Quote

To be obsessed by the idea of freedom, for instance, is itself a form of slavery. Such people are in the chains of the hope of freedom, and are therefore able to do little else than struggle with them.

Idries Shah

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Idries Shah
Age: 72 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 16
Died: 1996
Died: November 23
Author
Collector Of Fairy Tales
Teacher
Writer
Simla
Arkon Daraul
Form
Instance
Littles
Slavery
Able
Therefore
Ideas
Struggle
Little
Freedom
People
Hope
Idea
Chains
Else
Obsessed

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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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A certain person may have, as you say, a wonderful presence I do not know. What I do know is that he has a perfectly delightful absence.
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None should say: 'I can trust' or 'I cannot trust' until he is a master of the option, of trusting or not trusting.
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If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.
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When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
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Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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When the ignorant have become numerous or powerful enough, they have been referred to by a special name. This names is 'the Wise'.
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Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature
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People today are in danger of drowning in information but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.
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You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend.
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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
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A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.
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If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man happy - improve yourself!
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Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious.
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Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
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When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.
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When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.
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