Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Little Book of Sufi Stories
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://abwoon.org/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Scotland
NATIONALITY:
Lives in Scotland but not in dropdown
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:M.A.,1985; Ph.D., 1997.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, speaker, workshop leader, and audio series producer. Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning, Edinburgh, Scotland, director; International Network of the Dances of Universal Peace, co-founder; Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace, co-founder. Worked formerly as co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion, as a professor Holy Names College in Oakland, as an instructor with Matthew Fox’s Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality.
AWARDS:Kessler-Keener Foundation Peacemaker of the Year award recipient, 2005.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Neil Douglas-Klotz is a writer, speaker, and workshop leader. As a scholar in religious studies, spirituality, and psychology, he has provided guidance to numerous spirituality organizations. He directs the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning and co-founded the International Network of the Dances of Universal Peace. In 2004, he cofounded the Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace, and has led several group trips to Russia and the Middle East on diplomacy missions. He was presented the Kessler-Keener Foundation Peacemaker of the Year award in 2005 for his work in Middle Eastern peacemaking.
Douglas-Klotz received a master’s degree in somatic psychology and a Ph.D. in religious studies (comparative Semitic hermeneutics) and psychology. He studied under Murshid Moineddin Jablonski, the spiritual successor of Chishti Sufism leader Sufi Ahmed Murad Chishti. Douglas-Klotz leads spiritual retreats which combine Native Middle Eastern spirituality with the teachings of Chishti Sufism. He has produced three audio series of teachings on the Aramaic approach to Jesus, and was co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion for many years. Douglas-Klotz lives in Fife, Scotland.
The Sufi Book of Life
The Sufi Book of Life describes the ninety-nine pathways to God in the Sufi tradition. Though Sufism is neither a philosophy nor a religion, it originates out of Islam practice. Followers of Sufi include Rumi, Hafiz, and Idries Shah. In the book, Douglas-Klotz emphasizes the inclusiveness of the practice, drawing connections between the ninety-nine pathways of Sufi and the practices of other traditions, including the Aramaic tradition of Jesus.
A scholar of Semitic languages, Douglas-Klotz uses his knowledge of the root and pattern system of Arabic vowels to emphasize the universality of the teachings. His interpretations intentionally present the pathways as open to interpretation or application, allowing the reader to take liberties in interpreting the writer’s exegeses. A contributor to Publishers Weekly highlighted Douglas-Klotz’ “intriguing insights, meditation tips and, above all, his inclusive spirit,” while Graham Christian in Library Journal described the book as “an excellent adjunct to personal exploration of Sufism.”
The Little Book of Sufi Stories
In The Little Book of Sufi Stories, Douglas-Klotz presents over forty ancient tales, ranging from religious allegories to familiar, and sometimes twisted, fairytales. “Douglas-Klotz represents these stories as if he’s telling them live, giving the work an immediacy and charm that makes its centuries-old tales relatable,” wrote Jeff Fleischer in Foreword website.
A portion of the stories center on Mullah Nasruddin, a wise fool character who is a recognizable personality in stories from the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Asia. These stories often depict the wise fool getting one over on another character, or opening another’s eyes to their own, or society’s, hypocritical ways. Other stories include “The Hunchback of Ch’ang-an,” a reimagining of a story from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. In it, a hunchback meets a tragic end, and each of the suspects asserts their innocence by pointing the finger to someone else. The story ends with all of the suspects standing trial for the man’s death. Religious stories include characters such as Jonah and Jesus. In one story, Jesus, or Issa, resurrects a dead man’s wife, only to learn that the undead woman is not the same as the man remembered. In another, he accidentally kills his teachers when he is attempting to show them his expert skills, and must bring them back to life. A contributor to Publishers Weekly described the book as “practical, ghostly, and often very funny.”
Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Life
Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Life is a compilation of Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran’s writings on energy, vitality, and expression. In the introduction, Douglas-Klotz provides background on Gibran and the context of his writing. He describes the poet’s Middle Eastern culture and the emphasis on nature mysticism and spirituality that permeate his work.
Douglas-Klotz’ voice is heard in the introduction, but beyond that, the book is focused on the words of Gibran. Despite Douglas-Klotz’ lack of commentary, the works he choose to include in the collection act to demonstrate Gibran’s influences of Maronite Christianity and Lebanese culture. Stories and poems include pieces from Spirits Rebellious and The Garden of the Prophet, though Douglas-Klotz forgoes including works from The Prophet, Gibran’s most widely-recognized work.
The book is divided into six thematic sections; the life of nature, beauty, the human journey, seasons, paradoxes, and the soul. Through these sections, Douglas-Klotz highlights Gibran’s messages of connecting with nature, the limits of knowledge, and the triumph of life in the face of suffering. A contributor to Publishers Weekly described the book as “a solid guide for Gibran fans looking for an easy entree into his less popular work,” while Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spirituality & Practice website wrote that Douglas-Klotz “makes it clear that this gifted poet was in sync with the vitality of the life within.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Library Journal January 1, 2005, Graham Christian, review of The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, p. 120.
