Showing results by narrator "David Ault" in All Categories

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.

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.

According to the Sufis, human faculties, although perceptive, are limited: like a radio set, which can receive only certain electromagnetic waves and not other parts of this band. The inability to transcend the barrier of limited senses explains human subjectivity. The Sufis assert that through familiarization with concepts, patterns of thought, and ideas that form part of their contemporary literature, one can learn to penetrate beyond this apparent reality.

The Sufis have been using carefully constructed stories for teaching purposes for thousands of years. Though on the surface these often appear to be little more than entertaining fairy tales or folktales, they enshrine - in their characters, plots, and imagery - patterns and relationships that nurture a part of the mind not reachable in more conventional ways, thus increasing our understanding, flexibility, and breadth of vision.

According to the Sufis, human faculties, although perceptive, are limited: Like a radio set, which can receive only certain electromagnetic waves and not other parts of this band. The inability to transcend the barrier of limited senses explains human subjectivity. The Sufis assert that through familiarization with concepts, patterns of thought, and ideas that form part of their contemporary literature, one can learn to penetrate beyond this apparent reality.

A remarkable conspectus of philosophical contacts between East and West through the ages. This important monograph constitutes the whole text of Idries Shah’s Seminar at Sussex University, fully annotated, indexed and with a bibliography and notes. It knits together the available knowledge about Sufi thought and literature in its passage through many deforming influences, such as the development of cults, the misinterpretation by literalist scholars, and the fallacious comparisons of committed “specialists”.

E. Smurthwaite, an eccentric fantasy author who talks and writes about faeries as if they’re real. Freddie and her siblings strike up a fast friendship with Miss Smurthwaite, distracting Freddie from how her family has suddenly lost the ability to get along. But things take a turn for the stranger when Miss Smurthwaite claims faeries really exist, and that she was acquainted with the faerie king as a girl. Freddie wants to believe her, but such ideas fly in the face of scientific evidence—until malevolent fae invade Scarborough with the aim of taking back the mortal realm from humanity.

Our Tom is set during the First World War and is the story of Thomas Middleton, a lonely 36-year-old laborer from Derbyshire, though well-respected and a pillar of the community he is lonely and sees the outbreak of war a chance to escape his humdrum life. Upon hearing of the sinking of the Lusitania, decides to enlist not only to get away from his life but to protect his family and the country he loves.

Founded in 1966, the Institute for Cultural Research brought together an eclectic group of individuals - from the sciences, the arts, business, government, and all manner of other disciplines. Established under the leadership of the writer and thinker Idries Shah, ICR considered profound questions facing human society, seeking answers by tackling problems in new ways. Or rather, as Shah insisted, in an ancient way.

Anne and Daniel stare through the window in disbelief. Who is that eerie stranger that looks just like Daniel and appears wherever Daniel is supposed to be? Out of nowhere he has appeared, in the clothes of the snowman his friends have built for him. That's why they call him "the snowman". And now he is standing there, in the kitchen of Daniel's hall of residency, talking to his roommates and nobody even suspects that it isn't Daniel at all. Suddenly the door opens and the doubleganger leaves the building.

This book will change your life...provided you listen to it. Why? It shall show you how humour can adopt the most bizarre shapes ever, whilst in the process helping your mind to look at the world in the most original ways. Interwoven with pearls of mystical-esoteric-alchemical wisdom, this book is an homage to the meta-loving mind, creating worlds within worlds with a common thread: humor and an irreverent attitude with the pedantic and intellectual approach to life and the universe.

Hogs Head Stew follows the fortunes of Billy Nottage, an un-sporty eleven-year-old who longs to gain the admiration of the Year Six cool crowd. His opportunity comes when he finds three ghostly relatives living in the family attic, one of whom can help him become a bottle flipping legend.