Sufi Ideas

Excerpts from Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas 
by Idries Shah (1966; 1968; 1978):

EXAMPLE OF SUFI IDEAS

from Jalaludin Rumi (1205-1273)

Man is the product of evolution. He continues this process. But the 'new'
faculties, for which he yearns (generally unknowingly) come into being as a
result of necessity. In other words, he now has to take part in the develop-
ment of his own evolution. "Organs come into being as a response to necessity. Therefore increase your necessity."

When he does not realize this, man is in a state which is referred to as
'sleep'. He has to 'wake up'.

There is a means of doing this, but the means is not through scholastic
endeavour and what man takes to be the exercise of intellect. The means is by what is called the 'direct perception of Truth'.

Man's thinking pattern is in the ordinary way based upon alternation and
changes of mood. He needs what is conceived of as a unification of mentation.

Man's perceptions are faulty, because they are subjective and relative.
They are also 'conditioned', so that he interprets things according to limited, not objective, standards. He may therefore be said to have little capacity for real judgment.

There are realms of mind far beyond the ordinary state of man. These
advanced realms cannot completely be rendered in the language of the brain as it stands.

Because of these limitations, man needs the guidance of one who knows
more.

The methods used to help in the production of the higher state of perception include historical, religious and fable frameworks, as well as exercises of all kinds. 

All such formulations are 'ways'.

Men have warped and made useless these 'ways' by repetitiously insisting on literal meanings for the figurative. Thus are 'idols' made.

When man reaches behind exterior form, he can see that such forms,
apparently multiple, stand before one and the same thing.

These teachings were given by ancient sages, and by Moses, Jesus and
Mohammed. They have been changed and used in a minor and inefficient way.

This changing process is due to the use of man's vanity, where, for instance, he imagines that he can conceive more than he can at any given moment. As a result, giving a name to an undefinable concept makes him think that he has mastered it; or can master it, through having named it.

Beyond the confines of outward religion, man cannot truly call himself a Jew, a Christian, a Moslem. Ritual and dogmas have no place in this sphere.

Man can be conceived as incomplete, 'a limb severed from a body'.

The effort of man to reunite with the understanding from which he is cut
can be called 'the religion, or duty, of Love'. But this is not a religion as such things are normally understood by man.

The 'eye', the advanced organ of perception of that from which man is cut off in the normal way, is within man.

External impressions 'condition' man, so that he is insensitive to inner impressions.

Any 'language' (terminology) may be used to refer to the transformation of man. This is why such conventions as the language of alchemy are used; or the language of myth and fable, which often refers to psychological processes, not to historical events.

Those who have developed the 'higher perceptions' sometimes have to conceal this fact, for social and other reasons, behind a locally acceptable facade.


 (p. 35-36.)


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THE TEACHER

People think that a teacher should show miracles and manifest illumination. But the requirement in a teacher is that he should possess all that the disciple needs. 

--Ibn el-Arabi


THE TEACHING

The purpose of Sufism is not to be what people imagine it should be-- but to help in the attainment of the real destiny of man. 

--Hasan of Basra


THE TAUGHT

This present life of yours is a stage, an alighting point. A halting-place is for rest from the journey, refreshment in company, effort in preparation for the future. If you do not know the facts, you need to know them soon. Tomorrow could be too late. 

--Hilali of Samarkand



The works of Idries Shah are available from the Idries Shah Foundation

Legends of the Sufis

Preface to James Redhouse's Legends of the Sufis 
by Idries Shah (1976)


There is no controversy about Maulana (Arabic for Our Master) Jalaluddin Rumi being one of the very greatest saints and mystics of all peoples, as well as a Master of the Way to the Sufis. This book is a selection of anecdotes about his forebears and origins, his teachings and his associates, as well as his successors in what came, after him, to be called the Mevlevi school. This text is regarded as one of the five source-books for material on this tradition: the others being the Mathnavi, The Divan of Shamsi-i-Tabriz, the Letters of Rumi and Fihi Ma Fihi ("In it what is in it").