Publishers Weekly, December 20, 2004, review of The Sufi Book of Life, p. 56; January 8, 2018, review of Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Life, p. 58; April 23, 2018, review of The Little Book of Sufi Stories: Ancient Wisdom to Nourish the Heart, p. 80.
ONLINE
Foreword, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (May 27, 2018), Jeff Fleischer, review of The Little Book of Sufi Stories.
Spirituality & Practice, http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (August 14, 2018), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Blessings of the Cosmos; review of The Hidden Gospel; review of Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Life.
Home
The Abwoon Network website shares the work of Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz and his colleagues and students on Native Middle Eastern spirituality, peacemaking and ecology, including work on the Aramaic words of Jesus, Hebrew and Native Middle Eastern creation mysticism and Sufism. The website is a collaboration between the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning in Scotland, UK and the Abwoon Resource Center in Columbus, OH, USA (see “About Us“).
Neil is best known for his work on the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus (“The Lord’s Prayer”), shared both in his books as well through the body prayers with music that have spread around the world in the past 32 years (a form called the Dances of Universal Peace). See the Library menu link above to hear about the background of the Aramaic prayer, to see the prayer danced and performed as a personal body prayer and to learn the prayer in Aramaic.
A Message from Neil Douglas-Klotz
Dear Friends,
Welcome to our new website, which celebrates the worldwide spread of the Aramaic Jesus work since my part of it began in 1982!
The Library and Video links share articles, academic papers, directions to Dances of Universal Peace, video clips and audio podcasts from my recent lectures and seminars. All of these are free to download. If you feel moved to make a donation to help edit more audio and video and build the library, you will also find a link there to do this.
The Online Store shares information about my various books as well as links to purchase them. The opening page offers suggestions for where to begin. This section also offers paid downloads of the full audio of several seminars, music/chant recordings, and links to longer audio courses from Sounds True. You will also find a page linking to online courses on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer and the Aramaic Beatitudes.
The Workshops section lists a calendar of my current retreat and seminar schedule worldwide. In the future it will also list offerings based on my work by colleagues and students.
The News section shares an online blog from three sources: the Abwoon Resource Center in Ohio (which helps develop resources worldwide), the Abwoon Network of teachers who are inspired to their own offerings of this work, and my personal blog.
If you are new to the site, below you will find two introductory videos–one on Jesus’ Aramaic worldview and the other a short guided meditation based on it.
First, take a minute to listen to and breathe with the Aramaic prayer of Jesus (the “Lord’s Prayer”). Share a breath of this peace and life energy wherever you are–at work, at home or on the road through life’s changes.
Yours in peace,
nsig
Neil Douglas-Klotz
Dr Neil Douglas-Klotz
Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D. is a world-renowned scholar in religious studies, spirituality and psychology. Living in Fife, Scotland, he directs the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning (www.eial.org) and for many years was co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion. He is also co-founder of the International Network of the Dances of Universal Peace (www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org).
A frequent speaker and workshop leader, he is the author of several books, including Prayers of the Cosmos (1990), The Hidden Gospel (1999), The Genesis Meditations (2003), The Sufi Book of Life (2005), Blessings of the Cosmos (2006), The Tent of Abraham (2006) (with Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Sr. Joan Chittister) and Desert Wisdom (1995, revised 2010). He has also produced three audio series of teachings on the Aramaic approach to Jesus, published by Sounds True (see Online Store section of this website).
Known also for his citizen diplomacy work, Neil led several group trips to Russia and the Middle East and in 2004 cofounded the Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace (www.eicsp.org). In 2005 he was awarded the Kessler-Keener Foundation Peacemaker of the Year award for his work in Middle Eastern peacemaking.
Under his Sufi name, Saadi Shakur Chishti, Neil also offers spiritual retreats combining his work with Native Middle Eastern spirituality with the lineage of Chishti Sufism. He was a long-time student of the Murshid Moineddin Jablonski (d. 2001), the spiritual successor of Sufi Ahmed Murad Chishti (1996-1971). Saadi was recognized as a teacher in the Sufi path in 1981 and a senior teacher or murshid in 1993 in the lineage of the Sufi Ruhaniat (www.ruhaniat.org).
His teacher once wrote:
“The passion play of personal crisis serves to create the human being anew, to move the soul a step closer to its spiritual purpose. Thus it has been, thus will it be. Let us start from our knees for a change, and pray that we become instruments of the divine compassion.”
–Murshid Moineddin Jablonski
An Interview with Neil Douglas Klotz
by Dan Vera
Return to Table of Contents
There are many ways of knowing.
The lame goat's kind is a branch
That traces back to the roots of presence.
Learn from the lame goat,
And lead the herd home.
Rumi (Coleman Barks translation)
In his most recent book, Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus, the scholar Neil Douglas Klotz speaks of the need to recapture the depth of meaning in the words of Jesus. A thoroughly trained academic, with training in hermeneutics and somatic psychology, Klotz's work has centered on unpacking the teachings of Jesus in Aramaic--the language of many original texts of Jesus' words were written in. Through these uncoverings, Klotz reveals himself as a poet whose work allows the layers of well known biblical text to be peeled away. It is not the revelation of a new meaning, but the multiple revelations of multiple meaning that take your breath away. So, a well known line like "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" becomes a treasure trove with the following real possibilities:
"Ripe are those who reside in breath; to them belongs the reign of unity. Blessed are those who realize that breath is their first and last possession; theirs is the "I Can" of the cosmos."
