Caravan of Dreams
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The Sufis
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
When it first appeared in 1964, The Sufis was welcomed as the decisive work on the subject of Sufi thought. Rich in scope, author Idries Shah explained clearly the traditions and philosophy of the Sufis to a Western audience for the first time. In the five decades since its release, the book has been translated into more than two dozen languages, and has found a wide readership in both East and West. Containing detailed information on the major Sufi thinkers, and literary characters, such as Nasrudin, it is regarded as a key work on both Sufism and Eastern Philosophy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Sufis is laudable and audible and readable
- By Ulrika Eriksson on 06-24-16
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The Way of the Sufi
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, Sufi teachings, and classical writings as a basic course of Sufi study. The author begins with the outward aspects of the teaching most likely to puzzle the student coming fresh to the subject. He considers various attitudes to Sufi ideas and evidence of their absorption into medieval Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish mysticism, and modern philosophical teachings.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Would Not Recommend.
- By Uniqleeme on 04-06-16
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The World of the Sufi
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Assembled by Idries Shah, The World of the Sufi is a comprehensive collection of learned essays and papers on the subject of Sufi thought. One of the book’s attractions is the way that it considers central questions and areas of study from different angles. Sufi literature, the use of humour, and Sufi communities in various cultural settings are some of the many subjects discussed. In addition, experts in their fields comment on areas such as Sufism and psychiatry, Indian thought and the Sufis, and therapy and the Sufi.
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The Idries Shah Anthology
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2
The Idries Shah Anthology is a special collection of previously published work by Idries Shah, and was edited by Saira Shah. This title includes an Introduction by Saira Shah, as well as comments and annotations throughout the audio.
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Learning How to Learn
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
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Story5 out of 5 stars 12
Condensed from more than three million words, these conversations involve housewives and cabinet ministers, professors and assembly-line workers, on the subject of how traditional psychology can illuminate current human, social, and spiritual problems. More than 100 tales and extracts from Sufi lore, ranging from the eighth century (Hasan of Basra) to the modern Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili, are woven into Shah’s narratives of how and why the Sufis learn what they learn and how spiritual understanding develops and deteriorates in all societies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The title is accurate to the teaching
- By Bryant Barber on 12-18-18
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Tales of the Dervishes
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
Although enormously attractive as sheer entertainment, Dervish tales were never presented merely on the level of a fable, legend, or folklore. They stand comparison in wit, construction, and piquancy with the finest stories of any culture, yet their true function as Sufi teaching stories is so little-known in the modern world, that no technical or popular terms exist to describe them. The material in Tales of the Dervishes is the result of a thousand years of development, during which Dervish masters used these and other teaching stories to instruct their disciples. The tales are held to convey powers of increasing perception unknown to the ordinary man.
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The Sufis
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
When it first appeared in 1964, The Sufis was welcomed as the decisive work on the subject of Sufi thought. Rich in scope, author Idries Shah explained clearly the traditions and philosophy of the Sufis to a Western audience for the first time. In the five decades since its release, the book has been translated into more than two dozen languages, and has found a wide readership in both East and West. Containing detailed information on the major Sufi thinkers, and literary characters, such as Nasrudin, it is regarded as a key work on both Sufism and Eastern Philosophy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Sufis is laudable and audible and readable
- By Ulrika Eriksson on 06-24-16
-
The Way of the Sufi
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, Sufi teachings, and classical writings as a basic course of Sufi study. The author begins with the outward aspects of the teaching most likely to puzzle the student coming fresh to the subject. He considers various attitudes to Sufi ideas and evidence of their absorption into medieval Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish mysticism, and modern philosophical teachings.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Would Not Recommend.
- By Uniqleeme on 04-06-16
-
The World of the Sufi
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Assembled by Idries Shah, The World of the Sufi is a comprehensive collection of learned essays and papers on the subject of Sufi thought. One of the book’s attractions is the way that it considers central questions and areas of study from different angles. Sufi literature, the use of humour, and Sufi communities in various cultural settings are some of the many subjects discussed. In addition, experts in their fields comment on areas such as Sufism and psychiatry, Indian thought and the Sufis, and therapy and the Sufi.
