Which Way Round?
A man who had studied at many metaphysical schools came to Nasrudin.
In order to show that he could be accepted for discipleship, he described in detail where he had been and what he had studied.
“I hope that you will accept me, or at least tell me your ideas,” he said, “because I have spent so much of my time studying at these schools.”
“Alas,” said Nasrudin, “you have studied the teachers and their teachings. What should have happened is that the teachers and the teachings should have studied you. Then we would have had something worthwhile.”
—from "The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin" by Idries Shah
Surface message
The man believes knowledge comes from collecting teachings, schools, and ideas.
Nasrudin says the opposite.
Real learning happens when the teaching transforms you — not when you accumulate it.
He studied teachings.
He did not allow teachings to study him.
Deeper meaning — “Which Way Round?”
The title itself is the key.
It asks:
Do you examine truth, or does truth examine you?
Do you collect wisdom, or does wisdom change your being?
Do you observe teachings, or do teachings expose your illusions?
Real discipleship is not intellectual — it is existential.
The direction must reverse.
Three levels of understanding
1. Intellectual vs. experiential knowledge
Reading, studying, and collecting systems does not equal transformation.
Many seekers become libraries rather than living understanding.
2. Ego disguised as seeking
The man presents his achievements in order to be accepted.
His learning strengthens identity instead of dissolving it.
Nasrudin implies:
You learned about truth — but truth never touched you.
3. True spiritual work
In real inner work:
teachings question you
reality mirrors you
life reveals your patterns
you become the field of inquiry
You do not master the teaching — it reshapes you.
In the language of the Living Truth
The story points to this:
not collecting teachings
but becoming transparent to them
not knowing truth
but being known by truth
When the teaching studies you, transformation begins.
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