Customer Reviews

Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humor

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Metaphysics and humor don't exactly have close ties in western thought, but according to the author of this genuinely illuminating - and funny! - book, the Sufis have a long tradition of employing twists of logic, double entendres, and a wealth of other mental surprises, including even occasional slap stick (usually drawn from real life examples) for a wide range of purposes within their teaching framework. Shah suggests, in fact, that a student should be wary of any humorless master who claims ties to Sufi traditions. In authentic Sufi teaching settings, the master sometimes uses humor to illustrate difficult teaching points, or diagnose the mindset of a student, or just help release tensions inhibiting the student's ability to learn. I think general readers would be rewarded by this book, too, since Shah's comments shed light on many everyday social and psychological situations, such as in professional offices where ways to improve teaching and learning with humor could certainly help in today's fast-paced business environment. This book contains an array of such techniques.

This intriguing little volume is not only a collection, as we are told, of 60 jokes, not just an explanation ( or even a demonstration ) of " The Sufi Use of Humor ", as stated in its title. As will be no surprise to readers of Shah's other works, this book is many - layered and multi - faceted. It is as comprehensive and concise a presentation of the contemporary, yet apparently timeless, Sufi understanding of how the spiritual education of the individual is to be accomplished, of the all - too - common mindsets which will tend to inhibit this development, as exists, I believe, in the Shah opus.

This book is fun to read but it's not just a book of jokes. The author makes the surprising claim that most Sufi masters have had a very developed sense of humor because humor plays an essential role in most traditional Sufi instruction. He presents great examples of the many ways humor can function in a teaching setting. What amazed me is how insightful the humor can be - funny but also illuminating, as the title suggests.