same time, alert them in a very amusing way to the dangers of being too gullible. This tale is one of the many hundreds of Sufi develop- mental stories collected by Idries Shah from oral and written sources in Central Asia and the Middle East. For more than a thousand years this story has entertained young people and helped to foster in them the ability to examine their assumptions and to think for themselves. This is illustrator/animator Jeff Jackson’s first children's book. It expresses his unique ability to create a lively and amusing world, rich in color, and one in which anything can happen. His illustrations are full of visual delights and details faithful to the part of the world from which this story comes. Illustrated by Jeff Jackson Text copyright 2000 by The Estate of Idries Shah Illustrations copyright 2000 by Jeff Jackson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Written by Hoopoe Books, PO Box 381069, Cambridge MA 02238-1069 Idries Shah First Edition 2000 Second Impression 2005 Illustrated by Jeff Jackson Published by Hoopoe Books, a division of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge Visit www.hoopoekids.com for a complete list of Hoopoe titles, CDs, DVDs and parent/teacher guides. -
A Living Organic Spiritual Teaching
A LIVING ORGANIC SPIRITUAL TEACHING ‘We work in all places and at all times .’ Saying Flexibility and Adaptability The ‘Great Teaching’ is universal and timeless in its essential nature, although its forms may alter as it adapts to changing circumstances. Such a developmental teaching is a living entity, essentially applicable at all times and in all circumstances, and is able to operate within any culture and in any language: ‘The clothes may vary, but the person is the same .’ The actual position and intention of the Tradition does not change, but it must have some flexibility because of changing social, geographical, political and other considerations. In former times we used verbal and other communications which were correct for the time. In primitive times we used primitive techniques, even though we had more sophisticated techniques which we could have used. The reason primitive techniques were used was because there was nothing strange or hostile about them. (1) The Teaching is conveyed in response to the needs of the community to which it is directed. It presents itself in a form which is perceptible and comprehensible to each person in direct accordance with their individual needs and capacities. “People differ at different times – what is appropriate for one person in one civilization may not be useful for another. Conditions of life change, understandings progress and regress, and the ‘ground’ on which the Teaching is based changes. Since it is a ‘growing, organic process,’ it becomes different in different eras.” The principle of ‘time, place and people’ refers to projecting a teaching afresh in each time and culture, in accordance with the real characteristics of a situation. -
Seeker After Truth
SEEKER AFTER TRUTH ‘I fear that you will not reach Mecca, O Traveller – For the road which you are following leads to Turkestan.’ Saadi Attraction to Cults ‘Like attracts like’ Saying o Many seekers of higher knowledge and wisdom are attracted to religious and metaphysical systems which in reality are deteriorated traditions lacking inner developmental value. o Most cults have defining characteristics which actually prevent learning and progress in the spiritual domain. “Many cults are often groups which attract the unbalanced and unbalance those prone to such directions.” The law, one might call it, is that series of ideas become crystallized in people’s minds by selective adoption, into what can only be called cults. There is always the authority-figure, the canonical literature, the hierarchy, the myth, the locality, the sacred this and that. This formulation inhibits rather than makes possible, real teaching and development. Almost all institutions seek to further these mechanical elements (even if they deny them), as the ‘blood and bones of organization’. But they do not know that it is bricks and mortar only of a limited kind of construct, a non-organic one, one might call it, referring to the difference in vitality and sophi- stication as between a building and a plant. (1) o The would-be student of higher knowledge must recognize that most ‘spiritual’ organizations are conscious or unconscious conditioning instruments. “It is as it were a trap laid for the ignoble element in you when a man, a book, a ceremonial, an organization, a method, appears, directly or by recommendation, to have something which is applicable to all, or attracts you strongly though incorrectly.” o One of the great difficulties for most spiritual aspirants is distinguishing between real and false spiritual teachers and teachings. -
Spiritual Writings