-- from Prayers of the Cosmos
Klotz's work is not about alternative interpretations of the text. On a more profound level, his work is a reminder that our static understandings of biblical texts are actually meaning equivalent of Biblical "Cliff Notes." In reading the translations that have come down to us, we are seeing only one layer of a text which in its original Aramaic had a multiplicity of possible meanings. And it is through this exploration of multiple meanings of text that we glimpse the linguistic realities of the shamanic quality of Jesus' teaching. Klotz is dedicated to returning a "sense of place" to Jesus' teachings, that is, affirming that Jesus was a "native Middle Eastern person" whose "mind and message arise from the same earth as have the traditions of Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers."
After 10 years as professor at Holy Names College in Oakland and instructor with Matthew Fox's Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality, he now makes his home in Scotland. His many interests include the Universal Dances of Peace and Sufi Practice.
Vera: There is a lovely density to your work. The translations open up so many possibilities, that it is as if one is looking at a kaleidoscope of meaning. How would you describe your work as a scholar?
Klotz: Well, there was an image that I used when I was writing my second book Desert Wisdom that still holds true. It's a bit like you have a piece of earth or section of the land that has been sort of over-grazed and over cultivated and you're trying to restore it to its natural ecosystem. That sort of recovery sometimes takes many years. The end of the process looks a lot less organized, a lot less civilized, if you will, then the way it originally started. Essentially the words of Jesus are sort of like that. They have been overgrazed, over cultivated, put into orderly lines. Which accords for the Greek mindset, but not with the Aramaic and not with mindset of Jesus and his original audience. So, when I began working with Prayers for the Cosmos, I knew intuitively that some of this overgrazing was true. I knew enough Aramaic to do the translation, but I didn't know the whole tradition of the language or as much of the background in hermeneutics as I know now. And now, I'm amazed actually at how well the book came out. It really resulted from an intuitive way of finding the right poetic forms to use in translating the prayers of Jesus and the Beatitudes.
Blessedly ripe are those who radiate from a new self within;
They shall be shown a waking vision:
the womb of the One surrounding them with compassion.
-- Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful"
Vera: I was immediately struck by the poetic quality of the translations. Do you have a background in poetry?
Klotz: I have a bit of a background. When I began this work, I didn't really know how to start. I knew that in Aramaic, you can read a statement five, six, seven ways. That alone was revolutionary. But then, given that the King James Version of the Lord's Prayer has so much rhythm, it has so much poetry--those fellows knew what they were doing even if they had a vocabulary that was much more limited than Shakespeare--I was inspired in the timing of what lines work. I read Robert Bly's book on translation and that introduced me to the "long line", the Blake/Whitman line. That is where you count syllables rather then stresses. That was a real breakthrough. I consciously used the long line for the Aramaic prayer translation.
Vera: Well, that comes up in other poets' work like Allen Ginsberg. It also has a real rootedness in the biblical tradition, the Psalms particularly.
Klotz: Yes, I intended that. It was interesting because I sort of had to load the language knowledge into one side of my brain, if you will, and then the more meditative or spiritual side into the other side. I actually did the translations while on retreat. I did a lot of chanting of the words in Aramaic, a lot of the same body prayers that I share in the book. The translations pretty much came out of that whole cloth, with out much revising. I did quite a bit of revising in later translations especially Desert Wisdom, but the Prayers pretty much came out the way they are. Its amazing how quickly they all came through. In a way it felt like a meditative research process.
Vera: In Hidden Gospel you talk about your work being about "overcoming centuries of mistrust and tragedy" specifically in relation to the cultures of the middle east. That resonated with the ways in which the taught biblical tradition has had a scarring effect on the lives of Queer people. Where scripture as "word of life" has become, through translation, the "word of death." Gay men raised in the institutionalized tradition that condemns Gay being and practice.
Klotz: In certain strains of Christian theology.
Vera: Well, yes, in most strains of Christian theology. I'm curious if you have had direct experience of that transformative power, the resonance with people who have been locked out, shunned.
Klotz: Most of the people who I encounter through my work are coming from a more liberal branch of belief, although they may have found their way there from a more restrictive branch, a more fundamentalist branch.
Hokhmah/sophia As First Integrated Self
I believe that part of the answer lies in her Hebrew name itself: Hokhmah. By a mystical reading, the roots of this word point to a breath of individuality (HO) which arises from a sense of inner-ness (KhM) and then expands to connect with Sacred Unity (A). The roots of Hokhmah/Sophia's name, as well as the way she is depicted in Proverbs, show that her role in creation was to form the first integrated self, or "I am."
--Hidden Gospel
Vera: In the chapter on the connections between the Sophia/Wisdom tradition in the Bible to the teachings of Jesus. You speak about the Sophia tradition being a "bringing of the diverse parts of self into whole." That strikes me as similar to the dynamics of many Gay men who have come out, as part of a journey to wholeness. Do you see this as an "embracing of" or a "bringing in" of that scorned part into the whole.
