The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries ShahRead
Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal. Interesting people can find something interesting in all things.
Interpretation
Boredom and banality stem from one's perspective; interesting people derive value from all experiences.
Idries Shah's quote suggests that the quality of one's experiences is influenced by their attitude. Those who perceive the world as boring or banal reflect that dullness within themselves, while truly interesting individuals can extract fascination from any situation. This highlights the importance of an open and curious mindset in enriching one's life.
In practice
In a discussion about living an enriched life, this quote can remind us to change our perspective.
The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.
You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical.
Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.
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.
The proverb says that 'The answer to a fool is silence'. Observation, however, indicates that almost any other answer will have the same effect in the long run.
We donβt constrain our mental powers when we store new long-term memories. We strengthen them. With each expansion of our memory comes an enlargement of our intelligence. The Web provides a convenient and compelling supplement to personal memory - but when we start using the Web as a substitute for personal memory, by bypassing the inner processes of consolidation, we risk emptying our minds of their riches.
Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and listen. No more is needed.
Has worrying about tomorrow every changed it?
The [Booker] prize was actually responsible in many ways for my political activism. I won this thing and I was suddenly the darling of the new emerging Indian middle class β they needed a princess. They had the wrong woman. I had this light shining on me at the time, and I knew that I had the stage to say something about what was happening in my country. What is exciting about what I have done since is that writing has become a weapon, some kind of ammunition.
The same man cannot well be skilled in everything; each has his special excellence.
The course of our lives is determined by how we react--what we decide and what we do--at the darkest of times. The nature of that response determines a person's true worth and greatness.
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