As with many other medieval works, there is no authoritative version of the original book, and many compilations, or recensions, of its contents exist. When it is read by a contemporary Western student, it is worth bearing certain points in mind. 


The book's original title, Manaqib al-Arifin, literally means "qualities" or "eulogies" of the "Mystic-Wise Ones". It is therefore almost exactly, within its own context, what Western people call a hagiography. To get the best from it one has to bear in mind the premises which underlie the operation of a Sufi school. Not the least of these is the well-established technique of proffering stories, legends and so on not necessarily for teaching purposes, but also often to test the mentality and reactions of the hearer. This kind of story, sometimes erroneously taken as really intended by its author, certainly does appear in this selection. This is not to say that even the most improbable tales are such artifacts. It is true in some cases that these have been included because they represent what was thought and reported about Rumi and others after his death, irrespective of the character and degree of spiritual attainment of the reporters. 


These selections were translated by James Redhouse and published in 1881. When the Coombe Springs Press in 1965 asked me to concur in their reissuing it, I gladly did so; subject to the inclusion of a note such as the present one, to make the book more useful to serious students and to help prevent misunderstandings. The latter range from the wholesale adaptation of this text as a sort of "gospel" to the burning of its contents as chaotic and naive. 


Due, no doubt, to the exigencies of production, only a highly summarized form of this disclaimer appeared, and that on the front flap of the 1965 reprint. With the vastly increased interest in Sufi thought and action now evident throughout the world, one feels that the observing of suitable attitudes towards the work is no less important. 


Rumi's work is generally recognized as being a timely adaptation and restatement of Sufism for the purpose of applying it to the people of his time and laying a foundation for the succeeding phases: a tradition of working which has always characterized Sufi undertakings, sometimes called the doctrine of relevance and supercession. 


Seen in this light, it is useful to note the continuing disparity between those students of Sufism who are slavish imitators (so detested by Rumi) and those who are able to render the materials and the experiences in present-day terms. In this respect Sufism can be seen in its overt projections as following a course similar to that of all human systems. There are the traditionalists, for whom form is sacrosanct, the innovators, who try to adapt materials without insight, the rejectors of part or whole, and the real successors to the tradition, who work through insight as well as externals. 


For those who are interested in the relevance of materials such as some of those contained in the Manaqib to today's concerns, there is a value in emphasizing certain basics which are often ignored. 


Following Rumi's dictum in Persian Qalib az ma hast, na ma az u-- "Form is from us, not we from it"-- and his many other statements to this effect, it should be observed that this Sufi persuasion insists that matter comes from mind, mind does not come from matter. Miraculous interventions involving matter or immaterial things, therefore, as we find them here, are to be seen as the working of the mind, not the operation of matter. This operation, too, is sometimes to a purpose and sometimes deceptive, mere trickery, intended or otherwise. So miracles, whatever their effect or intention, may arise from the working of mental or spiritual forces. This explanation makes it possible for the reader to understand, for instance, how Rumi's miracles or wonders can be regarded as significant while those produced by people trying to oppose him are discounted. The difference lies in the quality and purpose of the wonders. 


This operation of apparently supernatural events for definite purposes and not merely to impress people in an emotional manner, not only sets this very much apart from miracle-centered systems but also helps to explain how Rumi, like many other Moslem teachers, could have so many non-Moslem disciples, Christians and Jews among them. It is true that he constantly reproaches scholastic theologians and scholars as such for being unable to understand that Sufi experience neither conflicts with religions nor undermines them. But he stays within his Islamic tradition and emphasizes that Sufi understanding has operated within all faiths.  In the following pages there is a striking account of telepathic rapport between a Christian saint and Rumi, whom the saint regarded as his mentor through spiritual communication. 


The diversity of forms under which Sufi schools have operated, and the multiplicity of their exercises and even the alleged dissonance of their teachings one to the other, has always worried externalist scholars: whom the Mevlevis call "men of appearances". In this book, as also elsewhere, we find a very frank statement that the so-called Dervish Dancing and other exercises are very limited activities, designed only as aids for those people who have certain local or temperamental pecularities. It is worth noting that although this information has been publicly available for at least seven hundred years, people of all kinds prefer to believe that by imitating the physical and mental actions of some people in thirteenth-century Konya they will derive spiritual benefits. This is, to a Sufi, rather like believing that if you behave like a Pharaoh you will be able to build the pyramids, without taking enough notice of what the originators of the enterprise actually said, or even were reported to have said, about it: including the purpose. 