Klotz: Well, that is a very important element of Jesus' teaching that is essentially overlooked. As I wrote in The Hidden Gospel, I think the two major elements of Jesus' teaching are the "recovery of creation story" and the capacity to be creative in alignment with the unfolding creation.
Vera: Do you mean creative in terms of one's relationality with the unfolding creation?
Klotz: Yes, it is to be creatively in radical relationality with one's surroundings. To be fully present with all aspects of one's experience. This takes creativity.
Vera: It reminds me of Carter Heyward's belief that being in relation pushes us to an understanding that basic human unit is not "the self' but rather "the relation."
Klotz: The Sophia tradition, the wisdom tradition represented by Hokhmah, is in essence a gathering of both inside and outside, the loved and the unloved, the scorned and honored. All these different paradoxes are a significant part. It is about gathering them all together around one table, to essentially eat and drink together. This was the original sense of the communion as well. Unfortunately this original understanding has been lost in the current Christian tradition, where it is a communion which keeps it all apart instead of gathering it all together.
Vera: Can you speak to the connections of the Sophia wisdom tradition to the teachings of Jesus?
Klotz: Well, there are many scholars who have pointed out Jesus' relationship with Sophia. But they've generally focused on the "outer" or social justice aspect of the tradition, which I believe is very important. My work essentially just supports that but also points out that in any rendition of Jesus' worth, you can't just take it as either "solely outer" that is the social justice, outward representation. And you can't consider it as solely "inner," that is a completely introverted spiritual state. You have to realize that for Semitic speakers and readers, there has always been a fluid reality between these two aspects. This was especially true for lay speakers at the time of Jesus. In Aramaic, there isn't a strict separation between "inner" and "outer", between the so called "outer communal life" and the "inner psychic life" which you find in our culture and language. Its this split between outer and inner which is probably our biggest problem in Christian culture.
Vera: That split, that schizoid nature of our modern Western reality brings to mind the way your work speaks to "Jesus as Shaman," the integration of that schism. It comes through quite clearly in the translations and the sense of rootedness in culture and ecology too.
Klotz: Well, when you split extraordinary states of awareness or "non-ordinary" states of awareness from so called "normative consciousness" than you end up with basically a schizophrenic culture. Which is what we have. Today, if you have visionary states, then you either go to the minister to be forgiven, or you go the therapist to be drugged out. We simply have no context for understanding the shamanic spiritual practice. Jesus did have that context.
Vera: Can you explain what you mean exactly by "shamanic spiritual practice"?
Klotz: Well, what we see in the texts is that Jesus consistently connected Semitic concepts of holiness, light, kingdom, earth, and heaven, with his listeners' personal experiences of the sacred. This meant his teaching wasn't confined by the conditions of class, wealth, or ritual purity as defined by the political and religious structures of the time. To take this stance was both revolutionary and dangerous.
Vera: How is it that we miss that sense of Jesus' shamanic practice when we read the texts today?
Klotz: What we're suffering from is a very limited extraction in teaching. The biblical texts have been strained out through a Greek/Latin mindset, which is very surface and static. I sometimes think it would have actually have been better if Western culture had based so called "Western religion" on Greek philosophy, rather than middle-eastern, because then at least you'd have all one thing. It would be eternally consistent. But what we have now is sort of half of each. And you're left with a basically schizophrenic tradition.
Vera: I'm reminded here about Alice Walker writing about recovering her "pagan self." She writes that the "Jesus most of us have been brought up to adore must be expanded to include the 'wizard' and the dancer, and that when this is done, it becomes clear that He coexists quite easily with pagan indigenous peoples."
That wizard and shaman aspect comes through so clearly in your work. Especially when you write about the connection between the teachings of Jesus and his relation to the land... that the wisdom flows out of this honoring of place. It speaks to the shamanic element of Jesus, which seems to be completely missing from our common understanding of Jesus.
Klotz: Yes. All my colleagues in the "Historical Jesus" field, they're willing to talk about Jesus as "prophet." But they'll never touch talking about him as a mystic, or mention his visionary practice. They refuse to do that.
Vera: Why do you think that is?
Klotz: It's too challenging to their own awareness. It would mean that they'd have to use different tools to study his teachings, tools that are more appropriate to studying the states of consciousness of a shaman or of mystics in other traditions. They just won't touch that. When they're asked why, they have no explanation. So, either they would like him safely in the "outer," sort of social justice/prophetic tradition, that is to say the leading edge of liberal theology, or they want to keep him back in the box, which is basically as a theological icon.
The Search for Jesus' Basic Spiritual Practice
Vera: One of the things I really love about your work is the way you leap around the texts of the tradition. For example, when you talk about the voice of Sophia "Hokhma" you leap from the canonical book of Proverbs, and then leap to "Hokhma/Sophia" in [the non-canonical text] "Thunder Perfect Mind." This approach alone seems to be a very open, inclusive practice, as if you're in relationship to all the Sophia tradition wherever if comes up. I took this as an honoring of the essence or the resonance of the Sophia "voice" wherever it arises.
