Excerpts from the Annotations to The Sufis by Idries Shah:
ASCENT
There are four major "conditions" of man. All mankind is
in one of these. In accordance with these conditions, the
individual has to have his progress planned. He will behave
in a different way, may appear a different person, will take
decisions, according to the condition and the degree of that
condition which he has attained. Not everyone reaches every
stage of every condition, according to Sufi doctrine. The
difference in Sufi formulation will depend upon the existence
of conditions of this kind, their completeness, and
their relationship with all humanity. Shah Mohammed
Gwath, in Secrets of the Naqshbandi Path, expresses the
conditions in religious terms:
1 . Humanity (nasut), the ordinary condition .
2. On the Path (tarika), equated with "angels" in the
cosmic sense.
3. Force, equated with what is called "power"
(jabarut), or real capacity.
4. Absorption (lahut), referring to the condition of
"divinity" in another sphere.
The individual Sufi is concerned with passing from one
stage of conditions to another. The teacher is responsible for
making this possible through the training which he offers.
The Guide is responsible for relating the individual progress
to that of the total needs of humanity. Innumerable techniques
and activities of the Sufis ultimately relate to the
application of this concept .
CONSCIOUSNESS
The communication between minds which is established by
Sufism has several aspects . By means of the tasarruf exercises,
which "clear" the individuality, there is an interaction
of minds. This is used by Sufis for purposes of healing, and
it is through this technique that most of their inexplicable
cures are effected, aside from the application of simpler
techniques. (See J. Hallaji, "Hypnotherapeutic Techniques
in a Central Asian Community," International Journal of
Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, October, 1962)
Jung's theory of the collective unconscious is expounded by the
Spaniard Ibn Rushd (1126-1198). It was also often referred
to by Rumi, and its meaning and force are subjects of Sufi
specialization. Rumi notes that this phenomenon is one of a
higher consciousness: "Animality has division in the spirit;
the human spirit has one soul." This is generally referred to
as the "great soul."
DEATH AND REBIRTH
The theme that man must "die before he dies" (Mohammed)
or that he must be "born again" in his present life is to be
found in very many forms of initiatory observance. In almost
all cases, however, the message is taken symbolically,
or is commemorated by a mere mime or ritual. The Sufis,
believing that they preserve the original sense of this teaching,
mark the three main grades of initiation with a "death"
process. In this, the candidate has to pass through certain
specific experiences (technically termed "deaths"). The actual
initiation ceremony merely commemorates this happening,
and does not simply dramatize it as a symbol. The
three "deaths" are :
1 . The White Death
2. The Green Death
3. The Black Death
Leading up to the spiritual experiences referred to as
"deaths" are a series of psychological and other exercises
which include three outstanding factors:
1 . Abstinence and control of physical functions.
2. "Poverty," including independence from material
things.
3. Emotional liberation through such exercises as overcoming
avoidable obstacles, and "playing a part" in order to
observe the reactions of others.
Discipleship under a master follows a special pattern in
which the Seeker is given opportunities for exercising his
consciousness of these three stages . Since Sufism uses the
normal organization of "the world" as a training ground, the
three "deaths" always involve specific enterprises carried out
in human society, leading to the spiritual experiences
marked by the three "deaths" and successive "rebirth" or
transformation which results from them .
ELEMENTS OF SUFISM
The Ten Elements of the Sufis refer to the framework of
individual effort within which the Seeker gains the potential
to become awake, or alive, in the greater dimensions which
lie outside familiar experience. El-Farisi has listed them
thus:
1 . Separation of unification.
2. Perception of audition.
3. Companionship and association.
4. Correct preference.
5. Surrender of choice.
6. The rapid acquisition of a certain "state ."
7. Penetration of thought, self-examination.
8. Traveling and movement.
9. Surrender of earnings.
10. Lack of acquisition or covetousness.
Sufi exercises and training are based on these Ten Elements.
In accordance with the need of the disciple, the
teacher will choose for him programs of study and action
which give him the opportunity of exercising functions summarized
by these Elements. These factors are therefore the
basis of preparing the individual for the development which
he could not otherwise sustain or perceive, let alone attain.
LATAIF
The activation of the special Organs of Perception (lataif )
is a part of Sufi methodology analogous to, and often confused
with, the chakra system of the Yogis. There are im-
portant differences . In Yoga, the chakras or padmas are conceived
as physically located centers in the body, linked by
invisible nerves or channels. Yogis generally do not know
that these centers are merely concentration points, convenient
formulations whose activation is part of a theoretical
working hypothesis. Both Sufism and Christianity of an
esoteric sort preserve a similar theory, combining it with
certain exercises. The succession of colors seen by the
alchemist in the Western literature can be seen as referring
to concentration upon certain physical localizations if we
compare it with the Sufi literature on exercises. This is surprisingly
easily demonstrated, though it seems that nobody
in the West has noticed the connection.
In Sufism, the lataif are located thus : Mind (qalb), color yellow, location left side of the body . Spirit (ruh), color red, location right side of the body. Consciousness (sirr), color white, location solar plexus. Intuition (khafi), color black, location forehead. Deep perception of consciousness (ikhfa), color green, location center of chest.
In Western alchemy, the "succession of colors manifested" is of very great importance. Among the Christian alchemists the succession black-white-yellow-red is very common. It will at once be noted that this succession, transposed into physical equivalents, forms the sign of the Cross. The alchemical exercises therefore
aim at activating colors (locations = lataif) in the
form of crossing oneself . This is an adaptation of the Sufi
method which is thus, in order of activation : yellow-red-white-
black-green. In alchemy, again, the succession is
sometimes given as black (subsidiary gray = partial development
of the black faculty, the forehead)-white (solar
plexus, the second point of the sign of the Cross)-green
(a Sufi alternative for the right side of the chest)-citrine
(left side of the chest, "heart")-red (right side of the
chest). Sometimes, as the second stage, the "peacock"
(variegated colors) appears in the consciousness. This sign,
considered important to the alchemists, is known by the
Sufis as a special condition, not invariable, which occurs
in the mind when the consciousness is flooded by changing
colors or photisms. It is a stage before stabilization of the
consciousness, and can in some ways be compared to color
illusions produced by hallucinogens. The Sufis wear clothing
(often turbans) of the color corresponding to their development
in this special system. Literary students of
alchemy are left fumbling with a mystery which is thus not
complicated if understood in its real meaning.
QALB
The Arabic word QLB is not confined in meaning to the
form QaLB (heart), which is one of its most familiar forms .
In the Sufi sense, QLB is considered to have the following
meanings, all straightforward dictionary derivations of this
triliteral root:
QaLaB to turn a thing upside-down . A reference to
the Sufi dictum: "The world is upside down."
QaLaB = to extract the marrow of a palm tree . The palm
tree, as noted elsewhere, is the Sufi term for baraka and the
magic square of fifteen, which contains Sufi diagrammatic
and mathematical material . The "marrow" is used in the
sense of the essence, vital portion .
QaLaB = to become red. Applied to dates, the product of
the palm. An allegory of a Sufi process, later associated with
the alchemical idea of the "red elixir."
AQLaB = to be baked on one side. Used for bread, and
in a special Sufi sense, denoting a part of a developmental
process of transformation, analogized with turning one
thing (dough) into what seems to be another (bread).
TaqaLLaB = to be restless . Used of a sleeper, turning in
his sleep . Used as a Sufi technical term to describe the un-
certainty felt by the ordinary man who is, according to the
convention used by the Sufis, "asleep."
QaLb = reverse ; invert; wrong side . This is also associated
with "molding" and a matrix (QALiB), the formative
apparatus.
QaLB = heart, mind, soul ; intimate thought; marrow,
pith; best part. Also used in the compound phrase qalb el-muqaddas, literally "the Sacred Heart," meaning the part of
mankind which partakes of the essence of divinity.
The letters Q + L + B add up to 132, equal to the name
Mohammed (M + H + M + M + D), the Logos or essence
of Mohammed. Thirty-two plus one hundred (Q)
make up one third of the total of divinity, the "ninety-nine
names of beauty."
QUTUB
This is the reputed invisible head of all the Sufis. The word
literally means the Magnetic Pole, Pivot, Polestar, Chief.
Transposed into figures, it totals 111-the thrice-repeated
unity, the threefold unity, the threefold affirmation of truth,
which is a unity. If this is split up into 100, 10, 1, and sub-
stituted, we get the letters Q, Y and A. The word QYAA,
spelled from these letters, means "to be vacant, voided ." It is
the vacant, voided, purged "house" into which the baraka
descends (the human consciousness) .
REMEMBERING
The word dhikr (pronounced in non-Arab countries as
zikr) refers to certain exercises carried out from the beginning
of dervishhood . Basically the word means "remembrance,"
and the sense is of remembering, commemorating,
invocation . "Remembering" is now also defined as the basic
term for the religious activity of dervishes. The first stage
is remembering oneself, after which the function shifts to
one of harmony with the greater consciousness. The disciple
has to remember or recognize himself in various ways, shedding
this exercise in this form very early, or it becomes an
"undesirable cause." Some imitators of Sufism, seeing Sufi
assemblies, have copied this technique . The great Hakim
Sanai warns against too much remembering, pointing out
that it is used only at the early stage...