Legends of the Sufis, then, can well be described in the words of the title of Rumi's book of table-talks: "(There is) In it what is in it (for you)." May its undoubted value find its full expression in this incarnation.




-- from Legends of the Sufis: Selections from Menaqibu 'L'Arifin by Shemsuddin Ahmed, El Eflaki, Translated by James W. Redhouse, Preface by Idries Shah, Theosophical Publishing House Limited, 1976.

also see THE HUNDRED TALES OF WISDOM 

Tales of the Mulla Nasrudin

Some Tales of the Mulla Nasrudin 
from Idries Shah

Nasrudin is said to have been the wisest fool who ever lived – that is if he ever did live at all. Stories of Nasrudin’s many incarnations are studied by Sufis for their hidden wisdom, and are universally enjoyed for their humour. Sometimes Nasrudin is an impoverished itinerant or stallholder, and at others, he is the mayor, judge, vizier, or even the King.

Many countries claim Nasrudin as a native, although few have gone so far as Turkey in exhibiting a ‘grave’ of the wisest fool who ever lived, and holding an annual Nasrudin Festival. He is the greatest, most intriguing, character of folklore found in any Eastern land. Versions of his back-to-front thinking can be found in Morocco, Egypt and Russia, in Turkey, Greece, Albania and Afghanistan. 








Mulla Nasrudin, the wise fool of Eastern folklore, holds a special place in Sufi studies. The Sufis, who believe that deep intuition is the only real guide to knowledge, use the humorous stories of Nasrudin’s adventures almost like exercises.

They ask people to choose a few which especially appeal to them, and turn them over in their mind, making them their own.

Sufi teaching masters say that in this way a breakthrough into a higher wisdom can be effected. A single story can work on many levels, from great humour to initiating profound thought.





The appeal of Nasrudin is as universal and timeless as the truths he illustrates. His stories are read by children, by scientists and scholars, and by followers of philosophy. Idries Shah assembled a collection of Nasrudin’s trials and tribulations from ancient manuscripts and oral literature, from sources in North Africa and Turkey, the Middle East and Central Asia. Many were known to the great Sufi masters, Rumi, Jami, and Attar the chemist.







Selections from the Nasrudin Corpus

Saying of the Mulla Nasrudin. 

If I survive this life without dying, I'll be surprised. 

--The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin

*********

If a pot can multiply.

One day Nasrudin lent his cooking pots to a neighbour, who was giving a feast. The neighbour returned them, together with one extra one – a very tiny pot. 'What is this?' asked Nasrudin. 'According to law, I have given you the offspring of your property which was born when the pots were in my care,' said the joker. Shortly afterwards Nasrudin borrowed his neighbour's pots, but did not return them. The man came round to get them back. 'Alas!' said Nasrudin, 'they are dead. We have established, have we not, that pots are mortal?'.

--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin

**********

Radio

When Mulla Nasrudin arrived at the immigration barrier in London, the officer in charge asked:
'Where are you from?'
Nasrudin said:
'Grrrr … The East.' ...
'Name?'
'Mulla, sssssss, Nasrrrrgrrudin!'
'Have you an impediment in your speech?'
'Wheee-eee – no!'
'Then why do you talk like that?'
'Pip-pip-pip – I grr – learnt it from English By Radio!'



--The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin

*********

Where there's a will...

'Mulla, Mulla, my son has written from the Abode of Learning to say that he has completely finished his studies!' 'Console yourself, madam, with the thought that God will no doubt send him more.'



--The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin


********



See what I mean?

Nasrudin was throwing handfuls of crumbs around his house. 'What are you doing?' someone asked him. 'Keeping the tigers away.' 'But there are no tigers in these parts.' 'That's right. Effective, isn't it?' 



