Q&A with Tahir Shah discussion
Enthusiasm and Learning
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thank you for the answers. a response in one place answering the question in another place until there is in fact a patchwork quilt of answers. well a tiny bit of quilt anyway from my perspective.
Some questions that have crossed my mind....may not fit exactly here and for that I apologize!Tahir, I wonder if you could speak to how being a parent has informed and influenced your travels and writing (and perhaps vice versa).
Are you less inclined now to travel to potentially dangerous locales. Do you tailor your travels with a 'parental' mindset (whatever that might mean)?
As you concentrate on fiction writing, do you find a distinction between adult and 'young adult' topics to be useful?
Hello Tahir,Morocco must be a wonderful place to live in terms of keeping you alert to the details around you. Is there any good stuff out there that we don’t see? What gives you hope?
And thank you for this opportunity.
Janet
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oh yes oh yes, I had had to curtail the wilder side of travel since having kids. The wakeup call regarding that came when I spent 16 days and fearful nights in a torture jail's solitary in peshawar back in 2005. I promised after that episode not to go willingly into the jaws of danger and discomfort.
But travel off the beaten track is such a joy to me. And, I must admit, while driving along with Rachana this morning we were listening to the bad events in Istanbul (riot police, tear gas, protests etc), and i said to her: "This is a damn good time to get a good deal in Istanbul". The thing you have to remember is that place's aren't nearly as bad as the media portray them.
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What i like about Morocco is the side of life that you don't ever hear about in the news. It's Morocco from the indie out... And you know, tourism always shows you a version of a country head on, straight down the line. As far as i am concerned there can be no viewpoint as worthless and utterly boring. Far more interesting is to look at something from a new angle, to hold it into the light and to gently turn it until real magic is revealed.
This is how I see Morocco. Yes, it's wonderful as a tourist destination... but much more magic is revealed if you descend down through the layers, until you reach the cultural bedrock that escapes most visitors.
Hi Tahir! I hope you don't find this Q misplaced here but I have tried messaging you about it but didn't get any answer. Your father has an 'annotation' among others in the final portion of his bok The Sufis called Tarot, where he asserts that the prototype of this strange deck of cards was created by an Arabic-speaking Sufi master to teach about cosmic influences on man - then it got into Italy in the 14th century where it got translated (partially wrongly) into the icons and imagery of that place and time. Could you give more details on this? And a follow-up Q: Have you ever had any interest on this subject, so as to write on it perhaps? Thankful for any answer. Héctor
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I think the key to this is observation -- learning to see what is right in front of you but invisible most of the time. Sometimes I do a little test for myself... I sit on a street corner or in a cafe, and I look out at the street. I keep sitting there until I see what I think I understand in a new way. Sometimes it takes hours. But like any training, the more you do it, the better you get at it.
The best place to start is in a room in your home. Look at things and think in new ways. Question what you see. Turn it around. And enjoy finding new ideas and information from the ordinary.
TS
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Yes, I know this information fro The Sufis. My father mentioned it several times to me, as an example of something that has become distorted as it transgresses from one culture to another. And that's what's so intriguing to me -- how something with a know value in society A moves to society B and changes its meaning and association.
Could you comment about the following in relation to your experiences at the Caliph’s House, on the Trail of Feathers, or in general: What has most helped you to learn? What has most helped you to really wish to learn how to learn?