"Remembering exists not except in the way of struggle;
Remembering, repetition is not to be found in the assembly
of experience." (The Walled Garden of Truth)
ROSE; ROSICRUCIAN; ROSARY
The Christians adopted the rosary from the Saracens . In so
doing, they translated the word el-wardia (literally the
reciter) by another word, almost the same in the original
sound, a word standing for "roser," or "rosary." The full
Arabic term for the rosary is el-misbat el-wirdiat (the
Praiser of the Reciter or of the Drawing Near) . This term
(WRD) is a special technical term for the special exercises
of the Sufis or dervishes . The Catholic rendering into Latin
is not so much a mistranslation as an adoption of the Sufi
poetic (or almost heraldic) method of using a similar word
to create a picture. Hence the word wird (dervish exercise)
was used by the Sufis poetically as WaRD (rose). A similar
development took place with the term "Rosicrucian." This
is a direct translation of the root WRD plus the word for
"cross" in Arabic, SLB. In its original meaning, the phrase
means WRD (exercise) plus SLB-"to extract the marrow .."
Hence it is only incidentally that SLB (which also means
"cross") occurs in the phrase "Rosicrucian ." Taking advantage
of this coincidence or poetic juxtaposition, the Sufis do,
however, say, "We have the marrow of the Cross, while the
Christians only have the crucifix," and similar phrases. This
loses its meaning in translation .
A whole dervish Order (that of Abdul-Qadir el-Jilani) is formed around the idea of Rose in this initiatory sense, and its founder is called the Rose of Baghdad. Ignorance of this background is responsible for much useless speculation about such entities as the
Rosicrucians who merely repeated in their claims the possession
of the ancient teaching which is contained in the
parallel development called alchemy, and which was also
announced by Friar Bacon, himself claimed as a Rosicrucian
and alchemist and illuminate. The origins of all these
societies in Sufism is the answer to the question as to which
of them did Bacon belong, and what the secret doctrine
really was. Much other Rosicrucian symbolism is Sufic.
Martin Luther used the Rose, Cross and Ring (Sufic halka
group) in his emblem. This must have been supplied to him
by an initiate Sufi.
SEVEN MEN
Sufi development requires the Seeker to pass through seven
stages of preparation, before the individuality is ready for
its full function . These stages, sometimes called "men," are
degrees in the transmutation of the consciousness, the
technical term for which is nafs, breath. Briefly, the stages
of development, each making possible a further enrichment
of the being under the guidance of a practiced teacher, are:
1. Nafs-i-ammara (the depraved, commanding nafs)
2. Nafs-i-lawwama (the accusing nafs)
3. Nafs-i-mulhama (the inspired nafs)
4. Nafs-i-mutmainna (the serene nafs)
5. Nafs-i-radiyya (the fulfilled nafs)
6. Nafs-i-mardiyya (the fulfilling nafs)
7. Nafs-i-safiyya wa kamila (the purified and complete
nafs)
The nafs is considered to pass through processes which
are termed "death and rebirth ." The first process, the White
Death marks the initiation of the disciple, when he starts to
reconstruct the automatic and emotional nafs, so that it will
in turn provide an instrument for proceeding to the activation
of conscience, the second nafs. The adjectives "serene,
fulfilling," and so on, refer to the effect upon the individual,
as well as upon the group and society in general, functions
most marked at each stage.
Significant phenomena of the seven stages observed during
Sufi exercises include these:
1. The individual out of personal control, believes himself
to be a coherent personality, starts to learn that he, like
all undeveloped individuals, has a multiple and changing
personality.
2. The dawn of self-awareness and "accusation," in
which automatic thoughts are seen for what they are.
3. The beginning of real mental integration, when the
mind is becoming capable of operating on a higher level
than was its previous futile custom.
4. Serene balance, equilibrium of the individuality.
5. Power of fulfillment, new ranges of experience not
susceptible to description beyond approximate analogy .
6. A new activity and function, including extra dimensions
of the individuality.
7. Completion of the task of reconstitution, possibility
of teaching others, capacity for objective understanding.
SIMURGH
The simurgh (thirty birds) is the code phrase which means
the development of the mind through "China;" "China"
standing, in both Persian and Arabic, for the concealed
concept of meditation and Sufi methodology. The great Attar
clothes this teaching in an allegory:'
"Once, from darkness, Simurgh showed himself in China .
One of his plumes fell to earth : a picture of it was made
and this is still in the Chinese gallery. This is why it has
been said, `Seek knowledge, even unto China.' If this
feather of Simurgh had not been seen in China, there would
have been no acclaim in the world of hidden things. And
this small indication of his reality is a sign of his glory. All
souls carry the picture of the outline of that plume. And the
matter of his description has neither beginning nor end.
Now, People of the Path, choose this way, and start your
journey."
(Parliament of the Birds, ch. II)
This is merely a concealed way of saying : "There is a
potentiality in the mind of man . On one occasion it became
activated, through a certain form of deep concentration,
and was emulated . Without this there is no potentiality for
development. Everyone has the faculty, in an embryonic
form. It is something connected with eternity. Come, start
upon the Way."
SPIRIT AND SUBSTANCE
According to Sufism, what is generally referred to in religious
terminology as the Spirit (el ruh) is a substance, with
physical characteristics, a subtle body (jism i-latif ). This
substance, as conceived, is not considered to be eternal . It
existed before the corporealization of man (Hujwiri, Revelation
of the Veiled) . After physical death, the substantial
spirit continues to exist, in one of ten forms, each corresponding
to the formation which it has attained during
ordinary life. There are ten stages in this sense-the first
being that of the "sincere," the tenth being that of the Sufi
who has been transformed in nature by his earthly develop-.
ment. The ruh is at times visible.
THE SUFI TEACHER
Within mankind is a "treasure," and this can be found only
by looking for it . The treasure is, as it were, inside a house
(fixed thinking-patterns) which has to be broken down before
it can be found. In his "elephant in the dark" house,
Rumi teaches that "if there had been a light in the house,"
multiplicity would be seen to be in fact unity. Man sees only
pieces of things because his mind is fixed in a pattern designed
to see things piecemeal .
A function of the teacher is to establish this fact to the
disciple. Rumi has made this a subject of a poem:
Destroy your house, and with the treasure hidden in it
You will be able to build thousands of houses.
-- Mathnawi, Bk . IV . (Whinfield's translation)
The treasure lies under it ; there is no help for it;
Hesitate not to pull it down; do not tarry!
That prize is the wages for destroying the house :
"Man gets nothing he has not worked for."
Then you will bite your finger, saying, "Alas!
That bright moon was hidden under a cloud.
I did not do what they told me for my good;
Now house and treasure are lost and my hand is empty ."
TARIKA, TARIQA
The Sufi wayfarer belongs to a tariqa (TaRIQa), the word
meaning more than Path or Way :
Tariqa = course; rule of life; line, streak ; chief of a tribe;
means; Order of dervishes. The nearest approximation to the
sense of this word is "way" in English-the way of doing a
thing, the way upon which a person is traveling, the way as
an individual ("I am the Way," in a mystical sense).
As with other Arabic triliteral roots, the TRQ root and
its derivatives contain elements associated with Sufism and
the esoteric tradition :
TaRQ = sound of a musical instrument
TaTaRRaQ Li- = to aim at, to wish, to draw near
to
ATRaQ = to remain silent with downcast eyes
TaRRaQ Li- = to open the way to
TaRaQ = to come to anyone by night
TuRQaT = way, road; method; habit
TaRIQAt = lofty palm tree
The use of this word is explained thus in dervish lore:
"The tariqa is the Path and also the leadership of the group,
in which resides the transmission. It is a rule of living, a
thin line within ordinary life, sometimes maintained through
the note of music, expressed visually by the palm tree. The
tariqa itself opens the Path, and it is connected with meditation,
silent thinking, as when a man sits in prayer during
the silences of the darkness . It is both the aim and the
method." [Nishan-Nama (Book of Symbols) of Sufi associations,
by Emir Eddin Shadhili, "The Ardent"]
from The Sufis (1964) by Idries Shah
Friday, August 8, 2014
Secrets of the Masters
Excerpt from Oriental Magic
by Idries Shah
(1956)
THE ELEVEN SECRET RULES OF THE INITIATE IN SUFISM
Characteristic of all Sufi Orders are the Rules laid down by the founder --and sometimes added to by his successors-- for the conduct and concentration of Seekers. These are the indispensable Rules of the Naqshbandi Order:
1. Awareness of Breathing. The mind must be attuned to be secretly aware of everything, even breath. At the same time, the mind must pulsate with thoughts of the Infinite (divine essence and omnipotence).
2. Travel in One's Own Land. It must be remembered frequently that the Sufi is a `traveller' -- along the Sufi Path.
3. Watching the Feet. When walking, the Seeker must glue his gaze upon his steps . The secret meaning of this is that he must be aware of where he is going, in a metaphorical sense.
4. Solitude in Company. The mind is to be repeatedly concentrated so that, even in company with others, in the midst of distractions, the Sufi may keep his thoughts relevant to his task.
5. Remembering. The Sufi must never forget that he is a dedicated person.
6. Restraint. This refers to short prayers which are used to punctuate the repetitions of the Dhikr.
7 . Awareness. The mind must become aware that there are many distractions. These are to be combated.
8 . Recollection. Concentration must be possible through thinking this word, and without words.