--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mullah Nasrudin


**********

A Cobbler with Wings

When the Imam saw Nasrudin's scuffed and torn slippers he patted him kindly on the arm: 'Do not despair, Mulla. The Qur'an tells us that he who is needy in this world will be rewarded in Paradise. Your shoes may be worn and holed here, but you shall wear only the best in Heaven.'
'In that case,' replied Nasrudin, 'I will certainly be a cobbler in Heaven.'



--The World of Nasrudin


*********


The Reason

The Mulla went to see a rich man. 'Give me some money.' 'Why?' 'I want to buy... an elephant.' 'If you have no money, you can't afford to keep an elephant.' 'I came here', said Nasrudin, 'to get money, not advice.'



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin


*********


Selling Half the House

Nasrudin visited a house-agent one day: 'I want to sell one half of the house I live in' he said. 'But Mulla, I know your house - you only own one-half of it.' 'That is exactly the point. I want to sell my half to buy the other half with the money I raise from the deal.'




--Learning How to Learn


*********


The Cat and the Meat

Nasrudin gave his wife some meat to cook for guests. When the meal arrived, there was no meat. She had eaten it. 'The cat ate it, all three pounds of it,' she said. Nasrudin put the cat on the scales. It weighed three pounds. 'If this is the cat,' said Nasrudin, 'where is the meat? If, on the other hand, this is the meat – where is the cat?'




--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin


*********


Satisfied

Nasrudin moved into a new house. The postman called and said: 'I hope that you are satisfied with the mail deliveries.' 'More than satisfied,' said Nasrudin, 'and, in fact, from tomorrow you may double my order.'



--The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mullah Nasruddin


*********


A Gift from God

Nasrudin was out walking when a bee stung him on the nose. The wound began to swell alarmingly and he hurried off to see the doctor. As he crossed the bazaar, a wag pointed and laughed: 'Where did you get that nose – from a donkey?' 'Yes,' replied the Mulla. 'When God divided the ass, he gave you the brains and me the nose.'



--The World of Nasrudin


*********

The use of a light

'I can see in the dark,' boasted Nasrudin one day in the teahouse. 'If that is so, why do we sometimes see you carrying a light through the streets?' 'Only to prevent other people from colliding with me.'



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin


********


Nasrudin was sitting at a cafe table gazing at two men by a hole in the road.
“What are you thinking, Mulla?” asked a passer-by.
“How lazy people are. I have been sitting here for four hours, and I've never taken my eyes off those men. Can you believe that during all that time, neither of them has done any work?”



--Special Illumination


*********


Men and Women

‘I have been in places’, Nasrudin was informing the people in the teahouse, ‘where it is so hot that nobody can bear clothes next to the skin’. ‘Then how do they tell men from women, Mulla?’ asked one of the patrons. ‘Well… they can’t, not in that country’.



--The World of the Sufi



*********


Why don't you?

Nasrudin went to the shop of a man who stocked all kinds of bits and pieces. 'Have you got nails?' he asked. 'Yes.' 'And leather, good leather?' 'Yes.' 'And twine?' 'Yes.' 'And dye?' 'Yes.' 'Then why, for Heaven's sake, don't you make a pair of boots?'



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin



********


Camels and Men

‘Nasrudin,’ asked his neighbor, ‘which is more intelligent, a camel or a man?’ ‘A camel,’ replied the Mulla, ‘because it carries heavy loads without complaint, but never asks for an additional load. Man, on the other hand, burdened by responsibility, is always choosing to add to his loads.’



--The World of Nasrudin


**********


The Burglar

A thief went into Nasrudin's house and carried away almost all the possessions of the Mulla to his own home. Nasrudin had been watching from the street. After a few minutes Nasrudin took up a blanket, followed him, went into his house, lay down, and pretended to go to sleep. 'Who are you, and what are you doing here?' asked the thief. 'Well,' said the Mulla, 'we were moving house, were we not?'



