Knowing How to Know: A Practical Philosophy in the Sufi Tradition

In many ways, this book continues themes the author expressed and evoked in Learning How to Learn: differences between emotionality and spirituality, real and false teachers, real and false students, preparatory work, the never-ending struggle of sufism to overcome humanity's "herd instinct." Idries Shah employs essays, parables, lists, logic, and question-and-answer seamlessly. If you're interested in sufism, or spirituality in general, this book is likely to disturb you as well as fascinate you. Sharp critiques of common illusions (and even delusions) are juxtaposed with rare subtleties. Either way, there are plenty of ideas worth contemplating. The short chapter on Exercising Power, for example, explains how the motif "Do this or I will make you uncomfortable" applies to both the superior and inferior parties in any power transaction.

Shah frequently prescribes a dose of humility and self assessment, which can be uncomfortable since they tend to deflate the ego - mine anyway. But along with such correctives Shah also serves up thought provoking, disarming humor and many excellent lessons for conducting a productive life. The entry on Pashtun sayings is a riveting ­blend of practical country wisdom (with many touches of humor) and profound observations on the mind, spirit, and society. This is a great book.

The word "Sufi" still elicits a range of reactions from the mystified to the parochial to the impractical, and you will likely view this book accordingly, unless you actually read it. In a curious way, it assumes that you are seeking an understanding of your motivations, and of life in general, as if "Sufi" were an everyday preoccupation. Yet, without attempting to define "Sufi" in any direct way, "Knowing How to Know" will likely challenge your assumptions regarding most any approach to knowledge that you have ever undertaken.If this book is to be believed, any real increase in understanding requires fundamental changes in characteristic patterns of our thinking, patterns of which we are typically unaware. However, the complexity of our minds means that each of us has unique needs that must be satisfied before effective changes in our thinking can occur. The process is not hit or miss, but involves human operations as precise as any required in the physical sciences, including all of the elements of love, action, and attention to which we are appropriately disposed. "Knowing How to Know" lays out, in very stark terms, just how we might hope to apply these necessary requirements to aquire deeper, broader, and higher knowledge in our own lives.

In nearly two dozen previous books on the subject, Idries Shah has shown Sufism to be something quite different from what one might expect. Thanks to his efforts, the reader can see that it is neither a cult (though many cults have appropriated its name) nor a collection of woolly-headed idealists, but rather a surprisingly sophisticated and practical science that is constrained by its own laws and principles in much the same way as is, say, physics or medicine. And like physics and medicine - and any other practical discipline - Sufism must maintain a tough-minded rigor to avoid being distorted by subjectivity and overrun by poseurs and wannabes. Among Shah's books, I find this tough-mindedness to be nowhere so apparent as in the posthumously published Knowing How to Know. While he has never struck me as an author particularly given to mincing words, Shah seems here to take an even more direct approach than in the previous works upon which this one builds, as he focuses on the barriers that prevent understanding in both the individual and the group. The result is a book that is something of a wake-up call, with an effect at once bracing and edifying. It's my guess that, no matter what your background or pet beliefs, Knowing How to Know will not leave you indifferent.

Ted Hughes once referred to the Sufis as probably "the biggest society of sensible men there has ever been on earth". During his lifetime, Idries Shah, who died in November 1996, published over 30 books containing Sufi teaching materials presented in a format suitable for the needs of modern Western society. Using extracts from the classical Sufi masters, teaching tales, personal observation and responses to questions asked by students and correspondents, he made it his task to take the romance, and the rubbish, out of our ideas of spiritual development. Knowing How to Know" is Shah's first posthumous work. The title refers back to "Learning How to Learn", an earlier volume in which he outlined the factors inhibiting the learning process which is an indispensible part of human development. "Knowing How to Know" describes the complex of human characteristics which prevent our perceiving that knowledge is not the reward of virtue, but the unvarnished truth about the human condition.Sufism is not about making people feel good; it is about making people see themselves as they are really are, and "Knowing How to Know" is not a book for the faint-hearted, or for those who prefer not to examine their own motivations and assumptions. But for those who are prepared to invest a measure of effort and to let go of their prejudices, it is a rich and rewarding book, and one which may permanently change their way of thinking about the world.