Did you know that you could not tolerate absolutely pure water? When water is purified from contamination, it has then to be made slightly brackish before it is palatable to the human being. 

Similarly the very greatest spiritual masters and the most advanced individuals are imperceptible in their real greatness, to the ordinary man. In order to communicate matters of a higher level onto a lower one at all, some adjustment must be made by the communicator. 

It is interesting to note, in ordinary human affairs, how the equivalence works. People are always saying for instance: 

You would never guess that such and such a person is so important, from his behavior; he looks and talks like an ordinary man.” 

But instead of trying to make some part of him perceptible in relating it to the ordinary man, people instead work at inventing or dilating aspects of his personality. That’s why gossip columns are full. 

- taken from Idries shah Knowing How to Know