9. Pause of Time. During pauses in thinking, the Sufi must recapitulate his actions, and examine them.
10. Pause of Numbers. Awareness that the required number of repetitions of the Dhikr phrase have been completed.
11. Pause of the Heart. During this pause the mind is trained to visualize the Seeker's heart bearing the Name of Allah.
from "The Fakirs and Their Doctrines" in Oriental Magic by Idries Shah, Octagon Press.
by Idries Shah
(1956)
THE ELEVEN SECRET RULES OF THE INITIATE IN SUFISM
Characteristic of all Sufi Orders are the Rules laid down by the founder --and sometimes added to by his successors-- for the conduct and concentration of Seekers. These are the indispensable Rules of the Naqshbandi Order:
1. Awareness of Breathing. The mind must be attuned to be secretly aware of everything, even breath. At the same time, the mind must pulsate with thoughts of the Infinite (divine essence and omnipotence).
2. Travel in One's Own Land. It must be remembered frequently that the Sufi is a `traveller' -- along the Sufi Path.
3. Watching the Feet. When walking, the Seeker must glue his gaze upon his steps . The secret meaning of this is that he must be aware of where he is going, in a metaphorical sense.
4. Solitude in Company. The mind is to be repeatedly concentrated so that, even in company with others, in the midst of distractions, the Sufi may keep his thoughts relevant to his task.
5. Remembering. The Sufi must never forget that he is a dedicated person.
6. Restraint. This refers to short prayers which are used to punctuate the repetitions of the Dhikr.
7 . Awareness. The mind must become aware that there are many distractions. These are to be combated.
8 . Recollection. Concentration must be possible through thinking this word, and without words.
9. Pause of Time. During pauses in thinking, the Sufi must recapitulate his actions, and examine them.
10. Pause of Numbers. Awareness that the required number of repetitions of the Dhikr phrase have been completed.
11. Pause of the Heart. During this pause the mind is trained to visualize the Seeker's heart bearing the Name of Allah.
from "The Fakirs and Their Doctrines" in Oriental Magic by Idries Shah, Octagon Press.
Meeting of East and West
Excerpts from Among the Dervishes by O.M. Burke (Octagon Press 1973)
In talks with Sufi mystics in Pakistan, India and other countries, I had come to realise one curious fact about the way in which they were thinking.
In the first place, your average Sufi who was not a mere imitator of mystics, was deeply concerned about humanity as a whole. Those who were higher up than the average in the invisible hierarchy seemed to have another basic bent of thought. This was that it was necessary for the Sufis, and the Sufis alone could do it, to bridge the gap between the developing cultures of the East and West. Since I had joined their ranks, I, too, had a similar sensation. The reason seems clear enough: there was no other meeting-ground. All the cooperation in politics, in education and economics, between the Orient and Occident, was not bringing the two together at all. And deep down inside of us, most people knew this. We had accepted that there was no meeting-ground in religion: this had been established as early as the time of the Crusades. That there was no deep co-operation in material fields was clear to those who had seen the downfall of one attempt after another to bridge the gap.
Nationalism and independence in the East had not brought about widespread harmony between the firmer ruling countries and the formerly ruled. People had claimed that the granting of independence to the East would be a sort of panacea. All would be well and cordial relations would be bound to return when people were ruled by their own nationals. This had not happened. In some cases the reverse had taken place.
In orthodox philosophy the East and West had taken leave of one another centuries ago. There was no basic unity of ideas at all, partly because, deep down, there was disharmony between peoples of different cultures, different nations. We had diagnosed the problem as due to one disease. When the remedy for the diagnosed ailment was applied, the illness did not cease, was not even ameliorated. The people who thought that the cure lay in granting independence, economic help and so on, refused to look at the instances of the countries in which these measures had not worked. Why? They were too busy looking for other countries to grant independence to. They had no time to see whether they were curing what they though they were curing.
I was no opponent of independence for anyone. But I could see that independence was not enough. As with many other things, the reformation had to start with the individual, had to start from within. The materialists continued to reassure us and themselves that ‘things would shake down’, that as soon as the first wave of patriotic fervour had passed, the East and the West would respect one another, and all would be well. But my travels and talks with people at all levels showed me that people in the Asian countries which had been independent for generations were still not reconciled with the West. What did this mean?
It meant the world was still waiting for a development within humanity which would make humanity one, one body, one heart. Plenty of people said that they had the answer. Nobody, as far as I could see, was applying it.
I had traveled and lived among the Sufis in Asia and Europe, in Africa and India. Sharing their lives and talking to them, becoming a member of their fraternities, I had found a group of people who were as worried about the future of the human race as I was. The difference between this group and those who talked a great deal about it in mass-communications media was, that the Sufis were trying to live that kind of life.
Their trusting me, as a member of another type of community, was to them a practical expression of that actual living of human unity...
In talks with Sufi mystics in Pakistan, India and other countries, I had come to realise one curious fact about the way in which they were thinking.
In the first place, your average Sufi who was not a mere imitator of mystics, was deeply concerned about humanity as a whole. Those who were higher up than the average in the invisible hierarchy seemed to have another basic bent of thought. This was that it was necessary for the Sufis, and the Sufis alone could do it, to bridge the gap between the developing cultures of the East and West. Since I had joined their ranks, I, too, had a similar sensation. The reason seems clear enough: there was no other meeting-ground. All the cooperation in politics, in education and economics, between the Orient and Occident, was not bringing the two together at all. And deep down inside of us, most people knew this. We had accepted that there was no meeting-ground in religion: this had been established as early as the time of the Crusades. That there was no deep co-operation in material fields was clear to those who had seen the downfall of one attempt after another to bridge the gap.
Nationalism and independence in the East had not brought about widespread harmony between the firmer ruling countries and the formerly ruled. People had claimed that the granting of independence to the East would be a sort of panacea. All would be well and cordial relations would be bound to return when people were ruled by their own nationals. This had not happened. In some cases the reverse had taken place.
In orthodox philosophy the East and West had taken leave of one another centuries ago. There was no basic unity of ideas at all, partly because, deep down, there was disharmony between peoples of different cultures, different nations. We had diagnosed the problem as due to one disease. When the remedy for the diagnosed ailment was applied, the illness did not cease, was not even ameliorated. The people who thought that the cure lay in granting independence, economic help and so on, refused to look at the instances of the countries in which these measures had not worked. Why? They were too busy looking for other countries to grant independence to. They had no time to see whether they were curing what they though they were curing.
I was no opponent of independence for anyone. But I could see that independence was not enough. As with many other things, the reformation had to start with the individual, had to start from within. The materialists continued to reassure us and themselves that ‘things would shake down’, that as soon as the first wave of patriotic fervour had passed, the East and the West would respect one another, and all would be well. But my travels and talks with people at all levels showed me that people in the Asian countries which had been independent for generations were still not reconciled with the West. What did this mean?
It meant the world was still waiting for a development within humanity which would make humanity one, one body, one heart. Plenty of people said that they had the answer. Nobody, as far as I could see, was applying it.
I had traveled and lived among the Sufis in Asia and Europe, in Africa and India. Sharing their lives and talking to them, becoming a member of their fraternities, I had found a group of people who were as worried about the future of the human race as I was. The difference between this group and those who talked a great deal about it in mass-communications media was, that the Sufis were trying to live that kind of life.
Their trusting me, as a member of another type of community, was to them a practical expression of that actual living of human unity...
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Occult Studies
"The main purpose of my books on magic was to make this material available to the general reader. For too long people believed that there were secret books, hidden places, and amazing things. They held onto this information as something to frighten themselves with. So the first purpose was information. This is the magic of East and West. That's all. There is no more. The second purpose of those books was to show that there do seem to be forces, some of which are either rationalized by this magic or may be developed from it, which do not come within customary physics or within the experience of ordinary people. I think this should be studied, that we should gather the data and analyze the phenomena. We need to separate the chemistry of magic from the alchemy, as it were."
-- Idries Shah, in Psychology Today, 1975.
***********
excerpts from Oriental Magic by Idries Shah (1956):
from "Magic Is International"
... There will still remain a number of people who are not interested in culture-drift but want to know 'Is there anything in magic?' The answer to this is that there very possibly is a good deal `in magic'. What it is, however, and where it might lead, is for researchers to show.
What was there `in' alchemy? For one thing, there was modern chemistry; though what is left in it is not for me to say. Hypnosis, now not only an accepted fact but a very valuable technique, comes direct from magic. As to what there is `in' modern spiritualism, the descendant of Mongolian shamanism, again, I cannot say. One thing, however, is certain: that magic as it stands, in the mere repetition of the rituals which are available to general readers, is of very little value to anyone. According to Hindu occultists, as is described in these pages, many forms of magic, and hence certain well-documented so-called miracles, are accounted for by the existence of an undiscovered force (akasa), which seems to have some connection with magnetism.
Arab-Islamic writers, too (who gave the world modern science), suspected the presence of this force. If it is there, it is up to experimenters to find it.
*******
... This is the point at which the much-contested question, the lingering tradition, of an esoteric, supreme priesthood of magic seems to take shadowy shape. For not only are the gods and goddesses of the Turanian (ancient Babylonian) system connected by adoption and abstraction, with powers venerated in the Finnish, Aryan and Semitic systems (*and, of course, China and Japan) but in very many cases the magical rites of these and other nations depend upon the powers of those gods, as the multitude of spirits which are associated with them. Here, too, we come across the mana-akasa theory: the belief that there is a supernatural force which permeates the atmosphere and which is personified as a power within all men. Towards the concentration of that elusive power, and its aid in influencing spirits and gods, the activities of magicians are directed....
