This pocket-size collection of wisdoms, sayings and stories inspired by Idries Shah’s observations of our psychology, is like a splash of ice water for the mind.
Small in size, but with a powerful punch, Reflections is a collection of fables, aphorisms, and statements that challenge our conditioned responses.
The book presents unusual perspectives and ideas – some of them jolting – in an attempt to break the mind free of its more conventional patterns of thinking. Like all of Shah’s works, Reflections helps the reader see things as they really are.
As the book’s foreword states, ‘Do you imagine that fables exist only to amuse or to instruct, and are based upon fiction? The best ones are delineations of what happens in real life, in the community and in the individual’s mental processes.’
‘... witty, tart and instructional – they tend to come into your mind at appropriate moments.’
The New York Times Book Review
‘Very funny ... more wisdom than I have found in any other book this year. I found myself sitting up straight.’
Pat Williams, BBC: Review of the Year
Introduction
The Reason
Eating His Money
The Use of a Light
Why Don’t You?
Prudence
Assumptions
Just Suppose…
Alternate Crop
Tit for Tat
Whose Servant Am I?
Inscrutable Fate
The Answer
Idiots
If Allah Wills It
A Great Thought
The Exploit
The Hunt
Both, Your Majesty!
Forgotten Himself
Not So Difficult
Obligation
Fixed Ideas
There Is a Different Time-Scale
Man Bites Dog – That’s News
Just as Well I Came Along
Strange That You Should Ask...
Avoid Entanglement
How Foolish Can a Man Be?
Cause and Effect
That’s Why They Bunged It Up
The Burden of Guilt
Description of the Goods
More Useful
Which Is My Half?
Learn How to Learn
Face the Facts
Congratulations
Too-Obvious Principles
When You Face Things Alone
The Roles of Man
Dry in the Rain
What Is Real Evidence?
Behind the Obvious
Objectivity
Nobody Complains...
How Far Can You Usefully Be from the Truth?
I Believe You Are Right!
It Appears to Be Thou!
Ladder for Sale
Why Camels Have No Wings
The Gold, The Cloak and The Horse
Give Him Time
The Yogi, The Priest and The Sufi
Remembering
Refutation of the Philosophers
Ask Me Another
The Reward
The High Cost of Learning
The Spiritual Teacher
Hot Soup, Cold Hands
A Word for It
Science
A Question Is an Answer
Aren’t We All?
The Value of Truth
Take No Chances
Guess What?
The Merchant
Don’t Run Away with the Idea…
The Chickens
Prayer Is Better than Sleep...
What Is to Be
The Logician
Once Bitten
Good News
The Dog at His Feet
Facts Are Facts
Not to Be Taken Away
Not My Business to Know
Not as Easy as It Seems
Repetitiousness
Never Miss a Bargain
The Omen That Worked
The Change
The Value of a Desire
When to Worry
Or Else...
How Long Is Too Long?
Anachronism
No Time to Waste
Altruism
Perhaps There Is a Road Up There
The Announcement
What Is Above and What Is Below...
The Speculator
Louder than an Ox
I Did Not Start It
In the Mosque
Eggs
Allah Will Provide
The School
Clairvoyance
Invisible Extension
Mistaken Identity
Deductive Reasoning
Let It Be Wheat
The Genius
Why?
It Is What He Says That Counts
What Will He Find?
Just for the Asking
We Come and We Go
The Karkorajami
The Smell of a Thought
The Burglar
A Matter of Time, Not Place
All in My Wife’s Name
Waiting for the Yeast to Rise
Even Fire
Later than You Think
On His Own
Limits of Perception
Which Way Round?
The Milkman’s Horse
What Is it All for?
Pyramid Expert
Where I Sit
Anyone Can Do It That Way
Life and Death
A Penny Less to Pay
Why Ask Me?
The Daughters
All Included
Why Shouldn’t They Mourn?
Not Worth Keeping
The Physician
Appetite
The Secret
Maximum Capacity
Battle of the Sexes
At the Frontier
Try Anything Once
Seven with One Stroke
Raw Material
Catch Your Rabbit
Pity the Poor Natives
How Far Is Far Enough?
Economic Law
Private Property
Tie up Below!
Fire
Instinct
The Question Contains Its Answer
Nosebags and Donkeys
The Mulla’s Dream
The King Spoke to Me
Nobody Really Knows
Truth
Last Year’s Nests
Head and Heels
Just in Case
Old Graves for New
Nasrudin’s Will
Incomplete
The Mulla’s Tomb
From Reflections by Idries Shah
Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah
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.
Shah devoted his life to collecting, translating and adapting key works of Sufi classical literature for the needs of the West. Called by some 'practical philosophy' - these works represent centuries of Sufi and Islamic thought aimed at developing human potential. His best-known works include the seminal book The Sufis, several collections of teaching stories featuring the ‘wise fool’ Nasrudin, Reflections and Knowing How to Know.
Shah's corpus - over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and cultural studies - have been translated into two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. They are regarded as an important bridge between the cultures of East and West.