★★★★★ Tahir Shah (Ed), Idries Shah Remembered.
An Afterword to my own Reading
Like the Sufi mystical tradition that Idries Shah represents, champions, and exemplifies, Shah himself is so multi-faceted that he cannot simply be categorised or pigeon-holed, and perhaps dismissed. There's a tale in the book, containing an idea that crops up again and again, and which applies here: that of the elephant in the dark, an ancient tale that the Sufi Rumi reinterpreted. In this teaching tale, either several blind men are led into the presence of an elephant or sighted people are led to an elephant in the dark, a creature that they know nothing about. One feels its tusk and declares that it is a spear; another touches its ear and declares it a fan; a third is adamant that the tail is a rope; another that its belly is a barrel; and yet another that its sturdy legs are pillars. None of these men “see the whole picture”, the reality. This task of recognition is perhaps made all the more difficult because the externals of the Sufi teachings have throughout history been adapted to suit the current time, place, people, and circumstances, and the tradition's proponents have correspondingly adapted their methods in the face of necessity. Additionally, in Shah's own case, he went to some lengths to strip away cultural accretions around the precious gem or kernel that is Sufism, to the consternation of numerous Orientalists, religionists, and those wedded to exoteric tradition.
What this book does, then, is instead allow the reader and perhaps would-be student to gradually build up a picture of the man, dot by dot by dot, or facet by facet, through the ample use of first-hand accounts of a diverse collection of people approaching or interacting with him, and offering demonstrations of his intelligence, wit and wisdom – Sufi thought and action, as it's described elsewhere – which we can relate to and thus experience vicariously, and make our first tentative steps toward the Sufi Way. There is also ample use of teaching stories and humour, essential elements that are often overlooked or even dismissed, especially in partial and lopsided academic study of the tradition.
It's clear that Shah's work attracted many great thinkers, scientists, scholars and celebrities, as well as regular people from all walks of life, and his growing fame played an important, perhaps crucial, role in extending the reach of his projection of the Sufi Way in the West. With all the sugary praise being heaped on Shah, some readers may feel that Idries Shah Remembered is too much of a festschrift (a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar) or even hagiographical. I would suggest, however, that such praise and genuine appreciation is more than warranted, in general if not always in particular, and that beyond this surface layer of human interaction, we can learn a great deal about Shah's way of working, at a deeper level; his practical application of Sufi principles; and not least his humility, warmth and humanity. And it is clear from what has been written that Shah himself would rather have done without the celebrity, and wished instead that people had concentrated on what he had to share, the real, nourishing content rather than the flashy container, however beautiful and well-crafted the latter may be. Like Rumi he was fond of quoting, “Do not look at my outward shape, but take what is in my hand”, and he clearly felt this was important enough to have written on his tombstone as a lasting reminder.
On this subject, it's worth reading the passage titled “Seeing with the Right Eyes” and the embedded teaching story, on pages 360–362; and as Shah advised, to “Remember that wisdom is not a destination, but a way of travelling”, as explained more fully in “Nourish the Essential” on pages 395–398. Regarding accustoming people to a “higher pattern” as the Sufi materials do, it's also worth looking at what Shah has to say about “waiting for the penny to drop”, in his book Caravan of Dreams:
Waiting for the penny to drop ...
“Many aspects of higher human development can only take the form of communicating knowledge and experience in a disguised manner: rather as we teach our children by involving them in activities which they consider to be amusement rather than lessons in (say) counting, co-ordination, or manners.
“One method of accustoming people to a 'higher pattern' is to involve them in activities and enterprises which are equivalences of higher things.
“Another procedure of great worth is also comparable to one employed in teaching children. It is to surround the pupil with data which he absorbs piecemeal until the 'penny drops'.”
Idries Shah's Successor
One short passage that Tahir Shah did not include, on a subject that must be close to many readers' and former students' lips to this day – and perhaps conspicuous by its absence – is the apparently definitive statement on his father's successor in Tahir's 2007 book In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams:
“A year before my father died, he sat me down in a quiet corner of his garden. We shared a pot of Darjeeling tea and listened to the sound of a pair of wood pigeons in a nearby tree. I poured a second cup of tea. As I was putting the strainer back on its holder, my father said: 'Some time soon I will not be here any more. My illness has reached another phase. I can feel it.'
“I sat there, touched with sadness. I didn't say anything because I could not think of anything appropriate to say.
“'When I am not here,' my father continued, 'some people we have always trusted will betray us. Beware of this. Others will stand forward as true friends, people who were in the shadows before. Many more will ask who I left as my successor. They will hound you, asking for a name. It is important that you tell them that my successor is my printed work. My books form a complete course, a Path, and they succeed when I cannot be there.'”
Perhaps circumstances alter cases? I leave it to readers to work through what has been written, hinted at or is absent, and arrive at and pencil-in their own provisional conclusions, on this and other matters.
Thank You
Many thanks to Tahir Shah and the numerous contributors for sharing this compilation, and for furthering the Work for the Work.
Images
Image 1: Blind men and elephant / Illustrator unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.
Image 2: Fête des Loges fair in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France / Lionel Allorge / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.