Overcoming Assumptions that Inhibit Spiritual Development : A Lecture Delivered Before a Live Audience, Plus Teaching Stories and Narratives

A lecture by Idries Shah delivered before a live audience, plus teaching stories and narratives selected from Tales of the Dervishes This lecture, delivered in 1976, was previously entitled A Psychology of the East. Shah addresses the nature of assumptions, those that inhibit understanding and those that might be useful at certain stages of study but need to be set aside by the student at a later time in order to progress. This requires a flexibility of approach that is not customary in the West, one cultivated by study and exposure to Sufi ideas. A very humorous and lively lecture, full of stories and anecdotes. Among the other topics Shah addresses are the difference between emotionality and spirituality, the danger of looking for easy answers, and the way in which the paths of East and West are converging. This set includes a recording of teaching stories and narratives, selected and read by members of The London College of Storytellers, from Shah’s best-selling work, Tales of the Dervishes.