-
The Idries Shah Anthology
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2
The Idries Shah Anthology is a special collection of previously published work by Idries Shah, and was edited by Saira Shah. This title includes an Introduction by Saira Shah, as well as comments and annotations throughout the audio.
-
Learning How to Learn
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 12
Condensed from more than three million words, these conversations involve housewives and cabinet ministers, professors and assembly-line workers, on the subject of how traditional psychology can illuminate current human, social, and spiritual problems. More than 100 tales and extracts from Sufi lore, ranging from the eighth century (Hasan of Basra) to the modern Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili, are woven into Shah’s narratives of how and why the Sufis learn what they learn and how spiritual understanding develops and deteriorates in all societies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The title is accurate to the teaching
- By Bryant Barber on 12-18-18
-
Tales of the Dervishes
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 5
Although enormously attractive as sheer entertainment, Dervish tales were never presented merely on the level of a fable, legend, or folklore. They stand comparison in wit, construction, and piquancy with the finest stories of any culture, yet their true function as Sufi teaching stories is so little-known in the modern world, that no technical or popular terms exist to describe them. The material in Tales of the Dervishes is the result of a thousand years of development, during which Dervish masters used these and other teaching stories to instruct their disciples. The tales are held to convey powers of increasing perception unknown to the ordinary man.
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The Hundred Tales of Wisdom
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Traditionally known as The Hundred Tales of Wisdom, this collection comprises excerpts from the life, teachings, and miracles of the Sufi teacher Jalaluddin Rumi, together with certain important stories from his works. As well as being part of the bedrock of classical Persian literature, these tales, anecdotes, and narratives are believed, by Sufis, to aid in the development of insights beyond ordinary perceptions. Here, they are translated and presented by Idries Shah.
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The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2
Many countries claim Nasrudin as a native, although few have gone so far as Turkey in exhibiting a "grave" of the wisest fool who ever lived, and holding an annual Nasrudin Festival. He is the greatest, most intriguing, character of folklore found in any Eastern land.
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The Dermis Probe
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4
A serious, yet entertaining, look at the impediments in current thought which prevent certain forms of understanding between people. The title story was made into an award-winning film with script by Idries Shah, and chosen as an Outstanding Film of the Year.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sufi Wisdom
- By Ulrika Eriksson on 09-21-17
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A Perfumed Scorpion
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
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Story5 out of 5 stars 6
The "perfuming of a scorpion", referred to by the great Sufi teacher Bahaudin, symbolizes hypocrisy and self-deception: both in the individual and in institutions. In A Perfumed Scorpion, Idries Shah directs attention to both the perfume and the scorpion - the overlay and the reality - in psychology, human behavior and the learning process. Crammed with illustrative anecdotes from contemporary life, the book is nevertheless rooted in the teaching patterns of Rumi, Hafiz, Jami, and many other great Oriental sages. It deals with the need for and the path to knowledge and information.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great book for re-evaluations
- By Bryant Barber on 06-12-19
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World Tales
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
How can it be that the same story is found in Scotland and also in pre-Columbian America? What can account for the durability and persistence of tales? Was the tale of Aladdin and his wondrous lamp really taken from Wales (where it has been found) to the ancient East and, if so, when and by whom? These questions and more are answered in Idries Shah’s remarkable volume World Tales, which is subtitled “The extraordinary coincidence of stories told in all times, in all places.”
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The Magic Monastery
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Many of Idries Shah's books are comprised of tales and teaching stories taken from both written and oral sources, which illustrate the instructional methods employed by Eastern wise men for thousands of years. The Magic Monastery differs from its predecessors in that it contains not only traditional tales - mostly unpublished - but also stories specially written by Shah to complete the book as a "course in non-linear thinking".
