Neil Douglas-Klotz - Böcker

In two previous books, Neil Douglas-Klotz pioneered a radical new way of translating the words of Jesus---filtering them through the imagistic worldview of the Aramaic language which Jesus himself spoke. Seen through this lens, familiar sayings such as "Blessed are the meek" come into vibrant contemporary focus as "Healthy are those who have softened what is rigid within." In The Hidden Gospel, Douglas-Klotz employs this approach to decode the spiritual and prophetic messages hidden within key words and concepts in the sayings and stories of Jesus. We learn to our delight, for instance, that when Jesus spoke of "goodness" he used a word which in Aramaic means "ripe" and refers to actions which are in time and tune with the Sacred Unity of all life. The Hidden Gospel aims to bridge the gap between the historical Jesus of the scholar and the Jesus of faith of Christian believers. It will appeal to everyone looking for an alternative spiritual vision of Jesus and his message.

“Neil Douglas-Klotz has distilled his decades of rigorous scholarship, deep practice, and revolutionary insight into a potent elixir for our times.” —Mirabai Starr, translator of Julian of Norwich: The Showings and author of Wild Mercy This book is an approach to Jesus’s recorded words and teachings through his native language, Aramaic, answering many questions clearly and consistently, even if unexpectedly, no matter which Gospel you have in your hands.From the Introduction:“Jesus’s teachings have been used historically to fuel what became modern Western culture, with all its pluses and minuses. At the same time, viewed through his native language, the same teachings provide a solution to our culture’s greatest challenges, pointing the way toward a proper use of our human individuality and will.”Through expansions of Aramaic’s multiple meanings as well as guided contemplations, Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus provides a guide to transformation through the way of the prophet of Nazareth. It shows how Jesus’s deepest teachings address contemporary challenges, such as our relationships with nature and each other, as well as the purpose of life itself.Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus is a guide to living an authentic interior life without dogma and a spiritual path that makes you more comfortable in your own, providing a sense of meaning and purpose.

"Entertaining. . . . practical, ghostly, and often very funny tales . . . including those by saints like Rumi as well as lay storytellers from Turkey and Persia." —Publishers WeeklyThe stories in this book are drawn from the dozens of Sufi tales that Douglas-Klotz has enjoyed telling in his seminars over the past 20 years. Most of them appear in works of the classical Sufis, such as Rumi, Attar, or S'adi. To preserve some of the in-person feeling and bring the language up to date, he has given them his own improvised turns."If you want to hear a good story but prefer to read it instead, then read Douglas-Klotz! He writes as if he's sitting in your living room, invited over for afternoon tea to entertain you with some heart-pleasing, often humorous, yet soul-searching Sufi stories. His modernization of these old texts is gentle and mindful, yet unapologetic." —Maryam Mafi, from the foreword

For the past eighty years, the beautiful words of the Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran have graced everything from greeting cards and wedding invitations to inspirational wall hangings and corporate motivational literature. By one account, Gibran is the third bestselling poet of all time, after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.In this beautiful gift book, we discover the essential wisdom about what it means to be alive. For Gibran life is the energy that saturates all we see and feel--as well as what we can only imagine. Here are over 100 fables, aphorisms, parables, stories, and poems from the author of The Prophet.Here on display is that visionary voice of comfort, love, and tolerance.Listing to Nature's LifeTaking time to listen to the natural world reveals a new dimension of beinghuman. It is as if all of nature were already within us, reminding us of ourconnection to the one life we share.SolitudeSolitude is a silent stormthat breaks down all our dead branches.Yet it sends our living roots deeperinto the living heart of the living earth.

Kahlil Gibran's aphorisms, stories, and poetry on a theme remain among some of those best known to Western readers. His views, however, extend beyond the most-quoted "greeting card" sayings to a wide realm of human emotions and relationships--passion, desire, idealized love, justice, friendship, and the challenges of dealing with strangers, neighbors, and enemies. This little book captures love and life in all of their complexities and nuances.This little volume includes over 90 selections from Gibran's writings and is divided into four sections:Love's InitiationThe Veils of LoveAll of Our RelationshipsA Love BeyondThis book, ideal for all gift-giving occasions, is informative, illuminating, and inspirational. Whom Do We Love?When I stood, a clear mirror before you, you gazed into me and saw your image. Then you said, "I love you."But in truth you loved yourself in me. Love is the veil between lover and lover.