Klotz: Yes, I think so. You see I'm primarily interested in trying to get down to the question of "what was Jesus' basic spiritual practice?" What is he offering us today? What is of use in helping us to understand our relationships, our purpose of living, and the depth of our own being. Those are the kinds of questions I'm interested in. And so I'm willing to use whatever means are available, whether that is the scholarly contextualization, as well as the poetic renderings in the Jewish tradition, what we call "midrash," or body prayer. Body prayer after all is part of midrash. Midrash is the bringing of the word, to feel the word, to understand and plunge into the vitality of the word. Because I think these are the closest to the ways that Jesus himself would have approached it. Not that Jesus was a scholar, but I think he had a context for the words. He also had a relationship with the text of the earth, what he saw around him, what he knew around the Sea of Galilee. He launches, from, he doesn't repeat generally, but he launches his midrash, that is to say his interpretation from his understanding of the Hebrew Wisdom tradition.
Vera: I'm not sure if you're familiar with Jerome Rothenberg's work in "Technicians of the Sacred." As a poet and ethnographer, he speaks to needing to return to an understanding of poetry as not separate from dance, or movement. He shows that at one point they were all one in the same. It struck me that your work is about this kind of recovery. It seems to be a remembering that Jesus was a middle eastern person living in a middle eastern context. I'm not sure that I'd ever really realized that deep connection, between the tradition and practices, you can't have one without the other.
Klotz: Usually when I go around talking to Christians, I have to explain to them about this whole tradition of midrash. If I were sitting in a Jewish circle and we were going to take up the first verse of Genesis, the rabbi would sit us down and he would go through all the possible meanings of each word. And then half an hour later, after going through all the possible meanings of each word, he would go: "So, what does it mean to you?" "What is the meaning for you at this particular time in your life?" "What questions does it raise for your own capacity for creativity, about the way you balance your heaven and your earth reality?" You see it's a deep questioning process when one takes up the text. You don't presume that you have all the answers. It's not until you get to the Greek formulation that you encounter this belief that one's interpretation can give you the only or exact representation of the text.
Vera: This also reminds me of the Base community experience of liberation theology in Latin America in which people engage directly with the text and recover the present meaning.
Klotz: Yes. Base communities provided some of the more interesting perspectives, in terms of midrash, on the whole Christian experience. It's startling. It has certainly opened that all up. At least from what people have told me, I would hope that my work is certainly in support of that. This can be seen to be based in what is called the "historical Jesus" movement.
Give birth to compassion for the nearest,
yet unfamiliar, aspect of your self,
as you do for the one outside
who feels like a stranger.
Give birth to the deepest warmth fo
the neighbor, inside and out,
as you do for your own
subconscious community,
inside and out.
based on the Aramaic version of Mark 12: 31
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Vera: I'm wondering what specific thoughts and reflections on this work you'd want to extend to the experience of Gay men.
Klotz: I would say that we can all identify with the experience of Jesus. Particularly men can identify with Jesus and probably Gay men in particular. Jesus is one of the most projected upon historical figures in the history of humanity. In other words, everyone has put their own meanings on him. But Jesus hasn't really been allowed to speak for himself. In that sense, if you talk about the "hidden gospel," you realize that Jesus' own teachings have been "in the closet" for two millennia. Everyone else has had their shot at him, but he hasn't had a chance. I think as much as possible I'm trying to let him speak for himself. Not saying that "this is the only meaning" but "these are some of the other meanings that you haven't been hearing." And they're equally possible to what the church says, or what academic scholarship has said.
I think Jesus is a role model of sorts. Well, I wouldn't recommend the crucifixion part [Laughs]. But he has this mystical and prophetic capacity that is certainly a role model for Gay men. And also, though we don't have evidence in the gospel, Jesus seems to be very fluid in his sense of sexuality. Its clearly fluid in the sense that he is always inviting to his table all these people he's not supposed to be eating with. He's constantly crossing caste boundaries in regards to Jewish dietary law, with whom one is allowed to sit with and eat with.
Vera: Jesus definitely had a radical relationality.
Klotz: He definitely does. So these are aspects of his teaching to consider. Again, I think this Hokhma meditation of "gathering the different parts of the self around the table" is important. All these different parts, all to be honored, all to have enough, all to perform that most important inner communion. That is an extremely important meditation for everyone. Particularly for Gay men for whom so much of themselves has been kept in exile, kept away from the table.
Neil Douglas Klotz is the author of The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus; Desert Wisdom: The Middle Eastern Tradition from the Goddess through the Sufis; Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus; and Sufi Vision and Initiation.
Dan Vera lives in Chicago.
Neil Douglas-Klotz
HOME
RESEARCH
CV
CONTACT
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz
Websites:
Abwoon Network www.abwoon.org
Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning www.eial.org
M.A. Somatic Psychology, 1985
Ph.D., Religious Studies and Psychology, 1997
Neil Douglas-Klotz (Saadi Shakur Chishti) holds a Ph.D. in religious studies (comparative Semitic hermeneutics) and psychology and an M.A. in somatic psychology. He is an independent scholar with a background in hermeneutics, Middle Eastern languages, and sacred movement. For 8 years he served as co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion and was the first practicing mystic to hold this position.