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Seeker After Truth
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
A treasure house of teaching materials, assembled in the Sufi manner. Seeker After Truth contains both traditional tales and stories gleaned from contemporary sources, and snippets of table talk, discussions and teachings, letters, and lectures by Idries Shah. Taken together, it constitutes a handbook of materials designed to provoke a different kind of thought.
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The Secret Lore of Magic
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
First published in 1957, The Secret Lore of Magic contains within it a series of major source books of magical arts. Many of them translated into English for the first time, these works are annotated. The book’s title in itself signaled the fact that the bulk of material in this bibliographical study had never been published openly before.
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The Elephant in the Dark
- Christianity, Islam and the Sufis
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
In a darkened room, a group of men once sought to examine an elephant. Taking hold of a different part - an ear, a leg, the tail - each one mistook his particular part for the whole. In the darkness each of the men became convinced that the elephant was the object he had felt - a fan, a rope, a pillar, and so on. With this ancient fable, first described by the Sufi Master Jalaluddin Rumi, Idries Shah presents the Sufi perspective that Christianity and Islam stem from one inner origin.
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Thinkers of the East
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4
Thinkers of the East is a collection of anecdotes and "parables in action" illustrating the eminently practical and lucid approach of Eastern Dervish teachers. Distilled from the teachings of more than 100 sages in three continents, this material stresses the experimental rather than the theoretical - and it is that characteristic of Sufi study which provides its impact and vitality.
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The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
The appeal of Nasrudin is as universal and timeless as the truths he illustrates. His stories are read by children, by scientists and scholars, and by followers of philosophy. Sufi scholar Idries Shah assembled this collection of Nasrudin's trials and tribulations from ancient Eastern manuscripts and oral literature, from sources in North Africa and Turkey, the Middle East and Central Asia. Many were known to the great Sufi masters, Rumi, Jami, and Attar the chemist.
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Oriental Magic
- By: Idries Shah
- Narrated by: David Ault
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Oriental Magic is recognized as a brilliant study of how, what and why people think, in territories extending from North Africa to Japan. The book is the product of years of research and fieldwork in a dozen different cultural regions. Its scholarly accuracy and genuine contribution to cultural understanding have made it a key text for anyone interested in informal beliefs and esoteric practices.
Publisher's Summary
Caravan of Dreams distills the essence of Eastern thought in a feast of Sufi stories, sayings, poems, and allegories collected by one of the world's leading experts in Oriental philosophy and Sufism. Idries Shah builds up a complete picture of a single consciousness, relating Eastern mythology to reality, illuminating historical patterns, and presenting philosophical legends in this unique anthology.
Its title is inspired by the couplet written by the Sufi mystic Bahaudin:
Here we are, all of us: in a dream-caravan, A caravan, but a dream - a dream, but a caravan.
And we know which are the dreams.
Therein lies the hope.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ulrika Eriksson
- 11-26-15
Awesome Narrator
I have read Caravan of Dreams many times and now it's nice to be able to listen to it as well. Especially as David Ault's calm, varied and pleasant voice lifts the text without dominating it.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Darred
- 08-02-19
Superb in every sense
This my first listening and approximately 7th time through this masterpiece of Sufi literature which has effects on the mind still only barely conceivable to psychologies of the *West. it takes decades to absorb what it has to offer to the serious reader.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bryant Barber
- 02-20-19
A great collection of teaching stories
These stories can help readers to better reflect on themselves and how they view the universe. It may help them even have more productive and meaningful interactions with other beings and their environment.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Delano
- 04-12-18
Disappointing
I found his "Way of the Sufi" inspiring, but this book is mainly dull essays by Shah himself, not classic Sufi material.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-25-17
Pure Wisdom
That kind of boook to read(or listen) over and over again. Each time opens up new gates.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Davies
- 10-29-15
enchanting
enchanting stories interspersed with thought provoking sayings, though occasionally i was unsure whether a saying was part of the story. it is beautifully read and altogether a treat
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- I
- 02-12-16
Very beautiful book with lots of insights
Great piece of work from and outstanding person. So many valuable observations.I will read it again and again, because the lessons are to sink in with time and practice. Highly recommend.
1 person found this helpful