... Thought-concentration among the Finns, for example, was attained in a manner familiar to the Indians or even the men of the Sudan, where I watched their preliminary rites of `frenzy-induction':
"According to the Finnish creed, every man bore within
him from his birth a divine spirit who was his
inseparable companion for life. This spirit became more
closely united to its subject, in proportion as the latter
tore himself from earthly things to retire into the sanctuary
of his soul. This was an important source of the magician's
power ." (35)
Here we have a close parallel with many mystical systems, including those of the Gurus of India and the Arab-Islamic Sufi principle.
"He aspired to a transcendental ecstasy, TULLA INTOON,
to a great state of excitement of the soul, TULLA
HALIORHIN, in which he became like the spirit dwelling
in him, and entirely identified with it." (36)
Again the spiritualist (spiritist) and again the frenzy and identification principle of the dervishes and fakirs. . . .
"He used artificial means, intoxicating drugs for instance,
[compare Western witch-cults] in order to attain to this
state of excitement, for it was only then that he succeeded,
so to speak, in deifying himself, and received the homage
of the genii and spirits of nature . . . this doctrine . . .
prevailed also in the Accadian [Babylonian] magic books.
This furnishes an affinity of conceptions and beliefs which
is of great importance, since it is not one of those natural
ideas which arise independently amongst widely differing
nations ."(My italics.) (37)
Whence, ultimately, came this power of magic? Who taught it, or initiated it? What, in fact, is the fountain of mana-akasa : Life-Force? This is where an understanding of the demonology and theology of prehistoric nations is vital...
********
from "The Arabian Contribution"
... Ibn Khaldun, the social philosopher, gives one of the most re-freshingly unbiased accounts of a thinker faced with magical beliefs. Writing in the fourteenth century, he says that there were two types of magic: (i) Pure Magic ; (ii) Talismans (66).
Pure magic he defines as some force which comes straight from within the magician, without the intermediary of any `helper' (mua'win).
In this form there is no question of spirits being used or conjured.
This is perhaps an echo of the mana-akasa belief in a widespread almost untapped occult force, which is there to be used, and neither good nor evil: almost a psycho-physical force.
The second form, which is summarized in the term Talismanic, implies the necessity of making contact with and use of some other force.
Ibn Khaldun was the first to notice that there is some link between the hypnoidal state and the ability to make use of some sort of power.
He says that the pentacle-drawing and other rituals must work up the magician's emotions to a high pitch. If this is not achieved, there will be no result. This is the first scientific comment to be recorded in the study of magic.
This background of intense intellectual activity, covering a study of various systems, produced a wide variety of talismans (67) and other wonder-working items.
********
from "India: Rites of the Priest Magicians"
... The strange and unfamiliar Hindu doctrine of Akasa-- life-spirit or spirit-power-- lies at the basis of all occult phenomena described or attempted by the Hindu school.
Briefly-- if it is possible to be brief about such a matter-- Akasa means that force of which all spirits are a part . It is also the source of all power. There is, or so the Yogi's state, only one substance or power from which everything else derives. Natural laws, such as gravity, or the life-process of man or plant, are obedient to certain laws. These laws are not distinct and different phenomena: they are simply phases of the Akasa. A Hindu magician would contend that matter and energy are the same thing: just different aspects of Akasa, which is the principle of which they are both composed . Recent research has confirmed that belief.
Akasa in one state, causes animal life. In another it determines the movement of the planets. One form or state of it can be transformed into another. Thus to nullify the force of gravity is simply a matter of charging the object with a lighter form of Akasa. If you want to lift a load of ten tons, it is necessary to change the type of Akasa which is present in the load. If the ten tons is steel, you will have to divert the `steel Akasa' somewhere else.
Modern science with the atomic theory admits that all matter is composed of the same prime material-electricity. But where this oriental theory differs with Western science is when the Hindus claim that this prime material-Akasa-can be changed by means of the mind: not by mechanical methods. Very similar, incidentally, is the Arab philosophical argument about the transmutation of metals. Gold, held the Arab alchemists, is made only by the concentration of a suitably ripe mystical intellect. It could be made of anything, but making one metal out of another was simpler than making, say, gold out of wood.
*********
from "A New Thought Force: Akasa & Magnetism"
The supposed connection between hypnosis and magnetism is again under review. It is possible that traditional contentions made by Far Eastern wonder-workers that there is a `life-force' by which such a phenomenon as gravitational force is nullified, may have some substance in fact. This, of course, does not support that magical practices might receive scientific support: rather that some of the subjects formerly thought magical could come within the ken of better understood natural laws.
It appears that the following phenomena are related to magnetism
and electricity :
1 . Akasa (Hindu theory of 'life-force")* which can defy gravity .
* Parallel concepts echoing the akasa idea are to be found in several other systems of thought. The Polynesian mana idea is almost identical .
2. Healing by touch.
3. Hypnotic phenomena.
M. J. Roucous has spent several years in France examining the characteristics of human electricity under scientific conditions. Briefly he claims that the human body is a type of electricity-producing and storage plant. The presence of negative electricity, it is held, accounts for certain marked phenomena of hypnosis and `healing'.
Taking a number of 'faith-healers' of established reputation, Roucous discovered that their finger-tips seemed to repel small articles charged with negative electricity. In electricity, it will be recalled, like repels like.
Accumulated under the skin, he says-- in his recent work Les Maladies et le Magnetism-- this electricity is discharged into the body of the patient by the `healer'. In this way a supposed deficiency of subcutaneous electricity (the so-called protective electrical shield) is removed:
"The human body is like a wonderful electrical generator ; producer, accumulator, receiver and transmitter, of which the centre is the brain. Through the nervous system the positive fluid is discharged, causing the entire system to function. . . ."
How does a person become a natural healer? Roucous holds that `natural' healers seem to be those who have abnormally dry skins, which encourage the accumulation of subcutaneous electricity, a negative charge. In normal persons, this charge is constantly being given off; surplus electricity not needed for running the nervous system simply `leaks' away.
Readers will at once see here a reflection of the Akasa thesis of the Yogis, who claim that a vital fluid has to be stored up in the body and mind, and discharged into an object in order to influence it. Roucous' experiments, claimed to have been held under scientifically controlled conditions, seem to parallel the Akasa activities of the Fakirs.
In order, however, to establish such a phenomena as within scientific bounds, it is essential that easily controlled experiments be devised: and that they be capable of repetition with invariable results.
Here is one, according to supporters of Roucous: it may not prove that a negative electrical charge is emitted by the human body. But it is claimed to prove that something apparently physical does interact between human bodies:
The subject sits on a chair, while five or six others place their hands, one over the other, above his head . The object is to charge the subject with a negative electricity through the `leakage' of human electricity provided by the other `human batteries'. After several minutes, the effect of gravity can be proved to have been reduced. Two of the experimenters, using only two fingers, are able to lift the subject, chair and all.
But the effect does not last long under these conditions. The static leaks into the earth. Thus the lifting must take place at once.
The parallel with levitation is interesting. Why do the Fakirs specialize in stopping certain bodily functions, such as respiration? This theory claims that in this way electricity is saved and a hoard built up: either to produce supernormal effects or, more generally, to `step up' cerebration to a higher pitch than the normal .
Hypnotists, too, are familiar with certain phenomena which remain unexplained . Among them is the following: a test for hypnotic susceptibility:
The subject stands facing North, with his back to the hypnotist. The operator holds his hands, palms parallel, to the back of the subject without, of course, touching him. The subject cannot see what is going on. Slowly the palms of the hypnotist's hands are drawn with a `wiping' motion, downwards parallel to the subject's backbone, and about an inch away from it . Easily affected subjects invariably sway backwards during this proces .
It is important to note here that, while most hypnotists accompany this operation with verbal suggestions of sleep and falling backwards, these are not necessary, as I have myself ascertained: words merely enhance the effect.
Roucous claims that this phenomenon follows from the `static electricity' postulate, and that the `aura' said to surround sensitive mediums and others, is merely the constant discharge of static from the skin.
The hypnotic trance, then, concentrates the brain, charging it with the bodily electricity, and can cut off the supply from the nerve complex which serves the limbs and organs.
Recent researches by Professor J . B. Rhine (77), of Duke University, relating to the supposed effect of the mind over inanimate objects, might fit in with the above theory. Dice, among other things, were used in thousands of controlled experiments, and attempts were made to influence their fall merely by an effort of will. In terms of the Roucous theory, Dr. Rhine trained his subjects to project their cerebral electricity towards interrupting gravitational force.
In his latest published researches, Professor Rhine-whose integrity as a scientific investigator is unchallenged-shows that such influencing of material objects by apparently mental means is a possibility that cannot be ruled out.
A whole new field of research is now open : how to establish the nature of this force and its scope, how to harness it, having regard to its presence in that most difficult of all media, the human brain?
The first step is foreshadowed by current work being undertaken by Roucous at Paris : the construction of an electro-static machine to measure the nature and extent of human electricity, and particularly the means of its engendering and discharge.
The main obstacle to this type of research is that the vast majority of occultists fall into two groups : the converted, who believe things because they want to-- as a sort of wish-fulfilment--and the overenthusiastic, who let their enthusiasm run away with them. It is the latter who too often find themselves called upon to explain their `discoveries' to audiences so pitifully anxious to hear wonders that they are almost disappointed if they are not rewarded by exaggerated claims.
To illustrate : Louis de Wohl speaks briefly of this problem in a recent book on astrology. "Draw up a chart, make a few hasty calculations, and say your say in a dark, slow voice. And they will do what they are told . You will direct their lives, you. With a spoonful of knowledge and two spoonsful of acting." (78).
