A Perfumed Scorpion: A Way to the
Way by Idries Shah
Truth Seeks You
Whoever might perfume a scorpion
Will not thereby escape its sting.
--Sufi master Bahaudin Naqshband Using the powerful approach of
classical teachers, Shah has crafted a contemporary teaching tool that
blends a fast-paced look at todays world with the timeless teachings of the
Sufis. The book brings into sharp focus the conditioned behavior and self-
deception that are common in Western minds. Far more than a literary
tool for breaking loose old mental habits, it is a blueprint for a process of
self-development that precludes self-deceit. Truly a book among books, A
Perfumed Scorpion is treasured the world over for its clarity of wisdom and
its forcefulness of insight.
Personal Review: A Perfumed Scorpion: A Way to the Way by
Idries Shah

While this book makes abundant use of materials by Sufis of the past, it
also contains many illustrations from contemporary Western sources. In
fact, it introduced me, as if for the first time, to the very Western milieu
within which I had lived all along but had not "seen."Do not be fooled by
the copywrite date. This book cannot be pinned down that way.For those
who want classic Sufi, technical formulas, here they are: Ghazzali's Ten
Duties; The Eleven Rules of the Naqshbandiyya; and The Five Subtleties
(Lataif-i-Khamsa).I began by assuming that I was reading a conventional
exposition, but somewhere in the middle of the chapter, I began to
experience the sensation of bewilderment. I paged back to find my way
out only to get further lost. It seemed that a line of reasoning began, but
the author took no tangents. The line didn't take unexpected turns. It
disappeared altogether. The grammar was odd; not really wrong, but
peculiar. Words had the right denotations but reversed conotations. Just
when I was about to give up in despair, Shah let the cat out of the bag and
admitted what he had been doing. "It will not have escaped your notice," I
read, "that I have been moving from one illustration to another without
necessarily linking the two; that we have alternated arguments with tales
and imagery; that stress has been placed on allegory and imagery within a
sequential narrative which is not, however, expressed in historical,
personality or logical terms for very long."This brand of Sufism may or may
not be associated with religion. Often Shah expresses it in totally secular
terms. I find it illuninating scientific conundrums, anthropological
questions--even business decisions!This book may be less than 200 pages
long, but budget more time for it than you would expect. I found I must
study it as one might study a thing, not as one would read about a thing.
"This involves," he says, "a method which is not entirely uninteresting and
is certainly selective of materials." Can you tell me what that means?
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