~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ God and the Brain, courtesy of The Caravanserai .... part 2 Shocks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The saddest thing for me is that the essay currently has 8 LIKES! And some from people who claim to have been reading Idries Shah for a decade or two, more even!!! Imagine, if you will, walking into a modern day laboratory and finding a scientist playing around with frog legs and electrodes in attempt to get the frog legs to twitch into life. The scientist then turns to you and claims to be a modern day authority on electricity, bio-electricity, physics, chemistry etc etc. This would be startling to you, a shock in fact. You may even consider it primitive and barbaric, given the level of sophistication and refinement you are familiar with respect to modern technology. Of course such an experiment may seem a little primitive in this day and age - barbaric even, but several hundred years ago it was all the rage c.f. Galvani and Volta. Now compare that to this account: As most of you probably know, neuroscientists have shown that a mild electromagnetic charge to the temporal lobe can cause visions of spirits, angels, heaven and hell, and the feeling of an unseen presence or presences. - CJM Now this is how it feels to read an article such as God and the Brain. It is an even bigger shock when it is written by one who claims to be an expert not only on Idries Shah, but also on everything he ever wrote, filmed, recorded or even ate for tea. And often also throws in passages from Gurdjieff and J.G.Bennett! That is almost surreal!!! If you have read Idries Shah you will know that he said such things as the Sufis had to wait thousands of years for modern psychology to catch up with them, such that they could present their ideas in the modern format, where they were a little bit more palatable and the modern audience were educated enough to accept them. Now, one does not have be a rocket scientist, a frog leg scientist even, to realize that matters are identical for neuroscience and other areas mentioned in the God and the Brain missive. Sufis are still waiting for modern neuroscience to get to the point where they are with modern psychology. It is doubtful that any amount of poking and prodding will get them there any faster! In fact the Sufis are on record saying it wont! THIS IS ALL CLEARLY EXPLAINED BY IDRIES SHAH in his books. Also, the limitations, and inherent dangers, of such experiments are clearly explained. In fact there is not one element of the essay God and the Brain which isnt covered and explained and answered by Idries Shah in one of following three books: The Sufis, The Commanding Self and Knowing How To Know. In fact, one is almost left breathless by the question: Or is there some other way that humans can verify the existence of God? One is reminded of the constant streams of visitors Idries Shah suffered, and the many anecdotes which were born out of such encounters. These were people who claimed to have read his books, or claimed to be listening to him as he spoke and advised them, then in the next sentence or action they would display a level of ignorant or heedlessness which became almost laughable. In fact, on many occasions, they were extremely funny. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First it must be said that it is precisely because someone thinks like this that he is baffled. He has arbitrarily selected parallels and assumptions, and seeks to apply them to us. Interestingly, he has misapplied them, with the results that he arrives at what he could have even subconsciously sought, confusion. -Idries Shah, Learning How To Learn. People ordinarily do not reach deeply enough into themselves to find out how to learn about what the Sufis call Reality. They make premature assumptions about how to learn, and what attracts them must be good, and so on, which in the ends defeats their putative purpose. -Ibid You ask how studies deteriorate. One of the causes is the sheer weight of numbers of deluded or superficial people who demand deep studies or spiritual knowledge. They create a supply and demand situation which can cause so much imitation of teaching and learning that the imitation is taken for the real. -Ibid It is by no means uncommon, too, for two students to undergo very similar studies with the result that one of them emerges mechanically conditioned, and the other correctly developed. The second student would graduate to even higher studies, while the first one would become a happy but limited devotee or else would have to be deconditoned so that he could really learn. -Idries Shah, Knowing How To Know SHORT CIRCUITING DEVELOPMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THEY HAVE SPENT YEARS WITH BOOKS OR PEOPLE - THEREFORE SOMETHING MUST HAVE BEEN ATTAINED. The reasoning, from the point of experience from which we speak, IS FALSE. The answers to this question, from the people themselves, generally consist of assertions that they feel better, that they feel happier, or that they have been able to help others .... I have met many people who have worked hard in this field, HAVE TRIED SO HARD THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW WHEN THEY REACHED THE END OF THEIR CONSTRUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT, and consequently have DETERIORATED THROUGH REPETITIOUS ACTIVITY, until they are, no use at all, though they may feel that they are, and may contrive to transmit the sensation to others. - Idries Shah, The Commanding Self ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I myself have mentioned on several occasions now an aspect of neuroscience that is not yet known to modern neuroscience, and yet IT IS KNOWN IN THE ESOTERIC SCHOOLS! (The legitimate ones at any rate, those who possess such knowledge.) It is a function of baraka, and I will say no more, since I have already explained it several times. It is an ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE, very ancient indeed. HOWEVER IT IS ALSO AN EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE - beyond anything currently known in modern neuroscience. Well, it would have to be, wouldnt it? I sometimes wonder if all this is why some Sufis seem to belittle so many so-called mystical experiences as only altered states of consciousness that can be deceptive, and why Shah and his associates refused to work within a religious framework. The Sufis do not belittle such experience, they point out that theirs is an exact science (ILM) and they possess a working knowledge of neuroscience, and have done for thousands of years, which has yet to be even glimpsed by modern science. Shah and his associates refused to work within a religious framework.????????? This has to be the icing on the cake .... I actually cannot believe I read it. It further reinforces the belief that I have different editions of the corpus! Of course, a lot depends upon what any particular person may mean by religious framework!
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:49:23 +0000
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