What is the remedy? There is, so far as I can see, none. No more than there is a remedy against the spread of indiscriminate education without culture and the development of common sense.
The only avenue open to students of the occult in their strivings is to operate strictly on a basis of science. And modern science, which often struggles against occult studies (when it troubles to take any notice at all), should not be regarded, surely, as an enemy?The very fact of the existence of unparalleled reservoirs of knowledge accumulated by modern science itself means that there is material enough for serious occult students to draw upon for their investigations.
How does all this fit in with Akasa, magnetism and the rest? Take one example. In the nineteen-thirties, a strange series of experiments took place at Harvard, in the United States. The Faculties of Economics and Astronomy discovered that there seemed to be a positive correlation between certain terrestrial and solar phenomena . More precisely, the Harvard Committee on Research in Social Sciences financed a study which claimed to show that sunspots were associated with trade cycles. By means of statistics, graphs showed that sunspot activity affected world trade. Economic conditions seemed to react according to the amount of ultra-violet rays that penetrated the stratospheric barrier.
As far as I know, this concluded the investigation. Astrologers immediately claimed that this fact `proved astrology' (79). What it may have proved was that the sun affects things on earth in ways that man had not generally realized. How or why was not known, and is difficult of further investigation. As far as theories like Akasa are concerned, this indicates that there are still forces which we do not entirely understand. Who is to carry the research further? Occultists and astrologers, because with few exceptions, orthodox scientists are not deeply interested at the moment. How many astrologers, however, are concerned with this and similar problems? It is probably safe to say that not many of them bother. I am certainly not against astrology as such: in fact I write on it myself quite a lot. But I do feel that many astrologers want things both ways. While their subject is very much on a similar empirical basis as other sciences were in the Middle Ages, they still strive for recognition among sciences which are more developed, and capable of greater materialistic proof. Now, either astrology and kindred semi-occult studies are to be on the same footing as, say, chemistry, or they are not. If they are, they should either be similarly organized in their thinking and practice, or at least should be less empirical. If they are not, are astrologers barking up the wrong tree?
It seems to me likely that the semi-occult arts may find their own level on a slightly different basis from that of materialistic science. It may well be that it is the very ultra-sensitiveness of astrologers and others which makes them such attractive targets for attack by their opponents. As anyone who has been to school knows, there is no fun in teasing people who are unaffected by it. Even if you call it bullying, the mechanism is the same.
Whatever may be the correct attitude, the fact remains that phenomena like akasa, or sunspots-- or anything else which seems to point towards forces which are not fully understood-- will bear closer examination. The people who want to believe that there may be a vast potential use and meaning in these phenomena are those from among whom serious students and investigators should emerge.
--Idries Shah, Oriental Magic: Considerations in Eastern and African Minority Beliefs (1956), p. 138-142
-- Idries Shah, in Psychology Today, 1975.
***********
excerpts from Oriental Magic by Idries Shah (1956):
from "Magic Is International"
... There will still remain a number of people who are not interested in culture-drift but want to know 'Is there anything in magic?' The answer to this is that there very possibly is a good deal `in magic'. What it is, however, and where it might lead, is for researchers to show.
What was there `in' alchemy? For one thing, there was modern chemistry; though what is left in it is not for me to say. Hypnosis, now not only an accepted fact but a very valuable technique, comes direct from magic. As to what there is `in' modern spiritualism, the descendant of Mongolian shamanism, again, I cannot say. One thing, however, is certain: that magic as it stands, in the mere repetition of the rituals which are available to general readers, is of very little value to anyone. According to Hindu occultists, as is described in these pages, many forms of magic, and hence certain well-documented so-called miracles, are accounted for by the existence of an undiscovered force (akasa), which seems to have some connection with magnetism.
Arab-Islamic writers, too (who gave the world modern science), suspected the presence of this force. If it is there, it is up to experimenters to find it.
*******
from "The Occult in Babylonia"
... This is the point at which the much-contested question, the lingering tradition, of an esoteric, supreme priesthood of magic seems to take shadowy shape. For not only are the gods and goddesses of the Turanian (ancient Babylonian) system connected by adoption and abstraction, with powers venerated in the Finnish, Aryan and Semitic systems (*and, of course, China and Japan) but in very many cases the magical rites of these and other nations depend upon the powers of those gods, as the multitude of spirits which are associated with them. Here, too, we come across the mana-akasa theory: the belief that there is a supernatural force which permeates the atmosphere and which is personified as a power within all men. Towards the concentration of that elusive power, and its aid in influencing spirits and gods, the activities of magicians are directed....
... Thought-concentration among the Finns, for example, was attained in a manner familiar to the Indians or even the men of the Sudan, where I watched their preliminary rites of `frenzy-induction':
"According to the Finnish creed, every man bore within
him from his birth a divine spirit who was his
inseparable companion for life. This spirit became more
closely united to its subject, in proportion as the latter
tore himself from earthly things to retire into the sanctuary
of his soul. This was an important source of the magician's
power ." (35)
Here we have a close parallel with many mystical systems, including those of the Gurus of India and the Arab-Islamic Sufi principle.
"He aspired to a transcendental ecstasy, TULLA INTOON,
to a great state of excitement of the soul, TULLA
HALIORHIN, in which he became like the spirit dwelling
in him, and entirely identified with it." (36)
Again the spiritualist (spiritist) and again the frenzy and identification principle of the dervishes and fakirs. . . .
"He used artificial means, intoxicating drugs for instance,
[compare Western witch-cults] in order to attain to this
state of excitement, for it was only then that he succeeded,
so to speak, in deifying himself, and received the homage
of the genii and spirits of nature . . . this doctrine . . .
prevailed also in the Accadian [Babylonian] magic books.
This furnishes an affinity of conceptions and beliefs which
is of great importance, since it is not one of those natural
ideas which arise independently amongst widely differing
nations ."(My italics.) (37)
Whence, ultimately, came this power of magic? Who taught it, or initiated it? What, in fact, is the fountain of mana-akasa : Life-Force? This is where an understanding of the demonology and theology of prehistoric nations is vital...
********
from "The Arabian Contribution"
... Ibn Khaldun, the social philosopher, gives one of the most re-freshingly unbiased accounts of a thinker faced with magical beliefs. Writing in the fourteenth century, he says that there were two types of magic: (i) Pure Magic ; (ii) Talismans (66).
Pure magic he defines as some force which comes straight from within the magician, without the intermediary of any `helper' (mua'win).
In this form there is no question of spirits being used or conjured.
This is perhaps an echo of the mana-akasa belief in a widespread almost untapped occult force, which is there to be used, and neither good nor evil: almost a psycho-physical force.
The second form, which is summarized in the term Talismanic, implies the necessity of making contact with and use of some other force.
Ibn Khaldun was the first to notice that there is some link between the hypnoidal state and the ability to make use of some sort of power.
He says that the pentacle-drawing and other rituals must work up the magician's emotions to a high pitch. If this is not achieved, there will be no result. This is the first scientific comment to be recorded in the study of magic.
This background of intense intellectual activity, covering a study of various systems, produced a wide variety of talismans (67) and other wonder-working items.
********
from "India: Rites of the Priest Magicians"
... The strange and unfamiliar Hindu doctrine of Akasa-- life-spirit or spirit-power-- lies at the basis of all occult phenomena described or attempted by the Hindu school.
Briefly-- if it is possible to be brief about such a matter-- Akasa means that force of which all spirits are a part . It is also the source of all power. There is, or so the Yogi's state, only one substance or power from which everything else derives. Natural laws, such as gravity, or the life-process of man or plant, are obedient to certain laws. These laws are not distinct and different phenomena: they are simply phases of the Akasa. A Hindu magician would contend that matter and energy are the same thing: just different aspects of Akasa, which is the principle of which they are both composed . Recent research has confirmed that belief.
Akasa in one state, causes animal life. In another it determines the movement of the planets. One form or state of it can be transformed into another. Thus to nullify the force of gravity is simply a matter of charging the object with a lighter form of Akasa. If you want to lift a load of ten tons, it is necessary to change the type of Akasa which is present in the load. If the ten tons is steel, you will have to divert the `steel Akasa' somewhere else.
Modern science with the atomic theory admits that all matter is composed of the same prime material-electricity. But where this oriental theory differs with Western science is when the Hindus claim that this prime material-Akasa-can be changed by means of the mind: not by mechanical methods. Very similar, incidentally, is the Arab philosophical argument about the transmutation of metals. Gold, held the Arab alchemists, is made only by the concentration of a suitably ripe mystical intellect. It could be made of anything, but making one metal out of another was simpler than making, say, gold out of wood.
*********
from "A New Thought Force: Akasa & Magnetism"
The supposed connection between hypnosis and magnetism is again under review. It is possible that traditional contentions made by Far Eastern wonder-workers that there is a `life-force' by which such a phenomenon as gravitational force is nullified, may have some substance in fact. This, of course, does not support that magical practices might receive scientific support: rather that some of the subjects formerly thought magical could come within the ken of better understood natural laws.
It appears that the following phenomena are related to magnetism
and electricity :
1 . Akasa (Hindu theory of 'life-force")* which can defy gravity .
* Parallel concepts echoing the akasa idea are to be found in several other systems of thought. The Polynesian mana idea is almost identical .
2. Healing by touch.
3. Hypnotic phenomena.
M. J. Roucous has spent several years in France examining the characteristics of human electricity under scientific conditions. Briefly he claims that the human body is a type of electricity-producing and storage plant. The presence of negative electricity, it is held, accounts for certain marked phenomena of hypnosis and `healing'.
