Prayers of the Cosmos: Reflections on the Original Meaning of Jesus' Words
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
Reinterpreting the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes from the vantage of Middle Eastern mysticism, Douglas–Klotz offers a radical new translation of the words of Jesus Christ that reveals a mystical, feminist, cosmic Christ.
Seymour M. Hersh
Neil Douglas-Klotz is on the faculty of the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality in Oakland, CA, and is founding director of the International Center for the Dances of Universal Peace. He has over a dozen years of experience teaching movement, music, voice, and body awareness all over the world.
Read more from Seymour M. Hersh
Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Secrets Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of Sufi Stories: Ancient Wisdom to Nourish the Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWild Wisdom: Zen Masters, Mountain Monks & Rebellious Eccentrics Reflect on the Healing Power of Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Heart of the Qur'an: An Introduction to Islamic Spirituality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Prayers of the Cosmos
Related ebooks
The Way of Knowing: Christ Mind Trilogy: Volume III Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sophia Code: A Living Transmission from The Sophia Dragon Tribe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit: A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way of Transformation: Christ Mind Trilogy: Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Gnostic Prayer Book: Collected Prayers, Mantras, and Meditations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hymns to the Beloved: The poetry, prayers and wisdom of the world’s great mystics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Four Fundamental Aspects of Love: Based on "The Transcripts of Mary Magdalene" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World: Really Living One’s Spirituality in Everyday Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent: Sacred Teachings—Annotated & Explained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 30 Teachings of Mary Magdalene: How to Advance Your Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Essential Mystic Prayers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blessings of the Cosmos: Wisdom of the Heart from the Aramaic Words of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Walk with Four Spiritual Guides: Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and Ramakrishna Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Science of Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tearing the Veil of This Sweet Encounter: Day-By-Day with the Mystics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Thomas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gentle Art of Blessing: A Simple Practice That Will Transform You and Your World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way of the Servant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Angels of Peace: Ancient Essene Wisdom for Today’s World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoul Journeys: Christian Spirituality and Shamanism as Pathways for Wholeness and Understanding Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMysteries of Genesis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiving the Prayer of Jesus: A Study of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConscious Union with God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
New Age & Spirituality For You
The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dream Dictionary from A to Z [Revised edition]: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of Suffering Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rumi: The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a Man Thinketh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mastery of Self: A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Questions: How to Discover and Master the Power Within You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Journey to the Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Pray: Reflections and Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reflections on the Psalms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Prayers of the Cosmos
29 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've read almost all of this books and found them very enlightening.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Douglas-Klotz examines the words of Jesus in their original language of Aramaic, drawing out the many beautiful layers and facets of meaning in each line of the Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, and other well-loved verses. Additional "body prayers" suggest ways to immerse oneself further into this deep wisdom. After decades of Bible study, the well-worn words of the Greek-to-English scripture translations had become like a locked door to me. This book drew that door back like a curtain... and what was behind it was so much bigger and truer than anything I'd encountered before that my heart was set aflame.
3 people found this helpful
Book preview
Prayers of the Cosmos - Seymour M. Hersh
Introduction
The richness of expression present in the native Aramaic language of Jesus is a treasure that has been lost—or limited only to scholars—for too long. To discover this treasure, we must challenge ourselves to participate in the prophetic and mystical tradition that Jesus has represented. It is a far cry from our ordinary way of thinking.
A tradition of both native Middle Eastern and Hebraic mysticism says that each statement of sacred teaching must be examined from at least three points of view: the intellectual, the metaphorical, and the universal (or mystical). From the first viewpoint, we consider the face value of the words in question—what so-called modern people normally call the literal
meaning. According to native Middle Eastern mysticism, however, each Aramaic word presents several possible literal
translations. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth
could as easily be translated Blessed are the gentle
or Blessed are those who have softened the rigidity within.
The word for earth
in Aramaic also carries the meanings of earth-iness,
the natural abundance of nature,
and everything that appears in particular forms.
To understand how all these relate to one another, we must go further.
From the second viewpoint, we consider how a statement or story presents a metaphor for our lives-or the life of a community. Here we must awaken our poetic sensibility: we must participate in re-creating meaning from several possible literal translations. With reference to the above saying of Jesus, where are the rigid places in our lives—or in the life of our society? How do they prevent us from receiving sustenance from the natural abundance of nature?
From the third viewpoint, the universal or mystical, one comes to a truth of the experience pointed to by a particular statement. Here we must go beyond seeing a prayer as an affirmation or petition, or a parable as mere metaphor. We must embrace the wordless experience to which the living words of a mystic point. To continue the above example: one faces the question, What do the words rigid and soft have to do with my experience of life, of the cosmos, of God? What feelings do the sounds of the key words in Aramaic evoke? How do I act responsibly from this new understanding? There are no set answers to these questions: they challenge us to an individual response.
To a native Middle Eastern mystic like Jesus, none of these viewpoints excludes the others. One holds all the possible meanings of key sacred phrases and prayer and lets them work inside. According to the Hebrew sage and language scholar Fabre D’Olivet (1815) in The Hebraic Tongue Restored, the tragedy of biblical translation has been that expressions meant to resonate many levels of meaning—at least the intellectual, metaphorical, and universal—have been whittled down to become wholly gross in [their] nature … restricted to material and particular expressions.
This tendency to divide and overliteralize was reflected in the whole Newtonian era: a period that repressed mystical cosmology was also ill at ease with mystical translation. An unnatural division between God, Nature and humanity, unknown to people who lived close to the earth, crept into our language with the advent of modern civilization.
Some of the difficulty harkens back to the source of our texts—and our thinking. Most of the English translations of the words of Jesus come from Greek, a language that differs greatly from Aramaic. Aramaic was the common spoken language throughout the Middle East at the time of Jesus and the tongue in which he expressed his teachings. (Hebrew was primarily a temple language at this time.) According to some scholars, Aramaic was a derivative of ancient Hebrew; others say that Aramaic itself is older, and based on still more ancient Middle Eastern roots. Although Greek was introduced into the Middle East after the conquest of Alexander the Great, it never became the language of the native peoples. Aramaic served as the lingua franca until it was replaced by a derivative tongue, Arabic, during the rise of Islam. Even so, Aramaic continued to be spoken widely in the Middle East into the nineteenth century and is still used in parts of Syria, as well as in the entire church of the East.
Unlike Greek, Aramaic does not draw sharp lines between means and ends, or between an inner quality and an outer action. Both are always present. When Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven,
this kingdom is always both within and among us. Like- wise, neighbor
is both inside and outside, as is the self
that we are to love to the same degree as our neighbor.
Unlike Greek, Aramaic presents a fluid and holistic view of the cosmos. The arbitrary borders found in Greek between mind,
body,
and spirit
fall away.
Furthermore, like its sister languages Hebrew and Arabic, Aramaic can express many layers of meaning. Words are organized and defined based on a poetic root-and-pattern system, so that each word may have several meanings, at first seemingly unrelated, but upon contemplation revealing an inner connection. The same word may be translated, for instance, as name,
light,
sound,
or experience.
Confronted with such variety, one needs to look at each word or phrase from several different points of view—the ones mentioned above, and possibly others. Jesus showed a mastery of this use of transformative language, which survives even through inadequate translations.
In addition, the Aramaic language is close to the earth, rich in images of planting and harvesting, full of views of the natural wonder of the cosmos. Heaven
in Aramaic ceases to be a