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‘Special Illumination’ is a term used by the great poet and mystic Jalaluddin Rumi to stress the importance of humour in metaphysical experience.
In Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humour, Idries Shah explores the functionality of jokes for the cultivation of spiritual perception – and for the thwarting of indoctrination and dogmatic thinking. Shah is well known for publishing the Nasrudin corpus of teaching-stories, in which humour is used to display human behaviour and also to engage the mind in a different manner.
Not only are the 60 stories contained in this volume representative of the type of material used in Sufi development, but the collection on its own comprises an actual learning experience by humour for the modern reader.
In Special Illumination, Shah weaves jokes and humorous anecdotes with skilful commentary, resulting in an entertaining journey that mixes laughter, introspection, and surprise.
Idries Shah was born in India in 1924 into an aristocratic Afghan family. He was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition and is considered one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.
