Sufi Wisdom: The Bird and the Egg

by new team member T.L. James of Mars Blog and Man of Two Worlds. Part of our weekly Sufi Wisdom series.

As militant Islam does its best to discredit the religion, it is important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics with roots in many religious traditions. The lessons of Sufism are often communicated through humorous stories and mystical or romantic poetry. As a part of Joe's Good News Saturdays, we spend some time each week with the Sufis and their "wisdom of idiots".

In his collection Tales of the Dervishes, Idries Shah relates a teaching story from Suhrawardi which reads (superficially) like a twist on The Ugly Duckling:

Once upon a time there was a bird which did not have the power of flight. Like a chicken, he walked about on the ground, although he knew that some birds did fly.

It so happened that, through a combination of circumstances, the egg of a flying bird was incubated by this flightless one.

In due time the chick came forth, still with the potentiality for flight which he had always had, even from the time he was in the egg.

It spoke to its foster parent, saying: "When will I fly?" And the landbound bird said: "Persist in your attempts to fly, just like the others."

For he did not know how to take the fledgling for its lesson in flying: even how to topple it from the nest so that it might learn.

And it is curious, in a way, that the young bird did not see this. His recognition of the situation was confused by the fact that he felt gratitude to the bird which had hatched him.

"Without this service," he said to himself, "surely I would still be in the egg?"

And, again, sometimes he said to himself: "Anyone who can hatch me, surely he can teach me to fly. It must be just a matter of time, or of my own unaided efforts, or of some great wisdom: yes, that is it. Suddenly one day I will be carried to the next stage by him who has brought me thus far."

Who are the birds, and what is flight? And what is the young bird missing?

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