Learning How to Learn - Hardcover

Shah, Idries

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0900860596 ISBN 13: 9780900860591

Publisher: Octagon Books, 1978

Synopsis

"Learning How to Learn" contains the authentic material from the Sufi standpoint, written in response to more than 70,000 questions prompted by Shah's books, his university lectures and radio and television programs. He answers government leaders, housewives, philosophy professors and factory workers around the world, on the subjects of how traditional psychology can illuminate current human, social and spiritual problems.

The lively question-answer format provides readers a direct experience of a Sufi learning situation. More than a hundred tales and extracts - ranging from Eastern parables of Jesus, the ancient Sufi classics such as Omar Khayyam, the Mulla Nasrudin teaching-figure, to today's newspapers and contemporary encounters with teachers and students - are woven into Shah's narratives of how and why the Sufis learn, what they learn, and how spiritual understanding develops and deteriorates in all societies.

Many of the concepts which Shah has introduced - including the vital role of the right time, place and company of higher studies, the very concept of 'learning how to learn' and the instrumental, specialized function of ordinarily automatically performed exercises and rituals - have recently been widely copied by serious psychologists and gurus alike. This book contains the authentic material, however, on these and dozens of other subjects.

About this title

About the Author

As the urgency of our global situation becomes apparent, more and more readers are turning to the books of Idries Shah (1924-1996) as a way to train new capacities and new ways of thinking. Shah has been described as "the most significant worker adapting classical spiritual thought to the modern world."

Shah was educated in both the East and West, by private tutors and through wide-ranging travel and personal encounters - the series of journeys which characterize Sufi education and development. In keeping with Sufi tradition, his life was essentially one of service. His knowledge and interests appeared limitless, and his activities and accomplishments took place in many different countries and in numerous fields of endeavor.

Shah was Director of Studies of the Institute for Cultural Research, an educational organization sponsoring interdisciplinary and crosscultural studies of human thought; a founding member of the Club of Rome; a Governor of the Royal Humane Society and the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables; and the founder of publishing house Octagon Press.

Shah's landmark book, "The Sufis", invited readers to approach Sufi ideas and test them out. The evident and common sense made it clear that here was a sane, authoritative voice in the wilderness of the gobbledegookish mysticism of the sixties. The lively, contemporary books on traditional psychologies, literature, philosophy and Sufi thought that followed established a broad historical and cultural context for Sufi thought and action. These have so far sold over 15 million copies in 12 languages worldwide and have been awarded many prizes. They have been reviewed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Times, The Tribune, The Telegraph, and numerous other international journals and newspapers.

University and college courses throughout the world are employing Shah's books, or works based on them, in a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, psychology and literature.

In 1969, Idries Shah was awarded the Dictionary of International Biography's Certificate of Merit for Distinguished Service to Human Thought. Other honors included a Two Thousand Men of Achievement award (1971), Six First Prizes awarded by the UNESCO International Book Year (1972), and the International Who's Who in Poetry's Gold Medal for Poetry (1975).

According to his obituary in the London Daily Telegraph "it is impossible to assess his influence, and his legacy is incalculable".

He was, it is said, the Sufi Teacher of the Age.

"The most interesting books in the English language." Saturday Review

"A major psychological and cultural event of our time." Psychology Today

"One is immediately forced to use one's mind in a new way." New York Times

The instrumental function of Shah's work is now well established among people from all walks of life. Stockbrokers, scientists, lawyers, managers, writers, physicians, and diplomats have found Shah's literature for human development "extraordinary".

"It presents a blueprint of the human mental structure." Robert Ornstein, Ph.D.

"Extremely useful in teaching students about management and computers." Thomas Malone, MIT

"Idries Shah provides the unique perspective that allows us to assess real motivations and social biases in a more accurate light." E. Neilsen, Attorney at Law

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Virtually all organizations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because what they say or do appeals to your greed. This is concealed only by their appearance. If you stop listening to their words and look at the effect, you will soon see it.

Remember that greed includes greed for being not greedy. So, if someone says: "Do not be greedy, be generous", you may inwardly interpret this in such a manner that you will develop a greed for generosity. This, however, remains greed.

Edition details

• Publisher: Octagon Books
• Publication date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0900860596
• ISBN 13: 9780900860591
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 302