The Sufis

by Idries Shah

‘My friend, a man once hurt his leg. He had to walk with a crutch. This crutch was very useful to him, both for walking and for many other purposes. He taught all his family to use crutches, and they became a part of normal life. It was a part of everyone’s ambition to have a crutch. Some were made of ivory, others adorned with gold. Schools were opened to train people in their use, university chairs endowed to deal with the higher aspects of this science. A few, a very few people started to walk without crutches. This was considered scandalous, absurd. Besides, there were so many uses for crutches. Some of them replied, and were punished. They tried to show that a crutch could be used sometimes, when needed. Or that many of the uses to which a crutch was put could be supplied in other ways. Few listened. In order to overcome the prejudices, some of the people who could walk without support began to behave in a way totally different from established society. Still they remained a few.