Frivolous

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A Prince said to a scholar:
 'The speech of yonder Sufi is so frivolous and so general that I do not believe that he can be a man of sincerity.'
The scholar said:
 'O Emir of Sheikhs! Know that there are three forms of deep knowledge:
 The Deep Knowledge unknown to any; 
 The Deep Knowledge given by the results of complex speech;
 and the Deep Knowledge conveyed by seemingly frivolous means.
 One jest from the lips of that Sufi has made a hundred saints, while other men, of serious mien and threatening talk, have succeeded - in making corpses.'

 A goblet of the Water of Life was once handed to a man
He refused to drink because the container did not please him by its outward shape
If you are a man of 'shape', why do you talk about 'depth'?


✍ Idries Shah (Simla, British India, 16 June 1924 - London, United Kingdom, 23 November 1996).
◙ Artwork: John Frederick Lewis

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