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
Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening. - Idries Shah
Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
- Idries Shah
The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose. - Idries Shah
The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them. - Idries Shah
Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but that other people are behaving worse than before. - Idries Shah
An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but that other people are behaving worse than before.
If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man… - Idries Shah
If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man…
Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the "veils" which have to be dissolved in the mind. - Idries Shah
Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the "veils" which have to be dissolved in the mind.
The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep. - Idries Shah
The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep.
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information. - Idries Shah
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken. - Idries Shah
If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken.
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