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin



************


Burnt Foot

An illiterate came to Nasrudin, and asked him to write a letter for him. ‘I can’t,’ said the Mulla, ‘because I have burned my foot.’ ‘What has that got to do with writing a letter?’ ‘Since nobody can read my handwriting, I am bound to have to travel somewhere to interpret the letter. And my foot is sore; so there is no point in writing the letter, is there?’



--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin


********


Child Psychology

Nasrudin’s wife was in labour, but the midwife was unable to deliver the child. Finally, in desperation, she turned to the Mulla.
‘You are meant to be a wise man. Is there anything you can do to help?’
‘If only you had asked before!’ exclaimed Nasrudin and rushed off to the bazaar. He returned a few minutes later carrying a top, which he started spinning on the ...floor.
‘Have you gone completely mad?’ squawked the midwife.
‘Have patience,’ replied Nasrudin calmly. ‘When the child sees the toy he will jump out and play with it!’


--The World of Nasrudin


**********


Tit for Tat

Nasrudin went into a shop to buy a pair of trousers. Then he changed his mind and chose a cloak in¬stead, at the same price.
Picking up the cloak he left the shop. ...
‘You have not paid,’ shouted the merchant.
‘I left you the trousers, which were of the same value as the cloak.’
‘But you did not pay for the trousers either.’
‘Of course not,’ said the Mulla – ‘why should I pay for some¬thing that I did not want to buy?’



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudín


**********


The Unsuspected Element

Two men were quarrelling outside Nasrudin’s window at dead of night. Nasrudin got up, wrapped his only blanket around himself, and ran out to try to stop the noise. When he tried to reason with the drunks, one snatched his blanket and both ran away. ‘What were they arguing about?’ asked his wife when he went in. ‘It must have been the blanket. When they got that, the fight broke up.’




--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin


*********

Inscrutable Fate

Nasrudin was walking along an alleyway when a man fell from a roof and landed on his neck. The man was unhurt; the Mulla was taken to hospital. Some disciples went to visit him. ‘What wisdom do you see in this happening, Mulla?’ ‘Avoid any belief in the inevitability of cause and effect! He falls off the roof – but my neck is broken! Shun reliance upon theoretical questions such as: “If a man falls off a roof, will his neck be broken?”



--The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin


*********


There is more Light here

Someone saw Nasrudin searching for something on the ground. 'What have you lost, Mulla?' he asked. 'My key,' said the Mulla. So they both went down on their knees and looked for it. After a time the other man asked: 'Where exactly did you drop it?' 'In my own house.' 'Then why are you looking here?' 'There is more light here than inside my own house.'




--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin



*********


Men and Women

‘I have been in places’, Nasrudin was informing the people in the teahouse, ‘where it is so hot that nobody can bear clothes next to the skin’. ‘Then how do they tell men from women, Mulla?’ asked one of the patrons. ‘Well… they can’t, not in that country’.




--The World of the Sufi


*********


Costly

Nasrudin opened a booth with a sign above it: TWO QUESTIONS ON ANY SUBJECT ANSWERED FOR £5. A man who had two very urgent questions handed over his money, saying: ‘Five pounds is rather expensive for two questions, isn’t it?’ ‘Yes,’ said Nasrudin, ‘and the next question, please?’



--The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin



**********

Careless Head

Nasrudin was tying his turban when the wind caught the cloth and carried it away. ‘What a shame!’ lamented his friend. ‘That was a beautiful piece of Indian muslin.’ ‘I should never have trusted my careless head with it. That is the third turban it has lost this week,’ said Nasrudin.


--The World of Nasrudin



**********



Adventures In The Desert

‘When I was in the desert,’ said Nasrudin one day, ‘I caused an entire tribe of horrible and bloodthirsty bedouins to run.’ ‘However did you do it?’ ‘Easy. I just ran, and they ran after me.’



--The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin


********


The Answer

‘There is nothing without an answer,’ said a monk as he entered the teahouse where Nasrudin and his friends sat. ‘Yet I have been challenged by a scholar with an unanswerable question,’ observed the Mulla. ‘Would that I had been there! Tell it to me, and I shall answer it.’‘Very well. He said: “Why are you stealing into my house through a window by night?”’