He currently lives in Fife, Scotland and directs the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning (www.eial.org)
He has followed the Sufi path for more than 40 years and is initiated as Murshid (senior guide) in the Sufi Ruhaniat International. He also serves on the advisory board of the International Association of Sufism.
He is the author of the books Prayers of the Cosmos (1990), The Hidden Gospel (1999), The Genesis Meditations (2003), The Sufi Book of Life (2005), Blessings of the Cosmos (2006), Desert Wisdom (2011), Original Meditation (2016), The Little Book of Sufi Stories (2918) and co-author of The Tent of Abraham (2006) with Sr. Joan Chittister and Rabbi Arthur Waskow.
Based on the work that led to the book The Tent of Abraham and the original version of Desert Wisdom, published in 1995, he co-founded the Edinburgh International Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace in 2004, which has been acclaimed as a new interspiritual model for peace conferences, based in spirituality and the arts, rather than in religious concepts around faith and belief.
In 1986 Neil Douglas-Klotz pioneered an approach to interpreting and understanding the words attributed to Jesus in the Gospels from his native Aramaic language. Drawing upon the centuries-old Jewish tradition of midrash (interpretive translation), Douglas-Klotz used a traditional Syriac-Aramaic version of the Gospels to show how a non-Western listener might have heard the words of a Semitic prophet in a multi-leveled way.
This postmodern approach to the interpretation and experiential understanding of ancient Semitic texts was embodied in his first book, Prayers of the Cosmos. It became an international bestseller and led to subsequent academic articles and mainstream books continuing the exploration, which have raised many questions for Biblical scholars about their own epistemological blind-spots.
From 2007-2012 Neil initiated the Abwoon Interspiritual Leadership Program, a three-year program designed as a “finishing school” for spiritual directors, interfaith ministers, retreat directors and meditation instructors who wished to learn how to lead spiritual practice, meditation and body prayer in an interspiritual way. This program went beyond interfaith education, which often stays within the territory of religious concepts and beliefs, and demonstrated what religious studies scholars have long recognized: no spiritual or faith tradition is monolithic and all have a past marked by interaction with and influence from other traditions and from the indigenous wisdom traditions of the earth. The Abwoon Interspiritual Leadership Program was conducted in the USA, Scotland and Germany and was informed by both the best practice of past spiritual traditions as well as the latest research on mind-body psychology and new science (see www.abwoon.org.)
The leadership programs led to the formation of the Abwoon Network, uniting practitioners in various interspiritual disciplines who share work inspired by Neil’s around the world.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
SufismComparative SemiticsMidrashHistorical JesusSyriac StudiesTranslation and InterpretationHermeneuticsSomatic PsychologyAramaic Jesus
more
AFFILIATIONS
American Academy of Religion, Mysticism Group, Emeritus
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534215273786 1/4
Print Marked Items
The Little Book of Sufi Stories
Publishers Weekly.
265.17 (Apr. 23, 2018): p80.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Little Book of Sufi Stories
Neil Douglas-Klotz. Hampton Roads, $15.95
trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-57174-829-4
Douglas-Klotz, director of the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning, compiles an entertaining booklet
of Sufi stories. These practical, ghostly, and often very funny tales come from a variety of Sufi works,
including those by saints like Rumi as well as lay storytellers from Turkey and Persia. Some stories are
religious allegories, such as those from the life of Jesus or Jonah as told by Muslim storytellers, and will be
of interest to comparative religion aficionados. Other stories are twisted fairy tales such as "The Lady and
the Golden Lampstand," in which the prince is unable to save anyone and the Cinderella-like heroine must
be her own fairy godmother. In addition to sharing serious lessons, Douglas-Klotz includes a host of
popular, humorous characters that many readers will recognize--particularly Mullah Nasruddin, whose
capers are well-known throughout the Muslim world. At the end of the volume is a large list of books
containing these and other Sufi accounts. This sampler of Sufi wisdom is a must-read for anyone interested
in non-Western folktales. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Little Book of Sufi Stories." Publishers Weekly, 23 Apr. 2018, p. 80. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532945/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=918f6df3.
Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532945
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534215273786 2/4
Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Life
Publishers Weekly.
265.2 (Jan. 8, 2018): p58+.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Life
Edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz. Hampton Roads, $15.95 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-57174-764-8
Douglas-Klotz (Prayers of the Cosmos) compiles Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran's writings on energy, vitality,
and expression in this pocket-sized first book of the Little Book of Life series. Douglas-Klotz draws from
the full breadth of Gibran's oeuvre (including many poems from Spirits Rebellious and The Garden of the
Prophet) and organizes his selections under six themes: the life of nature, beauty, the human journey,
seasons, paradoxes, and the soul. Apart from the introduction, Douglas-Klotz forgoes any commentary or
personal reflections, though the chosen works generally emphasize Gibran's influences of Maronite
Christianity and Lebanese culture--two cultures the poet (who immigrated to America) straddled throughout
his life. Highlights include selections on connecting with nature through solitude, the triumph of life in the
face of suffering, and the limits of knowledge. Purposefully avoiding Gibran's best-known work, The
Prophet, this slim gift book will serve as a solid guide for Gibran fans looking for an easy entree into his
less popular work. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Life." Publishers Weekly, 8 Jan. 2018, p. 58+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A524503031/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=98396736.
Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A524503031
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534215273786 3/4
Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of
Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the
Modern Dervish
Graham Christian
Library Journal.
130.1 (Jan. 1, 2005): p120.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No
redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
DOUGLAS-KLOTZ, NEIL. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish.
Penguin Compass: Penguin Putnam. Mar. 2005. c.297p. ISBN 0-14219635-5. pap. $15. REL
Douglas-Klotz, a leader in the International Association of Sufism and cofounder of the Dances of Peace,
has written an interesting and user-friendly handbook on Sufism for the modern reader. Sufism, neither a
philosophy nor a religion and sometimes called "a phenomenology of Reality," finds its historical roots, like
Baha'i, in Islam; its adherents have included the likes of the ever-popular Rumi, Hafiz, and Idries Shah.
While this book would never be a substitute for contact with living Sufi practice, it should form an excellent
adjunct to personal exploration of Sufism. For most collections.
Graham Christian, formerly with Andover-Harvard Theological Lib., Cambridge, MA
Christian, Graham
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Christian, Graham. "Douglas-Klotz, Neil. The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern
Dervish." Library Journal, 1 Jan. 2005, p. 120. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A128252539/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=591c2781.
Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A128252539
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534215273786 4/4
The Sufi Way of Life: 99 Pathways of the
Heart for the Modern Dervish
Publishers Weekly.
251.51 (Dec. 20, 2004): p56.
COPYRIGHT 2004 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
THE SUFI WAY OF LIFE: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish NEIL DOUGLAS-KLOTZ.
Penguin, $14 paper (240p) ISBN 0-14-219635-5
Douglas-Klotz, scholar and Sufi leader uses his considerable Semitic language skills to explore the 99
pathways to God, each representing a quality of the One. Douglas-Klotz uses the root and pattern system of
Arabic vowels to liberally interpret these qualities as inseparable from many other traditions, notably the
Aramaic tradition of Jesus. Additionally, his exegeses draw from the tradition of diversity, inclusion and
heterodoxy that has anchored Sufism since the time of Rural. Although Douglas-Klotz states that his
exegeses are meant to be deliberately multivalent and somewhat enigmatic, they may prove opaque for
many readers, especially those expecting an accessible how-to handbook for the "modern dervish." Despite
Douglas-Klotz's early admonishment "Don't worry about getting the point," a high level of linguistic
technicality is typical of at least half the pathways, and readers will have to take him at his word when he
draws complex connections. Nonetheless, his intriguing insights, meditation tips and, above all, his
inclusive spirit should trump technical details to appeal to readers within many religious traditions.
Appendixes offer short biographies of Sufi men and women throughout history; contact information for Sufi
organizations, orders and centers; and formal transliterations of the 99 pathways. (Feb. 22)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Sufi Way of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish." Publishers Weekly, 20 Dec.
2004, p. 56. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A126585128/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=051c871e. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A126585128
THE LITTLE BOOK OF SUFI STORIES
ANCIENT WISDOM TO NOURISH THE HEART
Neil Douglas-Klotz
Hampton Roads Publishing (Jun 1, 2018)
Softcover $15.95 (240pp)
978-1-57174-829-4
The Little Book of Sufi Stories collects more than forty ancient tales and puts a modern spin on them.
Several of the most memorable stories involve Mullah Nasruddin, a “wise fool” who appears in stories throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Asia. In one well-known example, he assures a man that a huge sum of money is only a single coin to Allah, who will gladly give him that coin…in a second. The Nasruddin stories often involve him getting one over on others through creating misunderstandings, and they feel both familiar and witty.
“The Hunchback of Ch’ang-an,” originally part of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, is a dark comedy about the untimely death of the titular hunchback. Over a series of stories, responsibility for his demise passes from one character to another, until all the potentially guilty parties are brought to trial. Similar reversal-of-fortune stories involve a man trying his hand at astrology and accidentally making some key predictions, or a junkman hiding money he discovered through an even more elaborate ruse.
Figures of shared religious traditions pop up too. The book retells the story of Jonah (Yunus here, or “the man of the big fish”), from his first conversation with an unseen voice to his post-fish life in Nineveh. Several stories about Jesus (or Issa) feature him trying to understand his capabilities. In one, he resurrects a man’s wife but learns that she isn’t the same. In another, he accidentally kills his teachers by showing his advanced intellect, and his mother makes him bring them back.
Neil Douglas-Klotz represents these stories as if he’s telling them live, giving the work an immediacy and charm that makes its centuries-old tales relatable. The Little Book of Sufi Stories is an enjoyable collection.
Reviewed by Jeff Fleischer
Religion 2018
Blessings of the Cosmos
Benedictions from the Aramaic
By Neil Douglas-Klotz
Blessings and invocations of Jesus serving as a spur to our delight in being sons and daughters of God.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Twitter
Facebook
Link
Print
Neil Douglas-Klotz (The Sufi Book of Life) is internationally known in the fields of religious studies, spirituality, and psychology, with a specialty in the Aramaic, Christian, Jewish mystical, and Sufi traditions. The current co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion, he spent 10 years as core faculty at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality.