Taking a number of 'faith-healers' of established reputation, Roucous discovered that their finger-tips seemed to repel small articles charged with negative electricity. In electricity, it will be recalled, like repels like.
Accumulated under the skin, he says-- in his recent work Les Maladies et le Magnetism-- this electricity is discharged into the body of the patient by the `healer'. In this way a supposed deficiency of subcutaneous electricity (the so-called protective electrical shield) is removed:
"The human body is like a wonderful electrical generator ; producer, accumulator, receiver and transmitter, of which the centre is the brain. Through the nervous system the positive fluid is discharged, causing the entire system to function. . . ."
How does a person become a natural healer? Roucous holds that `natural' healers seem to be those who have abnormally dry skins, which encourage the accumulation of subcutaneous electricity, a negative charge. In normal persons, this charge is constantly being given off; surplus electricity not needed for running the nervous system simply `leaks' away.
Readers will at once see here a reflection of the Akasa thesis of the Yogis, who claim that a vital fluid has to be stored up in the body and mind, and discharged into an object in order to influence it. Roucous' experiments, claimed to have been held under scientifically controlled conditions, seem to parallel the Akasa activities of the Fakirs.
In order, however, to establish such a phenomena as within scientific bounds, it is essential that easily controlled experiments be devised: and that they be capable of repetition with invariable results.
Here is one, according to supporters of Roucous: it may not prove that a negative electrical charge is emitted by the human body. But it is claimed to prove that something apparently physical does interact between human bodies:
The subject sits on a chair, while five or six others place their hands, one over the other, above his head . The object is to charge the subject with a negative electricity through the `leakage' of human electricity provided by the other `human batteries'. After several minutes, the effect of gravity can be proved to have been reduced. Two of the experimenters, using only two fingers, are able to lift the subject, chair and all.
But the effect does not last long under these conditions. The static leaks into the earth. Thus the lifting must take place at once.
The parallel with levitation is interesting. Why do the Fakirs specialize in stopping certain bodily functions, such as respiration? This theory claims that in this way electricity is saved and a hoard built up: either to produce supernormal effects or, more generally, to `step up' cerebration to a higher pitch than the normal .
Hypnotists, too, are familiar with certain phenomena which remain unexplained . Among them is the following: a test for hypnotic susceptibility:
The subject stands facing North, with his back to the hypnotist. The operator holds his hands, palms parallel, to the back of the subject without, of course, touching him. The subject cannot see what is going on. Slowly the palms of the hypnotist's hands are drawn with a `wiping' motion, downwards parallel to the subject's backbone, and about an inch away from it . Easily affected subjects invariably sway backwards during this proces .
It is important to note here that, while most hypnotists accompany this operation with verbal suggestions of sleep and falling backwards, these are not necessary, as I have myself ascertained: words merely enhance the effect.
Roucous claims that this phenomenon follows from the `static electricity' postulate, and that the `aura' said to surround sensitive mediums and others, is merely the constant discharge of static from the skin.
The hypnotic trance, then, concentrates the brain, charging it with the bodily electricity, and can cut off the supply from the nerve complex which serves the limbs and organs.
Recent researches by Professor J . B. Rhine (77), of Duke University, relating to the supposed effect of the mind over inanimate objects, might fit in with the above theory. Dice, among other things, were used in thousands of controlled experiments, and attempts were made to influence their fall merely by an effort of will. In terms of the Roucous theory, Dr. Rhine trained his subjects to project their cerebral electricity towards interrupting gravitational force.
In his latest published researches, Professor Rhine-whose integrity as a scientific investigator is unchallenged-shows that such influencing of material objects by apparently mental means is a possibility that cannot be ruled out.
A whole new field of research is now open : how to establish the nature of this force and its scope, how to harness it, having regard to its presence in that most difficult of all media, the human brain?
The first step is foreshadowed by current work being undertaken by Roucous at Paris : the construction of an electro-static machine to measure the nature and extent of human electricity, and particularly the means of its engendering and discharge.
The main obstacle to this type of research is that the vast majority of occultists fall into two groups : the converted, who believe things because they want to-- as a sort of wish-fulfilment--and the overenthusiastic, who let their enthusiasm run away with them. It is the latter who too often find themselves called upon to explain their `discoveries' to audiences so pitifully anxious to hear wonders that they are almost disappointed if they are not rewarded by exaggerated claims.
To illustrate : Louis de Wohl speaks briefly of this problem in a recent book on astrology. "Draw up a chart, make a few hasty calculations, and say your say in a dark, slow voice. And they will do what they are told . You will direct their lives, you. With a spoonful of knowledge and two spoonsful of acting." (78).
What is the remedy? There is, so far as I can see, none. No more than there is a remedy against the spread of indiscriminate education without culture and the development of common sense.
The only avenue open to students of the occult in their strivings is to operate strictly on a basis of science. And modern science, which often struggles against occult studies (when it troubles to take any notice at all), should not be regarded, surely, as an enemy?The very fact of the existence of unparalleled reservoirs of knowledge accumulated by modern science itself means that there is material enough for serious occult students to draw upon for their investigations.
How does all this fit in with Akasa, magnetism and the rest? Take one example. In the nineteen-thirties, a strange series of experiments took place at Harvard, in the United States. The Faculties of Economics and Astronomy discovered that there seemed to be a positive correlation between certain terrestrial and solar phenomena . More precisely, the Harvard Committee on Research in Social Sciences financed a study which claimed to show that sunspots were associated with trade cycles. By means of statistics, graphs showed that sunspot activity affected world trade. Economic conditions seemed to react according to the amount of ultra-violet rays that penetrated the stratospheric barrier.
As far as I know, this concluded the investigation. Astrologers immediately claimed that this fact `proved astrology' (79). What it may have proved was that the sun affects things on earth in ways that man had not generally realized. How or why was not known, and is difficult of further investigation. As far as theories like Akasa are concerned, this indicates that there are still forces which we do not entirely understand. Who is to carry the research further? Occultists and astrologers, because with few exceptions, orthodox scientists are not deeply interested at the moment. How many astrologers, however, are concerned with this and similar problems? It is probably safe to say that not many of them bother. I am certainly not against astrology as such: in fact I write on it myself quite a lot. But I do feel that many astrologers want things both ways. While their subject is very much on a similar empirical basis as other sciences were in the Middle Ages, they still strive for recognition among sciences which are more developed, and capable of greater materialistic proof. Now, either astrology and kindred semi-occult studies are to be on the same footing as, say, chemistry, or they are not. If they are, they should either be similarly organized in their thinking and practice, or at least should be less empirical. If they are not, are astrologers barking up the wrong tree?
It seems to me likely that the semi-occult arts may find their own level on a slightly different basis from that of materialistic science. It may well be that it is the very ultra-sensitiveness of astrologers and others which makes them such attractive targets for attack by their opponents. As anyone who has been to school knows, there is no fun in teasing people who are unaffected by it. Even if you call it bullying, the mechanism is the same.
Whatever may be the correct attitude, the fact remains that phenomena like akasa, or sunspots-- or anything else which seems to point towards forces which are not fully understood-- will bear closer examination. The people who want to believe that there may be a vast potential use and meaning in these phenomena are those from among whom serious students and investigators should emerge.
--Idries Shah, Oriental Magic: Considerations in Eastern and African Minority Beliefs (1956), p. 138-142
The Nature of Sufi Activity
excerpt from Ernest Scott's The People of the Secret
(Octagon Press, 1983):
Twenty sentences of comment or instruction
to his pupils by Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-73):
1. Do not imagine that similar appearances must have similar
causes.
2. People learn indirectly as effectively (sometimes more so)
than directly.
3. If you want to study something, you must undergo the
whole course of study. If you are prejudiced about it, you
may not be able to study any part at all.
4. You are shocked not by right and wrong, but by the
conventional conception of right and wrong.
5. People are affected by things in accordance with their
mental and emotional set.
6. People expect things to turn out in a manner laid down by
them. Sometimes at least it is just as well for them that they
do not have the say in the end.
7. People try to teach, for instance, when what they have to do
is to learn.
8. Adopt the superficialities, the parrot-cries (even if you
think that they are serious) and you will lose.
9. Try to judge with inadequate tools and you will get
nowhere, and even harm others.
10. People are unaware of the real hidden relationship which
Sufis have.
11. Things which appear harmless, even desirable, even one's
own property, can be extremely dangerous.
12. Neither blind imitation is right, nor blind obedience.
13. Things are repeated again and again in the Teaching
because people hear but do not listen.
14. The way in which you may approach what you want
may be too long a way to suffice you before you are too
late.
15. Things which have to be tackled have to be done at the
right time. That time is generally soon.
16. You may think that you understand something, but the
slightest experience of it may cause you to lose all your
understanding.
17. The teacher helps you when you think he is hindering you.
18. What you think helps you may more than hinder you.
19. Divisive weakness will destroy any unity.
20. The "high-minded" attitude towards something can go too
far.
Interview with a Sufi Teacher in England:
Q.: We know Sufism mainly by its ancient and classical
literature. What is the value of this material?
A.: This literature is of intellectual and cultural value only,
just like any other literature, unless interpreted by a Sufi in a
Sufi circle, for the particular membership which he is teaching.
Q.: What is the Sufi teaching entity or unit?
