Idries Shah

The Commanding Self, in Sufic terminology, is that mixture of the primitive and conditioned responses, common to everyone, which inhibits and distorts human progress and understanding. This book was described by Shah as the key to understanding his entire corpus of work. While complete in itself as an anthology of hitherto unpublished work, it serves to illustrate and amplify Idries Shah's preceding books on the Sufi Way. In its introduction, he writes, 'Thousands of books and monographs have been written on Sufism and the Sufis, almost all of them from the point of view of other ways of thinking. The result has been chaos in the literature, and confusion in the reader. Over the centuries, some of the world's most eminent scholars have fallen into the trap of trying to examine, access or consider the Sufi phenomenon through a set of culture-bound preconceptions.'

'Perhaps the best introduction to the body of Shah's work, the most comprehensively informative. And one is immediately forced to use one's mind in a new way.' - The New York TimesWhen it first appeared in 1964, The Sufis was welcomed as the decisive work on the subject: rich in scope, clearly explaining the traditions and philosophy of the Sufis to a Western audience for the first time. In the five decades since its release, the book has been translated into dozens of languages, and has found a wide readership in both East and West. It is used as a text in scores of leading universities around the world, and the material contained within it has been applied by psychologists and physicists, by school teachers, lawyers, social workers, and by ordinary members of the public. Ted Hughes wrote of it: 'An astonishing book. The Sufis must be the biggest society of sensible men on earth'; and Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said of it: 'I had waited my entire life to read this book.'

The Commanding Self, in Sufic terminology, is that mixture of the primitive and conditioned responses, common to everyone, which inhibits and distorts human progress and understanding. This book was described by Shah as the key to understanding his entire corpus of work. While complete in itself as an anthology of hitherto unpublished work, it serves to illustrate and amplify Idries Shah's preceding books on the Sufi Way. In its introduction, he writes, 'Thousands of books and monographs have been written on Sufism and the Sufis, almost all of them from the point of view of other ways of thinking. The result has been chaos in the literature, and confusion in the reader. Over the centuries, some of the world's most eminent scholars have fallen into the trap of trying to examine, access or consider the Sufi phenomenon through a set of culture-bound preconceptions.'

'Perhaps the best introduction to the body of Shah's work, the most comprehensively informative. And one is immediately forced to use one's mind in a new way.' - The New York TimesWhen it first appeared in 1964, The Sufis was welcomed as the decisive work on the subject: rich in scope, clearly explaining the traditions and philosophy of the Sufis to a Western audience for the first time. In the five decades since its release, the book has been translated into dozens of languages, and has found a wide readership in both East and West. It is used as a text in scores of leading universities around the world, and the material contained within it has been applied by psychologists and physicists, by school teachers, lawyers, social workers, and by ordinary members of the public. Ted Hughes wrote of it: 'An astonishing book. The Sufis must be the biggest society of sensible men on earth'; and Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said of it: 'I had waited my entire life to read this book.'

First published in 1957, The Secret Lore of Magic contains within it a series of major source-books of magical arts. Many of them translated into English for the first time, these works are annotated and fully illustrated. The book's title in itself signalled the fact that the bulk of material in this bibliographical study had never been published openly before. Together with Oriental Magic which appeared in the preceding year, it provided a complete survey of fundamental magical literature, and thus a comprehensive reference system for psychologists, ethnologists and others interested in the rise and development of human beliefs. Both books also introduced the general reader to dependable information about what was a shadowy and confusing subject.

Thinkers of the East is a collection of anecdotes and 'parables in action' illustrating the eminently practical and lucid approach of Eastern Dervish teachers. Distilled from the teachings of more than one hundred sages in three continents, this material stresses the experimental rather than the theoretical - and it is that characteristic of Sufi study which provides its impact and vitality. The emphasis of Thinkers of the East contrasts sharply with the Western concept of the East as a place of theory without practice, or thought without action. The book's author, Idries Shah, says 'Without direct experience of such teaching, or at least a direct recording of it, I cannot see how Eastern thought can ever be understood'.

Thinkers of the East is a collection of anecdotes and 'parables in action' illustrating the eminently practical and lucid approach of Eastern Dervish teachers. Distilled from the teachings of more than one hundred sages in three continents, this material stresses the experimental rather than the theoretical - and it is that characteristic of Sufi study which provides its impact and vitality. The emphasis of Thinkers of the East contrasts sharply with the Western concept of the East as a place of theory without practice, or thought without action. The book's author, Idries Shah, says "Without direct experience of such teaching, or at least a direct recording of it, I cannot see how Eastern thought can ever be understood".

First published in 1957, The Secret Lore of Magic contains within it a series of major source-books of magical arts. Many of them translated into English for the first time, these works are annotated and fully illustrated. The book's title in itself signalled the fact that the bulk of material in this bibliographical study had never been published openly before. Together with Oriental Magic which appeared in the preceding year, it provided a complete survey of fundamental magical literature, and thus a comprehensive reference system for psychologists, ethnologists and others interested in the rise and development of human beliefs. Both books also introduced the general reader to dependable information about what was a shadowy and confusing subject.

Una mirada seria - pero al mismo tiempo entretenida - a los obst culos presentes en el pensamiento actual que impiden el desarrollo de ciertas formas de comprensi n entre las personas. El cuento que da t tulo al libro fue convertido en un galardonado film con gui n de Idries Shah, el cual fue elegido como Film Destacado del A o (Outstanding Film of the Year). La exploraci n d rmica consta de una colecci n de extractos tomados tanto de la tradici n oral como escrita, creada y transmitida por grandes pensadores de Oriente. En su prefacio, Shah comenta: "En este libro puedes encontrar descripciones de algunas de las peculiaridades del pensamiento predominante en cualquier pa s de este mundo actual, observadas por sus habitantes y por aquellos que se llaman a s mismos visitantes."

A remarkable conspectus of philosophical contacts between East and West through the ages. This important monograph constitutes the whole text of Idries Shah's Seminar at Sussex University, fully annotated, indexed and with a bibliography and notes.

Una mirada seria - pero al mismo tiempo entretenida - a los obstaculos presentes en el pensamiento actual que impiden el desarrollo de ciertas formas de comprension entre las personas.