The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin




from: https://www.facebook.com/IdriesShah

Understanding Sufi Study

from Knowing How to Know, by Idries Shah
 (published posthumously in 1998):

Understanding Sufi Study


The Sufis speak of 'the world', and how it causes a barrier to
be erected between humanity and reality.


What is this 'world'?


It is the amalgam of natural acquisitiveness and social
conditioning which have gone too far.


All organisms, including human ones, try to extend their
acquisition of all kinds of things. Human beings are taught, by
society, to restrain this tendency. This restraint, among other
things, enables the human being to perceive more than would
otherwise be possible.


The degree and kind of restraint has to be taught and learnt.
One aspect of Sufi activity teaches the balance which enables
other things to be acquired than social harmony or a mere sense
of emotional well-being.


Much of what passes for spiritual teaching relies, in reality,
upon increasing greed, emotion and acquisitiveness. Of course,
this is not understood by those who carry out such teachings.
They imagine that emotionality is the same as spirituality.


Sufis have, in the past, been accused of encouraging
emotionality. But the fact is that such Sufis have only been
stressing some degree of emotion when faced by pupils who
needed it through excessive coldness. Naturally, emotionalists
who have studied only a part of Sufi activity (usually from
books) have selectively chosen such emphases. As a result, they
have misled others, and themselves. The result is Sufic cults
which are, in reality, not Sufi at all. Many, because of the large
proportion of emotionalists in any population, have become very
well known. Some have even been considered classically Sufi.


Are you one of the people who, unknowingly, seeks from
Sufi study some form of emotional stimulus, and who feels a
vague discomfort when Sufis deny you this?


Any ordinary psychologist will tell you that people have
expectations from anything in which they interest themselves.
They will have a preconceived (though not always conscious)
picture of what they will 'get' from anything. If they do not
feel that they are 'getting it', they will react. The sensible person,
whenever experiencing this unease, will seek the real reason for
the sensation. Unless on one's guard, however, the conclusion
will tend to be flattering to oneself. The individual will think,
'This is not for me; it does not give me what I want.'


The contemporary world, which is largely based on
advertising, on transactionalism, on exciting greed and on the
stick and carrot, conspires with the primitive in human beings.
And this pattern, of threat and promise, is visible even in some
of the most respected of spiritual traditions, so over-simplified
have they become by what can only be called the current
practitioners.


The Sufis are a challenge to this doctrine. In some measure,
they have always opposed it. In some measure, they have always,
somewhere, elicited an antipathetic reaction. This is because the
stick-and-carrot people feel threatened by the Sufis. In reality,
the Sufis are no threat to them: there will always be such people,
and they will always have enough hearers and believers to suffice
them. If they were a little less insecure, they would see this easily
enough.


But the Sufis are, though not a threat, certainly a challenge.
The concept that people can learn, can get to know themselves,
to know others and what lies beyond ordinary perception; all
this using the minimum, not the maximum, of emotional or
intellectual effort: together with the right balance of each and
not the extension of either or both: this is a challenge. It goes
against the attitudes of the intellectualists and the emotionalists
alike. It also appears to oppose the attitude of those who think
that neither intellect nor emotion should be allowed to operate
if spiritual perception and understanding are to emerge. But if
a statement of fact is to be considered a challenge, we are entitled
to ask why.


Naturally, there has to be a framework within which the Sufi
aspirant will approach learning and understanding. Throughout
the ages, and in varying communities and groups, Sufis have
used the frameworks which will best help to conduct the learners
to the learning. Under present circumstances, you could take
note of these important points:


Those who wish to progress should try to examine their
assumptions. They should examine their reactions to Sufi
teaching as well as to their daily human contacts and experiences.
They should ponder the principle: 'None should be the worse
off from having been in contact with me!' They should add to
these three points two more, which are:


'Sufi understanding comes through right study and teaching,
through right exercises when indicated, through remembering
that the flaws which are not repaired are those which can make
most effort useless.'


And remember, it is the Teaching, and not the individual who
teaches, which is important. In the words of one sage who
(because of the foregoing) does not want to be identified:


How many people have called someone great who has
only frightened them?


