''Reflections'' by
Idries Shah
Idries Shah (; hi, इदरीस शाह, ps, ادريس شاه, ur, ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el- Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Arko ...
is a collection of eighty fables, aphorisms, and statements that seek to challenge the conditioned mind. The book intends to confront the reader with unaccustomed perspectives and ideas, in an attempt to set the mind free, to see how things really are.
As the book’s foreword states, "Do you imagine that fables exist only to amuse or to instruct, and are based upon fiction? The best ones are delineations of what happens in real life, in the community and in the individual’s mental processes".
Content
''Reflections'' is a collection of a foreword and eighty brief literary pieces which were designed for reflection. Many are as brief as this example:
Reception
This small, pocket-sized book was well received by critics. In her review in ''The Observer'', author
Doris Lessing
Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
called ''Reflections'' "... a lively collection of fables, comments, aphorisms, its quality astringency."
The ''New York Times Book Review'' called it "... witty, tart and instructional - they tend to come into your mind at appropriate moments."
Pat Williams, reviewing for BBC's Review of the Year, stated that ''Reflections'' was "Very funny ... more wisdom than I have found in any other book this year. I found myself sitting up straight."
References
{{Reflist
External links
The Idries Shah FoundationFree Online Read and Audiobook
1968 books
Sufi literature
Books by Idries Shah
Contemporary philosophical literature