SPIRITUAL WRITINGS ‘Become acquainted with your own book. Learn how to read it, how to let it tell you its story.’ Jean Klein Relative Importance of Books A great deal of the spirit and wisdom of inner teachings can be transmitted in written form. Spiritual literature has an important role in providing basic information about the Path and can instil a foundation of knowledge that helps students in their own personal journey. Books and texts emanating from an authentic source provide a ‘compass’ to guide the seeker on his or her spiritual quest and have a specific teaching function: Books are by no means inanimate objects. They are textbooks to be looked at, to be followed, to be understood and above all to be used. People writing these works did not spend their entire lives in order to display their intellectual abilities or their poetic capacities. Their function was to teach and to write, and they did both for the benefit of people who would follow in the Tradition after them . Books which have meaning in the Tradition are crafted for a specific function. They are very carefully written, step by step, and they are relating both forward and backward. If you get into harmony with the text, into harmony with the in- tention of the author, then it lifts you beyond the level of the mere black and white of the printing. (1) In almost all spiritual traditions, books, literature, myths, fables, poetry, aphorisms and other written forms play a significant role in both preparatory work and the transmission of inner teachings of human development. -
Wisdom Idiots
WISDOM OF THE IDIOTS Books by Idries Shah Sufi Studies and Middle Eastern Literature The Sufis Caravan of Dreams The Way of the Sufi Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-stories Over a Thousand Years Sufi Thought and Action Traditional Psychology, Teaching Encounters and Narratives Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism Wisdom of the Idiots The Dermis Probe Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way Knowing How to Know The Magic Monastery: Analogical and Action Philosophy Seeker After Truth Observations Evenings with Idries Shah The Commanding Self University Lectures A Perfumed Scorpion (Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and California University) Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas (Sussex University) The Elephant in the Dark: Christianity, Islam and the Sufis (Geneva University) Neglected Aspects of Sufi Study: Beginning to Begin (The New School for Social Research) Letters and Lectures of Idries Shah Current and Traditional Ideas Reflections The Book of the Book A Veiled Gazelle: Seeing How to See Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humour The Mulla Nasrudin Corpus The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin The World of Nasrudin Travel and Exploration Destination Mecca Studies in Minority Beliefs The Secret Lore of Magic Oriental Magic Selected Folktales and Their Background World Tales A Novel Kara Kush Sociological Works Darkest England The Natives Are Restless The Englishman’s Handbook Translated by Idries Shah The Hundred Tales of Wisdom (Aflaki’s Munaqib) WISDOM OF THE IDIOTS Idries Shah ISF PUBLISHING Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah The right of the Estate of Idries Shah to be identified as the owner of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. -
Once Upon a Time: Using Teaching Story As a Metaphor to Enhance Class Room Learning
Parables of Leadership: Teaching Story as a Metaphor to Enhance Learning in Leadership Courses Dr. Satinder Dhiman, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA ABSTRACT In the wisdom traditions around the world, stories have frequently been used as teaching/learning tools owing to their moral and/or entertainment value. Although leaders from time immemorial have used stories effectively in various spheres of human experience, only in recent years has there been an awareness and appreciation of the importance of storytelling in the organizational context. In a classroom setting, stories may be introduced to crystallize an abstract point, to illustrate the underlying message, to enhance students‘ attention span, and to sharpen their conceptual skills. Clarifying management concepts through illustrative stories may contribute to a better assimilation and retention of the information. This paper draws stories from the great wisdom traditions of East and West, from Buddhist, Christian, Hasidic, Sufi, Zen, and other sources to demonstrate the power of storytelling in crystallizing important leadership concepts. By bringing out latent psychological dimensions of stories, the paper demonstrates the importance of stories as a powerful learning tool. It includes an annotated bibliography at the end to provide valuable resource guide in the art and science of storytelling. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of stories to enhance teaching effectiveness in the subject areas of leadership and management. Teaching stories have frequently been used in the wisdom traditions of the past for their entertainment and moral value. Idries Shah (2000) has pointed out that stories also have a deeper, psychological dimension that accords them a developmental value.