One of the most popular and profound inspirational writers of all time explores the mysteries of life. Here is bite-sized wisdom for daily living in a beautiful gift package.This book is a collection of Gibran's words on life's big questions and the mysteries of the spiritual path. It is an exploration of the riddles and conundrums that are part of the fabric of existence, and it is an attempt to penetrate and explain the mysteries of life.Gibran was fascinated by life's puzzles and riddles--those questions that cause us to stop what we are doing and ask, "Why?" Here are his musings about the seemingly unanswerable questions and his exploration of good and evil, love and hate, and the difference between appearances and reality.Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Secrets is organized into five sections that elucidate the key issues and questions that each of us face:Entering the Labyrinth of LifeSecrets of Life and DeathLife's Ups and DownsSecrets of Good and EvilTraveling the Inner PathThis inspirational gift volume gently guides readers through life's big issues: meaning and mortality, good and evil, and discovering an authentic spiritual path. Suitable for all gift-giving occasions, it is a book that delights, informs, and inspires.

One of the most popular and profound inspirational writers of all time shares simple wisdom for living a happy and fulfilling life.This book is a collection of Gibran's words on how to live. Here are his thoughts on what it means to live in community and solitude and what gives life meaning, along with his often prescient views on government, organized religion, wealth, and commerce. Gibran's sensibility feels contemporary. He did not recognize any ultimate authority outside of the human soul: "It were wiser to speak less of God, whom we cannot understand and more of each other, whom we may understand."This is the essential Gibran, with 88 selections organized into 5 sections that elucidate answers to the questions that each of us face:Living a Wise LifeCommunity WisdomWise ExchangeWisdom from SolitudeWisdom Beyond WordsThis inspirational gift volume gently guides readers through life’s big issues: meaning and mortality, good and evil, and discovering an authentic spiritual path. Suitable for all gift-giving occasions, it is a book that delights, informs, and inspires.

Inspiration from wilderness mystics from around the world, including Henry David Thoreau, Bai Juyi, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lalla, Rachel Carson, John Muir, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Simone Weil, the Baal Shem Tov, Hermann Hesse, Kahlil Gibran, Emily Dickinson, Nan Shepherd, and many more.Sages and mystics throughout the centuries have sought inspiration in the wildness of nature. This little book gathers the sayings and stories of the women and men who have sunk their roots deep into inner retreat and brought forth wisdom for all times and peoples. Here we find the stories and voices of desert fathers and mothers, forest hermits, mountain mystics, wandering philosophers, and wise eccentrics who maintained their solitude while living in society and challenged the status quo with humor. From East and West and everything in between. From Christian hermits, wandering Kabbalists, itinerant Sufis, Zen practitioners, Yogis, court jesters, transcendentalists, and freethinkers, Wild Wisdom gathers a timeless harvest for spiritual renewal. By turns witty, startling, beautiful, and sublime, Wild Wisdom makes a fine companion for personal retreat, daily contemplation, or simply taking time out during a busy day.

“The Aramaic translations of Klotz cut through the rote and bring us to the deeper meanings of Jesus’s teaching that can still touch our hearts, move our souls, and ignite our action.”—Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing  Neil Douglas-Klotz, bestselling author of Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus, offers new translations from Jesus’s native language in the form of a meditation a day, an oracle, or a guide for a forty-day retreat. Through expansions of Aramaic’s multiple meanings as well as guided contemplations, The Aramaic Jesus Book of Days provides a guide to transformation through the way of the prophet. It shows how the deepest teachings of Jesus address contemporary challenges, such as our relationships with nature and each other, as well as the purpose of life itself.  In short chapters, the book takes up life themes you’re facing and offers meditations to address them. Each chapter is introduced with a short saying and keyword of Jesus, heard with “Aramaic ears,” and then proceeds to show how this applies to a life issue today. This book offers a unique perspective on Jesus’s teachings that can help you to connect with them on a deeper level and live a more authentic, fulfilling, and compassionate life.