Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

85 quotes

Quotes by Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The skilled artisan uses the same iron to make a horseshoeAs he does for a polished mirror for the King."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The great poet Hafiz says that you should dye your prayer-carpet with wine if your teacher tells you to do so."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"If you really want to learn, do not be surprised if someone tries to teach you. And do not lightly reject the method."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Most people, whatever their opinions and protestations, do not want to learn."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"One of the basic Sufi needs is to enable people to see themselves as they really are."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The Sufi teacher’s mission is to be in the service of those who can learn."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The teacher works in accordance with the prospects of his students and the possibility of maintaining the community of Sufis."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The teaching must, of course, work with the best part of the individual, must be directed to his or her real capacity."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Why did I do such-and-such a thing?' is all very well. But what about 'How otherwise could I have done it?'."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"When people believe that the form is more important than the Truth, they will not find truth, but will stay with form."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Remember that greed includes greed for being not greedy."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"There is a saying that, according to what a person's mentality is, even an angel may seem to him to have a devil's face."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"The institution of teachership is there for this reason, that the learner must learn how to learn."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"It is no accident that Sufis find that they can connect most constructively with people who are well integrated into the world, as well as having higher aims, and that those who adopt a sensible attitude towards society and life as generally known can usually absorb Sufi teachings very well indeed"

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Why do people always wonder whether books are any good, without wondering whether they are themselves in a state to profit from them?"

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Forms are vehicles and instruments, and vehicles and instruments cannot be called good or bad without context."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because... they appeal to your greed."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

"Forms have changed through the centuries in obedience to the external world to which all forms belong."

Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way