A.: The Halka — "Ring" — a group chosen by a teacher. He
may teach it direct, or may appoint a Khalifa- "Deputy". The
chief teacher's Halka is the head one. A number of Halkas make
up the Tarika - "Path" - which is the word for the current
School.
Q.: Why are there so many ways of putting the Sufi study
methods: the three circles, the arc of ascent and descent, the
meditation, concentration, contemplation, and so on?
A.: These are not different ways. They are fragments of the
total number of elements in a Sufi School: like you might say in
an ordinary school there is the class for French, English,
Geometry and so on. Each one is a part of the education being
offered. The confusion has arisen through people trying to
simplify and choosing an attractive series of words for their
studies.
Q.: Can Sufism be studied academically? Can one be an
"intellectual" Sufi?
A.: Many outward manifestations of Sufism can be studied
outwardly. People study and try to practise Sufi exercises,
music, literature and so on. This is not, however, the study of
Sufism, which is a matter of participation.
Q.: Do you have to use the term "Sufism", which is
associated in many minds with Moslem enthusiasts or Western
imitators?
A.: Most of our activities do not use the word at all. But when
there is a reason for using the word, there is no word whose
employment will not be challenged by somebody or other.
Q.: Are Sufis more "scientific" than religionists in their
attitudes and activities?
A.: They are, because they are practical as well as being
experientialists. They know which parts of human experience
are useful tools, which are methods and ways, and which are
truly higher, spiritual, and so on.
Q.: Do Sufis proselytize? If so, how?
A.: Sufis select people with certain capacities. This they
cannot do by propaganda, because propaganda conditions
people to certain extremes in belief which they would only have
to abandon in due course.
Q.: Why do Sufis reject so many people who go to them? Surely
Sufism should be for all?
A.: They do not reject anyone who is worthy. But the condition
of the man who wants to become a Sufi, and what he thinks his
condition really is, may be two different things. People may be
capable of becoming Sufis at one point; then lose the capability.
Time may have to pass before they can apply again. Enthusiasm
for Sufism or for "secrets" is no basis for approaching the study.
Q.: Despite the efforts of students, clerics and orientalists, it
has not yet been decided exactly what Sufism is. Can you say
whether it is a religion, or whether it is mainly derived from
Christianity, say, or whether it is a psychology?
A.: Sufism cannot be described because it is unique, of its own
kind. When a religionist studies it, he may regard it as a religion.
He then labels it according to his own scale of religions. "A
donkey can judge thistles, but he cannot judge melons."
Q.: How can one judge whether a certain Sufi school or
teacher is genuinely representative of Sufism?
A.: You cannot, unless you are a Sufi. But if the school or
individual resembles a recognizable form of "esoteric training"
or "religious organization", and so on, it is less likely to be
sufficiently Sufic to develop the individual correctly.
Q.: By what signs in oneself can one tell whether a teaching is
the right one "for me"?
A.: By sensations and reactions which differ completely from
customary ones. Indications which one does not experience
through the contact with anything else. In contacting Sufism
you are coming into a relationship with a completely new
experience. Its sensation is correspondingly different from
established "religious" or other experiences.
Q.: Do your answers hold good for all enquirers, and would
you answer in the same way if you were approached by an
Oriental?
A.: Answers are, broadly speaking, for a certain time and a
certain society. All would depend upon the time and the cultural
situation of the enquirer. This is the best way of presenting
something of Sufism to a Westerner who has been interested in
what he calls "higher knowledge", in these days.
Tape-recorded Conversation with a Sufi Sheikh in Afghanistan:
Q.: In your field work, in distant countries such as the Western
ones, do you encounter difficulties which you do not anticipate?
A.: None.
Q.: Do you have to work through difficulties just as if you had
not anticipated them? If so, why?
A.: Yes. And because it is in the working-through the
difficulties that the development of man takes place.
Q.: Is there a value in adopting a psychological system, as we
use them in the West, to explain the past, to work with the
present, to solve one's problems, to make possible living on a
higher level?
A.: By itself, no. You must have certain special exercises and
practices, held by one of our delegates.
Q.: Such of your representatives as we have met have not
always encouraged us. This is why we have come to you.
A.: You have come to us because we have permitted it. You
cannot go over the heads of representatives, like meeting the
managing director when the manager does not give satisfaction.
Our delegates know what to do, when to "blow hot" and when to
"blow cold".
Q.: Do the meanings of studies which we make from time to
time become known to us later?
A.: Yes.
Q.: Do you use objects and concepts for teaching that are
unknown to us?
A.: Objects and concepts which you do not link with "higher
teaching" as you know it, yes.
Q.: Is there an extra-sensory link between you and your
delegates, between them and us, and between people past and
future?
A.: There is.
Q.: Are you concerned with arts and practices which are used
by non-religious groups?
A.: Yes. Because the use of a thing is not known to you, do not
suppose that it has no use. Because a thing has fallen into the
wrong hands, do not suppose that there are not hands which
know how to work with it, without its adverse associations.
Q.: How can so many sincere people all be following different
faiths, all find something of value in them, and yet have beliefs
and opinions which are sometimes diametrically opposed to
one another?
A.: This cannot happen if we discover real sincerity. The kind
of sincerity which these people are using is not connected with
faith, but with a personal indulgence: they like it, so it is true.
They find something which they want, they call it something of
value. It is of no spiritual value or importance. It is of social
value. When they discover that they would be as well satisfied
with any "faith", as they call it, just like the other "sincere"
people, they will start to look for real faith and real religion,
beyond the childish game.
Q.: Why do people follow teachers and teachings with great
intensity and still fail to find truth?
A.: Such people are not looking for truth. They are looking for
teachers and teachings. If they knew what truth was, so that
they could pursue it, we would find them, as we do indeed find
people. It is the people in between: the people with capacity for
sincerity who are not taught it, because organized groups and
religions make use of the people's insincerity. The chief way in
which they do that is to offer emotional rewards and status
rewards, which the people accept.
Q.: Why do you use so many different terms for the Sufi Path?
A.: Sometimes, where "Sufi" has an honorific value, we shun
it, partly to avoid self-indulgence, partly to leave the field clear
for imitators, who present unsufic organizations under this
name. Where the word Sufi is unpopular and represents in the
minds of, for example, Hindus and some Westerners,
"Mohammedan fanatic", we may use it to demonstrate that we
are not what we are labelled. Sometimes again, we use a wide
variety of other names, because of the convenience or
otherwise of working. Many of our organizations have no
"spiritual" aspect as far as the outward man can see, and
these work the best, unhampered. But I cannot talk about
those to a person who already deals in the "spiritual" cloak of
things.
Q.: Do you believe in merit from deeds, in punishment, in
secret knowledge?
A.: There is merit in deeds only if you can disconnect
yourself from anticipation of merit. There is punishment if you
fear punishment, because if you act in fear you should be
punished, even if you have done what you think is "good".
There is secret knowledge, which will never be perceived by
anyone who is thinking about Secret Knowledge, because its
form and communication are invisible to such people.
Q.: What is the major difference between your treatment of
students and that of other schools?
A.: There are many. To single out the one which fewest
people can understand: we work to contact people at a level
deeper than working on their emotions. All other systems
concentrate upon conversion, giving people attention, giving
them things to do, tests to perform and so on. Our major test
is to leave people alone, until they find out whether or not they
can feel anything true about us. We have discovered, you see,
that the system which is supposedly testing people by means
of trials is in fact maintaining their attention in contact with
itself. The result is that people are trained (conditioned, you
call it today) to concentrate upon the school or system: they
have become brainwashed, though they call it faith. If they
reject, not becoming trained, all the better for the system in
question, for it is spared the problem of a recalcitrant in its
ranks thereafter. With us, it is different: we cannot survive
with "conditioned" people in our ranks. We reach something
deeper in them.
Q.: Do the Sufis concede that there are other valid systems
transmitted from the past?
A.: A few years ago a Russian mission examined many
practitioners of Yoga, attempting to deduce from their practices
the original system upon which it was built.
They learned, of course, certain things: such as the fact that
many Yogic postures and breathings have an auto-hypnotic
effect.
But, since these people did not know the possible effects of
posture, breathing and so on, they were not in a position to
deduce the effects.
When we study one of the "traditional" systems, like
Christian prayer recitals, or Yogic postures, we are able to
know what they were originally intended for: just as you as a
Westerner would know what the accoutrements of a soldier
were originally for if you saw one, after you had served in the
Army of the period when such apparatus was used.
Unless you grasp this point there is little use for further
discussion.
(The People of the Secret p. 219-230)
(Octagon Press, 1983):
Twenty sentences of comment or instruction
to his pupils by Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-73):
1. Do not imagine that similar appearances must have similar
causes.
2. People learn indirectly as effectively (sometimes more so)
than directly.
3. If you want to study something, you must undergo the
whole course of study. If you are prejudiced about it, you
may not be able to study any part at all.
4. You are shocked not by right and wrong, but by the
conventional conception of right and wrong.
5. People are affected by things in accordance with their
mental and emotional set.
6. People expect things to turn out in a manner laid down by
them. Sometimes at least it is just as well for them that they
do not have the say in the end.
7. People try to teach, for instance, when what they have to do
is to learn.
8. Adopt the superficialities, the parrot-cries (even if you
think that they are serious) and you will lose.
9. Try to judge with inadequate tools and you will get
nowhere, and even harm others.
10. People are unaware of the real hidden relationship which
Sufis have.
11. Things which appear harmless, even desirable, even one's
own property, can be extremely dangerous.