In this book and CD combination, Douglas-Klotz amplifies a project he began 16 years ago with Prayers of the Cosmos where he translated and reinterpreted the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew from the standpoint of Jesus' native language of Aramaic. Using the same format here, he offers the best-loved benedictions of Jesus and invocations for peace, healing, and divine connection. At the outset, he notes some trends that make this kind of exploration more important now than ever:
"On the side of Christian theology, many mainstream and liberal theologians have expressed the view that a majority of Christians are much more interested in spirituality, that is, religious experience, than they are in creeds or theological concepts. Those who find a friend in Jesus are much more interested in how he prayed and what he did — spirituality and social justice — than they are in a catalog of beliefs about the virgin birth, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. They are less interested in what theologians call 'high christological' concepts than they are in how each person becomes a son or daughter of God, living in wisdom and compassion, as Jesus did."
The book is an excellent guide to Jesus' spirituality, and the 80-minute CD with 20 guided Aramaic body prayers help to bring us to a deeper appreciation of our connection with Sacred Unity. Douglas-Klotz covers various blessings, Jesus' parting words to his disciples, and blessings for our inner being in the Beatitudes. Here is a body prayer for peace:
"Breathe easily and naturally with the Aramaic word for deep, creative peace: SHLA-MA. By placing one hand lightly over your heart, feel your heartbeat coming into rhythm with this word. Then use the feeling of the word as a doorway into a connection with the peace and potential that was there before the beginning of the universe. Feel the whole sweep of existence — all of the plants, animals, stars, and galaxies that are traveling ahead of you. Find your place in this moving, cosmic caravan of life and affirm that the same potential that began the universe can be felt in your life, here and now."
The Hidden Gospel
Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus
By Neil Douglas-Klotz
A fascinating look at Aramaic spirituality.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Twitter
Facebook
Link
Print
Neil Douglas-Klotz is an internationally known scholar of religious studies and psychology. He is the author of Desert Wisdom and Prayers of the Cosmos. In this revealing work, Douglas-Klotz looks at Jesus through a native Middle Eastern lens and comes up with an Aramaic spirituality. To spell out what this means in concrete terms, the author includes meditations, spiritual exercises, and holy prayers throughout the text.
Using the Gospel of Thomas and the "Q" and Mark sayings, Douglas-Klotz examines Jesus' teachings about the Sacred Unity in the form of Spirit breath, holiness-spaciousness, light-intelligence, and heaven and earth. The author reframes the root meanings of good and evil as ripe and unripe. He concludes that Jesus spoke eloquently and demonstrated in his deeds the different faces of love as compassion, relationship, and passion.
As a practicing Sufi, Douglas-Klotz remains open to the wisdom of all religious traditions. His book reveals that Jesus as "a Middle Eastern mystic" has much to teach us about the inner shalom and surrender to Holy Wisdom.
Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Life
By Neil Douglas-Klotz, Kahlil Gibran
Spiritual musings on the pulsating soul and the energized world.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Twitter
Facebook
Link
Print
Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer in the Pen League, an Arab-American literary society. He is mainly known for his 1923 book The Prophet, an imaginative work of fiction that pioneered a mix of philosophical musings written in poetic English prose.
By one account, Gibran is the third bestselling poet after Shakespeare
and Lao-Tzu. Exploring the 100 fables, poems, and parables in this collection, we sense the creativity and energy that animated Gibran. The section titles of this paperback illustrate his incredibly energetic exploration of life's meaning:
Listening to Nature's Life
Beauty and the Song of Life
Life's Human Journey
Seasons of Life
Paradoxical Life
The Life of the Soul
The selections are drawn from A Tear and a Smile, The Procession, The Forerunner, The Prophet, Sand and Foam, Jesus The Son of Man, The Wanderer, The Garden of the Prophet, and other works.
Neil Douglas-Klotz is a well-known scholar in religious studies, spirituality, and psychology. Living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he directs the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning and and for many years as the chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion. A Sufi, he is also the cofounder of the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace.
In the Introduction, Douglas-Klotz gives some background on Gibran's Middle East culture, nature mysticism, and spirituality. He makes it clear that this gifted poet was in sync with the vitality of the life within and the life all around him in the pulsating world.
Gibran was drawn to the writings of the 12th century Andalusian Sufi Ibn Arabi who saw reality in terms of a "unity of Being" where everything was suffused with the Divine. In two poems on trees, Gibran sings praises to the unity and mutuality of these magnificent beings:
"Trees are poems
that the earth writes upon the sky.
We fell them down and
turn them to paper
that we may record our emptiness."
Also exploring the same thematic line:
"Said a tree to a man.
'My roots are in the deep red earth, and I shall give you of my fruit.'
And the man said to the tree.
'How alike we are. My roots are also deep in the red earth. And the red earth gives you power to bestow upon me of your fruit, and the red earth teaches me to receive from you with thanksgiving."