Sufi Knowledge

It is interesting to note the difference between science as we see it today, and as it was seen by one of it's pioneers. Roger Bacon, considered to be the wonder of the middle ages and one of humanity's greatest thinkers, was the pioneer of the method of knowledge gained through experience. This Franciscan monk learned from the Sufi's of the illuminist school that there is a difference between the collection of information and the knowing of things through actual experiment. In his Opus Maius, in which he quotes Sufi authority, he says:

There are two modes of knowledge, through argument and experience. Argument brings conclusions and compels us to concede them, but it does not cause certainty nor remove doubts in order that the mind may remain at rest in truth, unless this is provided by experience.

This Sufi doctrine is known in the west as the scientific method of inductive proceeding, and subsequent Western knowledge is largely based upon it.
Modern science, however, instead of accepting the idea that experience was necessary in all branches of human thought, took the word in its sense of "experiment," in which the experimenter remained as far as possible outside the experience.
From the Sufi point of view, therefore, Bacon, when he wrote these words in 1268, both launched modern science and also transmitted only a portion of the wisdom upon which it could have been based.
"Scientific" thinking worked continuously and heroically with this partial tradition ever since. In spite of its roots in the work of the Sufi's, the impairment of the tradition has prevented the scientific researcher from approaching knowledge by means of itself -- by "experience," not merely by "experiment"

Idries Shah, from the Author's Preface to The Sufi's

I've picked this book up again. Last time I read it, I got a few chapters in before getting side tracked by something else. We'll see how far I get this time.
I bought the book used, and the above quote is underlined, but I think I was the one who underlined it. Something about this passage strikes me. The reliance on experience as the higher truth. But, also the idea that arguement is specifically mentioned as not being above experience. This idea will surface again. I'm sure of it.

Today is Easter, a time of renewal. A good time to start a new path, or pick on where an old one left off. Posted by Matt at April 20, 2003 10:42 PM