The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries ShahRead
Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal. Interesting people can find something interesting in all things.
Interpretation
Boredom and banality stem from one's perspective; interesting people derive value from all experiences.
Idries Shah's quote suggests that the quality of one's experiences is influenced by their attitude. Those who perceive the world as boring or banal reflect that dullness within themselves, while truly interesting individuals can extract fascination from any situation. This highlights the importance of an open and curious mindset in enriching one's life.
In practice
In a discussion about living an enriched life, this quote can remind us to change our perspective.
The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.
You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical.
Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.
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.
The proverb says that 'The answer to a fool is silence'. Observation, however, indicates that almost any other answer will have the same effect in the long run.
Control what you can control. Don't lose sleep worrying about things that you don't have control over because, at the end of the day, you still won't have any control over them.
Sorrows are the rags of old clothes and jackets that serve to cover, and then are taken off. That undressing, and the beautiful naked body underneath, is the sweetness that comes after grief.
To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist - the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's vinegar.
My witness is, that those who are honoured of their Lord in public, have usually to endure a secret chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil.
You must purge yourself before finding faults in others.
Follow not truth too near the heels, lest it dash out thy teeth.
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