How many people have called someone good who has
only delighted them?




--from Knowing How To Know, p. 240-242

Elements of the Situation

from Knowing How to Know, by Idries Shah
 (published posthumously in 1998):

The Elements of the Situation


If you are trying to teach anything, you have to bring together
certain elements. These include the knowledge, an assessment
of the student, and the method and content of the teaching.


All three factors must be present, and present in the right
order, to the right extent, and in the right manner. Any other
situation will lead to partial learning, to confusion, to lack of
progress.


If you are trying to teach, let us say, literature, chemistry,
business studies or drama to people who have been reared in
the atmosphere of the contemporary West, you will not need
to give the above requirements the very greatest attention. This
is because the minds of the learners already contain, transmitted
by the culture, a large number of elements and attitudes on
which you can build. You do not have to start from scratch.


If, however, you were starting to teach chemistry to members
of a community already thinking only in terms of alchemy; or
astronomy to people who confused it with astrology, you would
have a different problem: and so would they.


The study of metaphysics in the modern West can be likened
to an attempt to study what is in fact chemistry from the point
of view of alchemy. If you were teaching in that situation, you
would not simply plunge in and obey the demand of the students
to give them a 'higher form of alchemy'. You would have to
go to an earlier stage, and establish the framework within which
chemistry could be learnt.


You would be able to USE concepts and processes,
experiments and so on, which had been transmitted by
alchemists. But you would have to disentangle these from all
the rest: from the accretions, misunderstandings and so on which
separate chemistry and alchemy.


You would also find that some, even all, of your students
would have read and heard of all kinds of theories. They would
have read books and even carried out experiments; and they
would expect you to give them explanations which - to their
minds - were necessary and interesting.


What would you say to them?


In what order would you approach your sequence of ideas?


What equipment, instrumentation and elements would you
use?


What would you eliminate, postpone or ignore?


If you knew your job, you would have to start by instilling
concepts which would enable the .student to learn, stage by stage.
You might compromise to some extent, but only to an extent
which would not make learning more difficult, or set people
onto the wrong track.


This is the position of the Sufi teacher at the present time.


The individual who wants to solve the problem of humankind
today comes to the teacher with an often enormous ragbag of
ideas, impressions and theories, only some of which will be of
use in this particular specialisation.


The test which the learner has to pass, first of all, is to show
that he or she can study what is important and relevant. The
pupil who is his or her own enemy is the one who wants to
retain ideas, experiences, theories because they are fulfilling a
pleasure-inducing function. So, first of all, what has to be
determined is whether the student wants to learn or really (often
without knowing it) wants to 'be entertained'.


This is why the Sufis so strongly emphasise the need to
examine one's assumptions. The chief assumption which can
get in the way is usually 'I feel that this is right, therefore it
is: so I want to continue with something which continues, and
preferably amplifies, that feeling.'


Knowledge does not, however, exist for the purpose of
making people pleased, or the reverse.


Sufi study materials, which include study papers, have a dual
purpose. First, they inform: as in the foregoing paragraphs.
Second, they contain the elements which will connect, at the
appropriate time, with the frame of mind which enables the pupil
to progress. This 'frame of mind' is NOT a substitute for
conventional thinking: it is an addition to it. The Sufis do not
merely assume that people can develop their understanding by
grafting their teaching upon preconceived notions. To do so
would be analogous to taking a group of would-be alchemists
and ladling fresh material on top of unsuitable ground.


The process by which people learn, in Sufi schools, is similar
to the way in which people accumulate, in conventional societies,
the basic elements which enable them to be taught more. The
child or mature student in the modern world has, long before
starting any organised learning programme, already absorbed
a very large number of facts and experiences upon which the
learning builds.


The often disastrous assumption made by people wanting to
study Sufi knowledge is that they already have an equivalent
to that basis. It is as if someone wanted to read a book and
insisted that literacy was unnecessary. Or as if someone wanted
to learn farming and assumed that it could be learnt through
the concepts and procedures of blacksmithing.