12. Neither blind imitation is right, nor blind obedience.
13. Things are repeated again and again in the Teaching
because people hear but do not listen.
14. The way in which you may approach what you want
may be too long a way to suffice you before you are too
late.
15. Things which have to be tackled have to be done at the
right time. That time is generally soon.
16. You may think that you understand something, but the
slightest experience of it may cause you to lose all your
understanding.
17. The teacher helps you when you think he is hindering you.
18. What you think helps you may more than hinder you.
19. Divisive weakness will destroy any unity.
20. The "high-minded" attitude towards something can go too
far.
Interview with a Sufi Teacher in England:
Q.: We know Sufism mainly by its ancient and classical
literature. What is the value of this material?
A.: This literature is of intellectual and cultural value only,
just like any other literature, unless interpreted by a Sufi in a
Sufi circle, for the particular membership which he is teaching.
Q.: What is the Sufi teaching entity or unit?
A.: The Halka — "Ring" — a group chosen by a teacher. He
may teach it direct, or may appoint a Khalifa- "Deputy". The
chief teacher's Halka is the head one. A number of Halkas make
up the Tarika - "Path" - which is the word for the current
School.
Q.: Why are there so many ways of putting the Sufi study
methods: the three circles, the arc of ascent and descent, the
meditation, concentration, contemplation, and so on?
A.: These are not different ways. They are fragments of the
total number of elements in a Sufi School: like you might say in
an ordinary school there is the class for French, English,
Geometry and so on. Each one is a part of the education being
offered. The confusion has arisen through people trying to
simplify and choosing an attractive series of words for their
studies.
Q.: Can Sufism be studied academically? Can one be an
"intellectual" Sufi?
A.: Many outward manifestations of Sufism can be studied
outwardly. People study and try to practise Sufi exercises,
music, literature and so on. This is not, however, the study of
Sufism, which is a matter of participation.
Q.: Do you have to use the term "Sufism", which is
associated in many minds with Moslem enthusiasts or Western
imitators?
A.: Most of our activities do not use the word at all. But when
there is a reason for using the word, there is no word whose
employment will not be challenged by somebody or other.
Q.: Are Sufis more "scientific" than religionists in their
attitudes and activities?
A.: They are, because they are practical as well as being
experientialists. They know which parts of human experience
are useful tools, which are methods and ways, and which are
truly higher, spiritual, and so on.
Q.: Do Sufis proselytize? If so, how?
A.: Sufis select people with certain capacities. This they
cannot do by propaganda, because propaganda conditions
people to certain extremes in belief which they would only have
to abandon in due course.
Q.: Why do Sufis reject so many people who go to them? Surely
Sufism should be for all?
A.: They do not reject anyone who is worthy. But the condition
of the man who wants to become a Sufi, and what he thinks his
condition really is, may be two different things. People may be
capable of becoming Sufis at one point; then lose the capability.
Time may have to pass before they can apply again. Enthusiasm
for Sufism or for "secrets" is no basis for approaching the study.
Q.: Despite the efforts of students, clerics and orientalists, it
has not yet been decided exactly what Sufism is. Can you say
whether it is a religion, or whether it is mainly derived from
Christianity, say, or whether it is a psychology?
A.: Sufism cannot be described because it is unique, of its own
kind. When a religionist studies it, he may regard it as a religion.
He then labels it according to his own scale of religions. "A
donkey can judge thistles, but he cannot judge melons."
Q.: How can one judge whether a certain Sufi school or
teacher is genuinely representative of Sufism?
A.: You cannot, unless you are a Sufi. But if the school or
individual resembles a recognizable form of "esoteric training"
or "religious organization", and so on, it is less likely to be
sufficiently Sufic to develop the individual correctly.
Q.: By what signs in oneself can one tell whether a teaching is
the right one "for me"?
A.: By sensations and reactions which differ completely from
customary ones. Indications which one does not experience
through the contact with anything else. In contacting Sufism
you are coming into a relationship with a completely new
experience. Its sensation is correspondingly different from
established "religious" or other experiences.
Q.: Do your answers hold good for all enquirers, and would
you answer in the same way if you were approached by an
Oriental?
A.: Answers are, broadly speaking, for a certain time and a
certain society. All would depend upon the time and the cultural
situation of the enquirer. This is the best way of presenting
something of Sufism to a Westerner who has been interested in
what he calls "higher knowledge", in these days.
Tape-recorded Conversation with a Sufi Sheikh in Afghanistan:
Q.: In your field work, in distant countries such as the Western
ones, do you encounter difficulties which you do not anticipate?
A.: None.
Q.: Do you have to work through difficulties just as if you had
not anticipated them? If so, why?
A.: Yes. And because it is in the working-through the
difficulties that the development of man takes place.
Q.: Is there a value in adopting a psychological system, as we
use them in the West, to explain the past, to work with the
present, to solve one's problems, to make possible living on a
higher level?
A.: By itself, no. You must have certain special exercises and
practices, held by one of our delegates.
Q.: Such of your representatives as we have met have not
always encouraged us. This is why we have come to you.
A.: You have come to us because we have permitted it. You
cannot go over the heads of representatives, like meeting the
managing director when the manager does not give satisfaction.
Our delegates know what to do, when to "blow hot" and when to
"blow cold".
Q.: Do the meanings of studies which we make from time to
time become known to us later?
A.: Yes.
Q.: Do you use objects and concepts for teaching that are
unknown to us?
A.: Objects and concepts which you do not link with "higher
teaching" as you know it, yes.
Q.: Is there an extra-sensory link between you and your
delegates, between them and us, and between people past and
future?
A.: There is.
Q.: Are you concerned with arts and practices which are used
by non-religious groups?
A.: Yes. Because the use of a thing is not known to you, do not
suppose that it has no use. Because a thing has fallen into the
wrong hands, do not suppose that there are not hands which
know how to work with it, without its adverse associations.
Q.: How can so many sincere people all be following different
faiths, all find something of value in them, and yet have beliefs
and opinions which are sometimes diametrically opposed to
one another?
A.: This cannot happen if we discover real sincerity. The kind
of sincerity which these people are using is not connected with
faith, but with a personal indulgence: they like it, so it is true.
They find something which they want, they call it something of
value. It is of no spiritual value or importance. It is of social
value. When they discover that they would be as well satisfied
with any "faith", as they call it, just like the other "sincere"
people, they will start to look for real faith and real religion,
beyond the childish game.
Q.: Why do people follow teachers and teachings with great
intensity and still fail to find truth?
A.: Such people are not looking for truth. They are looking for
teachers and teachings. If they knew what truth was, so that
they could pursue it, we would find them, as we do indeed find
people. It is the people in between: the people with capacity for
sincerity who are not taught it, because organized groups and
religions make use of the people's insincerity. The chief way in
which they do that is to offer emotional rewards and status
rewards, which the people accept.
Q.: Why do you use so many different terms for the Sufi Path?
A.: Sometimes, where "Sufi" has an honorific value, we shun
it, partly to avoid self-indulgence, partly to leave the field clear
for imitators, who present unsufic organizations under this
name. Where the word Sufi is unpopular and represents in the
minds of, for example, Hindus and some Westerners,
"Mohammedan fanatic", we may use it to demonstrate that we
are not what we are labelled. Sometimes again, we use a wide
variety of other names, because of the convenience or
otherwise of working. Many of our organizations have no
"spiritual" aspect as far as the outward man can see, and
these work the best, unhampered. But I cannot talk about
those to a person who already deals in the "spiritual" cloak of
things.
Q.: Do you believe in merit from deeds, in punishment, in
secret knowledge?
A.: There is merit in deeds only if you can disconnect
yourself from anticipation of merit. There is punishment if you
fear punishment, because if you act in fear you should be
punished, even if you have done what you think is "good".
There is secret knowledge, which will never be perceived by
anyone who is thinking about Secret Knowledge, because its
form and communication are invisible to such people.
Q.: What is the major difference between your treatment of
students and that of other schools?
A.: There are many. To single out the one which fewest
people can understand: we work to contact people at a level
deeper than working on their emotions. All other systems
concentrate upon conversion, giving people attention, giving
them things to do, tests to perform and so on. Our major test
is to leave people alone, until they find out whether or not they
can feel anything true about us. We have discovered, you see,
that the system which is supposedly testing people by means
of trials is in fact maintaining their attention in contact with
itself. The result is that people are trained (conditioned, you
call it today) to concentrate upon the school or system: they
have become brainwashed, though they call it faith. If they
reject, not becoming trained, all the better for the system in
question, for it is spared the problem of a recalcitrant in its
ranks thereafter. With us, it is different: we cannot survive
with "conditioned" people in our ranks. We reach something
deeper in them.
Q.: Do the Sufis concede that there are other valid systems
transmitted from the past?
A.: A few years ago a Russian mission examined many
practitioners of Yoga, attempting to deduce from their practices
the original system upon which it was built.
They learned, of course, certain things: such as the fact that
many Yogic postures and breathings have an auto-hypnotic
effect.
But, since these people did not know the possible effects of
posture, breathing and so on, they were not in a position to
deduce the effects.
When we study one of the "traditional" systems, like
Christian prayer recitals, or Yogic postures, we are able to
know what they were originally intended for: just as you as a
Westerner would know what the accoutrements of a soldier
were originally for if you saw one, after you had served in the
Army of the period when such apparatus was used.
Unless you grasp this point there is little use for further
discussion.
(The People of the Secret p. 219-230)
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