--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a succession of experiences…" description: "\"There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. Peopl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5f/idries-shah-450_education_there-is-a-succession-of-experiences-whi_412666.jpg" --- # There is a succession of experiences which together… ![“There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. People who think that each gain is the goal itself will freeze at any such stage, and cannot learn through successive and superseding lessons.” quote by Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5f/idries-shah-450_education_there-is-a-succession-of-experiences-whi_412666.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5f/idries-shah-450_education_there-is-a-succession-of-experiences-whi_412666.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c5f/idries-shah-450_education_there-is-a-succession-of-experiences-whi_412666.jpg) > “There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. People who think that each gain is the goal itself will freeze at any such stage, and cannot learn through successive and superseding lessons.” [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Learning requires successive, increasingly complex experiences; treating each lesson as the final goal halts growth. **In simple terms:** Growth needs layered learning, not static milestones. Key Takeaway Embrace continuous, deeper learning. Themes education growth learning humility Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - career advancement - skill mastery - personal development - academic study Key Concepts developmental psychology spirituality Questions to Reflect On - How can you identify the next learning step? - What habits prevent you from moving forward? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on one stage can cause stagnation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [According Sufis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/according-sufis-3676444/) [Constitute Educational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constitute-educational-3676440/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Educational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/educational/) [Educational Developmental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/educational-developmental-3676442/) [Gains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gains/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Learner According](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learner-according-3676445/) [Learners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learners/) [Lessons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lessons/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Ripening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ripening/) [Ripening Learner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ripening-learner-3676439/) [Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stage/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Succession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/succession/) [Sufi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sufi/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) ## Related quotes > [“The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/the-person-that-you-feel-yourself-to-be-according-to-the-sufis-is-a/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [People look with sympathetic eyes only at the blossom and the fruit, and disregard the long period of transition during which the one is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/berthold-auerbach/people-look-with-sympathetic-eyes-only-at-the-blossom-and-the-fruit/) [Berthold Auerbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/berthold-auerbach/) > [The spring rains woke the dormant tillers, and bright green shoots sprang from the moist earth and rose like sleepers stretching after a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-yancey/the-spring-rains-woke-the-dormant-tillers-and-bright-green-shoots/) [Rick Yancey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-yancey/) > [I speak of the war as fruitless; for it is clear that, prosecuted upon the basis of the proclamations of September 22d and September…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-pierce/i-speak-of-the-war-as-fruitless-for-it-is-clear-that-prosecuted-upon/) [Franklin Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-pierce/) > [In creativity the way will be found for subject to pass into object, the identity of subject with object will be restored. All the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/in-creativity-the-way-will-be-found-for-subject-to-pass-into-object/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerzy-grotowski/art-is-a-ripening-an-evolution-an-uplifting-which-enables-us-to/) [Jerzy Grotowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerzy-grotowski/) > [The whole world is one immense woman, and we are in her very womb, we are not yet born, we are joyfully ripening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yevgeny-zamyatin/the-whole-world-is-one-immense-woman-and-we-are-in-her-very-womb-we/) [Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yevgeny-zamyatin/) > [There are different kinds and degrees of love, and they change over time, ripening and deepening and changing us in the process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-king/there-are-different-kinds-and-degrees-of-love-and-they-change-over/) [Cassandra King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-king/) > [With the ripening of the fruits in Autumn the leaves begin to wither and the trees, taking up their sap from the earth through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/with-the-ripening-of-the-fruits-in-autumn-the-leaves-begin-to-wither/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Live in this world, because this world gives a ripening, maturity, integrity. The challenges of this world give you a centering, an awareness. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/live-in-this-world-because-this-world-gives-a-ripening-maturity/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I had begun to think my ripening body would wither untasted on the vine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-carey/i-had-begun-to-think-my-ripening-body-would-wither-untasted-on-the/) [Jacqueline Carey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-carey/) > [Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-frye/do-not-stand-at-my-grave-and-weep-do-not-stand-at-my-grave-and-weep-i/) [Mary Elizabeth Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-frye/) > [May I die like a dog rather than hasten the ripening of a sentence by a single second!