The basic stock of knowledge and experience at the disposal
of the contemporary individual is large and extremely useful.
Through it you can learn all kinds of things. To become a Sufi
you not only have to acquire more ideas, experiences and skills:
you also have to learn to use them.


People constantly approach Sufis and tell them that such-and-such
contacts, reading, experiences 'have led them to the teacher'.
They seek an assurance that they are right in this belief; they
seek further stimulus of a similar kind: they often expect that
the Sufi will elucidate mysteries and give answers to problems.
They seldom realise that mysteries and problems are not always
there for the purpose of being elucidated. Still less do they
generally understand that the path which has brought them to
the Sufi almost always ceases to have relevance when they have
found the source of teaching.


They have never heard (or have not heeded) the admonition:
'When the donkey has brought you to the door, however
admirable it may be, you have to dismount from it before
entering.'


The main obstacle to learning, though not to imagining that
one can learn or has learnt, is making what are (in fact if not
in appearance) random assumptions. Sufi study materials are
designed to help in dealing with this problem.


Impatience and vanity are deprecated in virtually all religious
systems. Why? Because they reduce the human being, instead
of elevating him or her.


Impatience and vanity are deprecated, too, in all moral and
ethical systems. They are disliked and opposed everywhere: in
the law, in social contact, in science, everywhere. Why? Because
they make life more difficult for someone or something, and
retard developmental progress.


Because from our earlier days, whoever we are, we are
constantly told to overcome these characteristics, they go
underground. People are not even aware that they are vain or
impatient; or else will argue fiercely that 'At least in my desire
for truth, knowledge, etc., I am not impatient or vain. I want
to know so that I can help other people; I want to hurry because
I have achieved so little in my life'. Throughout history, Sufis
have enabled people to deal with these negative characteristics.


They cannot be dealt with by suppression; only by
observation and examination and finally detachment from them.
The monastic systems which once specialised in illustrating these
things fairly soon turned into repressive or mechanical
organisations. Why? Because one factor fell into disuse: the
analysis and prescribing of specific remedies. Something which
started out as a flexible and interacting school turned into an
automatic one: with the same prayers, meditations, litanies,
tunes, activities and so on imposed upon everyone regardless
of need and potentiality. Human beings were, effectively, being
treated like animals being trained: with threat and promise,
tension and repetition, and all the rest.


Western society has in the past few decades taken a great step
forward, which gives its members a perhaps unparalleled
opportunity, This has been due to the final recognition of the
way in which people can be (and are) conditioned to believe
virtually anything. Although this knowledge existed earlier, it
was confined to a few, and was taught to relatively small groups,
because it wag considered subversive. Once, however, the
paradox of change of 'faith' began to disturb Western scientists
in the Korean war, they were not long in explaining - even
in replicating - the phenomenon. As with so many other
discoveries, this one had to wait for its acceptance until there
was no other explanation. Hence, work which Western scientists
could have done a century or more earlier was delayed.


Still, better late than never. What remains to be done is that
the general public should absorb the facts of mind-manipulation.
Failure to do so has resulted in an almost free field for the cults
which are a bane of Western existence. In both East and West,
the slowness of absorption of these facts has allowed narrow
political, religious and faddish fanaticisms to arise, to grow and
to spread without the necessary 'immunisation'. In illiberal
societies it is forbidden to teach these facts. In liberal ones, few
people are interested: but only because mind-manipulation is
assumed to be something that happens to someone else, and
people are selfish in many ways, though charitable in others.


Yet the reality is that most people are touched by one or other
of an immense range of conditioned beliefs, fixations even, which
take the place of truth and are even respected because 'so-and-so
is at least sincere'.


Naturally, such mental sets are not to be opposed. Indeed,
they thrive on opposition. They have to be explained and
contained. The foregoing remarks will not 'become the property'
of the individual or of the group on a single reading. An
unfamiliar and previously untaught lesson, especially when it
claims careful attention and remembering, will always take time
to sink in. This presentation, therefore, forms a part of materials
which need to be reviewed at intervals. Doing this should enable
one to add a little ability and to receive a minute quantity of
understanding, each time.




--from Knowing How To Know, p. 242-247