Journal of a Sufi Odyssey: A True Novel - Book III by Shaykh Tariq Knecht records events in the life of a Muslim who becomes a shaykh in a Sufi mystical Order
and, in the process, encounters many different facets (both constructive and problematic) concerning himself, life, Islam, and the Muslim community.
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With respect to things which can be said, the three volumes of Journal of a Sufi Odyssey: A True Novel form a triology that provides a revealing excursion
into some of the problems and possibilities associated with the Sufi path.
There are seven kinds of people ... within and without.
There are those who know and know that they know. These rare dimensions of the Self are spiritually realized, and one should seek them out and learn from them.
There are those who know but don't know that they know. These individuals are asleep and should be woken up.
There are those who don't know and know that they don't know. These souls are able to learn and should be taught.
There are those who don't know and don't know that they don't know. These are the ignorant ones, and they should be avoided.
There are those who know that they don't know but who, for a variety of reasons, attempt to induce seekers of truth to believe that the former know what they do not. These are the charlatans ... and there are many of them amongst us.
There are those people who even when they are shown the truth cannot bear to live with the implications of what has been disclosed and choose to live their lives in various states of denial that become the doorways through which further evil enters into their lives.
There are those who seek the truth and try, to the best of their ability, to act judiciously with respect to what has been realized no matter where such truth may take them ... and who, therefore, also are prepared to accept the possibility that truth may be other - in part or in whole -- than what they believe it to be and, therefore, make accommodation for this possibility through their thought and behavior.
