Learning How to Learn - Softcover

Shah, Idries

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1784791083 ISBN 13: 9781784791087

Publisher: ISF Publishing, 2020

Synopsis

Written in response to more than 70,000 questions received about the Sufi tradition from people around the world, this keystone work is crucial for readers wishing to approach the Sufi Way.

Learning How to Learn presents traditional teaching stories, anecdotes, and question-and-answer exchanges to illustrate the barriers and prerequisites to Sufi learning. Shah uses the language of Western psychology—concepts known in the ancient wisdom traditions of the East—to explain how and why Sufis learn, and how spiritual understanding may be developed.

The author draws from a vast array sources to illustrate the challenges and pitfalls inherent in real self-development work: from the Eastern parables of Jesus, to the ancient Sufi classics, to the tales of the Oriental wise fool and joke-figure Mulla Nasrudin. Automatic thinking, and the power of desires, hopes and fears that wrongly drive personal development, are among the more notable barriers to progress.

Many of the concepts which Shah introduced in his book including the vital role of right time, place and company in higher studies, and the very idea of ‘learning how to learn’, have since spread in the wider culture. A section dedicated to Shah's theory of the human need to give and receive attention is also considered groundbreaking.

But more than just a manual for the would-be student, Learning How to Learn is an essential book in helping to guard against the chicanery and nonsense found in the spiritual marketplace.

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: ISF Publishing
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1784791083
• ISBN 13: 9781784791087
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376