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/may-i-die-like-a-dog-rather-than-hasten-the-ripening-of-a-sentence-by/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [If woman is inconstant, good, I am faithful to ebb and flow, I fall in season and now is a time of ripening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-levertov/if-woman-is-inconstant-good-i-am-faithful-to-ebb-and-flow-i-fall-in/) [Denise Levertov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-levertov/) > [Way out in the country tonight he could smell the pumpkins ripening toward the knife and the triangle eye and the singeing candle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/way-out-in-the-country-tonight-he-could-smell-the-pumpkins-ripening/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) ## More by Idries Shah > [“To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and from preconceptions; and not to try to avoid what is your lot.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/to-be-a-sufi-is-to-detach-from-fixed-ideas-and-from-preconceptions/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Teach honesty by all means - you do know what it is, don't you?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/teach-honesty-by-all-means-you-do-know-what-it-is-don-t-you/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/prescribing-hard-work-for-the-soft-or-easy-work-for-the-hardy-is/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Sufism is transmitted by means of the human exemplar, the teacher.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/sufism-is-transmitted-by-means-of-the-human-exemplar-the-teacher/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“No existe práctica en aislamiento.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/no-existe-pr-ctica-en-aislamiento/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/a-king-who-feared-wasps-once-decreed-that-they-were-abolished-as-it/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Do not tell your secrets to everyone in this headquarters, Earth. We have surveyed it well. There was nobody to whom to entrust secrets.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/do-not-tell-your-secrets-to-everyone-in-this-headquarters-earth-we/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/sufis-are-those-who-have-expunged-from-their-minds-the-human/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Yes, the world is an illusion. But Truth is always being shown there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/yes-the-world-is-an-illusion-but-truth-is-always-being-shown-there/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/it-is-the-message-not-the-man-which-is-important-to-the-sufis/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/the-human-being-whether-he-realises-it-or-not-is-trusting-someone-or/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“Who is the wrong person to criticise? You”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/who-is-the-wrong-person-to-criticise-you/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“You may be able to get the bone down your throat But if it reaches your stomach it will tear your navel. (Gulistan)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/you-may-be-able-to-get-the-bone-down-your-throat-but-if-it-reaches/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [“People are always trying to understand. There is only one way to do that. It is to discover < + i + >why< +…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/people-are-always-trying-to-understand-there-is-only-one-way-to-do/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) > [We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/idries-shah/we-view-sufism-not-as-an-ideology-that-molds-people-to-the-right-way/) [Idries Shah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) [Explore all 365 Idries Shah quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/idries-shah/) ## More Education quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) [Ted Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-martinez/) > [“In school you are taught to obey and not to think straight for your own good. Otherwise the world would be full of millionaires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mwanandeke-kindembo/in-school-you-are-taught-to-obey-and-not-to-think-straight-for-your/) [Mwanandeke Kindembo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mwanandeke-kindembo/) > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [There's no authoritarian structure at Reed College, but the education is conservative. So what you have is a lot of students who are very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/there-s-no-authoritarian-structure-at-reed-college-but-the-education/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [“What's the best thing about being in college? Good teachers. They inspire you, they entertain you, and you end up learning a ton even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-sparks/what-s-the-best-thing-about-being-in-college-good-teachers-they/) [Nicholas Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-sparks/) > [“If one has not a head of steel it will burst; if he has not within it a brain of liquid quicksilver, he will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ioannes-amos-commenius/if-one-has-not-a-head-of-steel-it-will-burst-if-he-has-not-within-it/) [Ioannes Amos Commenius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ioannes-amos-commenius/) > [“let us not teach / what we have learned badly / and not profited by”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-d-hilda-doolittle/let-us-not-teach-what-we-have-learned-badly-and-not-profited-by/) [H.D. (Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-d-hilda-doolittle/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [According to Plato, we don't learn anything. Our soul has lived so many lives that we know everything. Teachers and education can only remind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/according-to-plato-we-don-t-learn-anything-our-soul-has-lived-so-many/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“I only began to enjoy studying after I got through the educational system and became a so-called member of society. If something interested me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-only-began-to-enjoy-studying-after-i-got-through-the-educational/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [How wonderful it would be, I thought, if only we could practice the teachings of the Buddha as he really taught them from his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/how-wonderful-it-would-be-i-thought-if-only-we-could-practice-the/) [Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/) > [English teachers tend to put more thought in the books than the author did](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/english-teachers-tend-to-put-more-thought-in-the-books-than-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When will society, like a mother, take care of all her children?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-mann/when-will-society-like-a-mother-take-care-of-all-her-children/) [Horace Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-mann/) [Browse all 37,666 Education quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. 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