Observations

By Idries Shah

According to the Sufis, human faculties, although perceptive, are limited: like a radio set, which can receive only certain electromagnetic waves and not other parts of this band. The inability to transcend the barrier of limited senses explains human subjectivity. The Sufis assert that through familiarization with concepts, patterns of thought, and ideas that form part of their contemporary literature, one can learn to penetrate beyond this apparent reality.

In this book, the reader will experience the unique quality of this material. Shah's Observations is a fine example of the lucidity and humor prevalent throughout his more than 30 published works. Each observation is a gem of wisdom that can be returned to again and again for more insight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ISF Publishing
• Release date: Mar 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781784792213

Book preview

Observations

Idries Shah

Collected by

Lindsi Tarabdar

and

Zoltan E. Na’Ibandev

Contents

Foreword

OBSERVATIONS

About Idries Shah

Also by Idries Shah

A Request

Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah

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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.

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All rights reserved

Copyright throughout the world

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ISBN 978-1-78479-217-6 MOBI

ISBN 978-1-78479-218-3 EPUB

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First published 1981

Published in this edition 2019

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No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photographic, by recording or any information storage or retrieval system or method now known or to be invented or adapted, without prior permission obtained in writing from the publisher, ISF Publishing, except by a reviewer quoting brief passages in a review written for inclusion in a journal, magazine, newspaper, blog or broadcast.

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Requests for permission to reprint, reproduce etc., to:

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The Permissions Department

ISF Publishing

The Idries Shah Foundation

P. O. Box 71911

London NW2 9QA

United Kingdom

[e-mail]

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In association with The Idries Shah Foundation

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The Idries Shah Foundation is a registered charity in the United Kingdom

Charity No. 1150876

Foreword

Words, they say, are the food of minds. But, unlike other foods, they can do little by themselves.

Turn words, such as those in this little book of observations, over and over in your own mind, stretching them in all directions, and an alchemy takes place.

Question what you think you know, and what you believe exists, and the answer is likely to be the inverse of what you might first have assumed to be true. 

OBSERVATIONS

Someone says that I haven’t taught him anything that he can remember. He can’t understand yet that that’s precisely what I am aiming at...

Lord Wavell, who was once Viceroy and Governor-General of India during the British period, told me that one day an Indian nationalist said to him:

‘You British are bandits and yet you accuse us Bengalis of being terrorists. Your official documents even classify some Indians as belonging to Criminal Tribes…’

Wavell said, his solitary eye twinkling:

‘I simply told the fellow, "Be that as it may – the difference is that we are reformed bandits!"’

People think that Sufis have too much power because they give orders to people.