Dr. Li Interviews Neil Douglas-Klotz, PhD: Embodying Sound and Sacred Text

This podcast is part-conversation, part-embodiment workshop.

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.

By examining the “heart talks” of Jesus, he addresses universal themes like, How do we find renewal and healing amidst challenging times? How do we keep our hearts open? Or more fundamentally, who am I?

Neil Douglas-Klotz, PhD, a renowned scholar in psychology and religious studies, a poet, and a musician, is a pioneer in the radical translation and transliteration of Jesus's words in the original language to reveal a mystical, feminist, and cosmic Christ. When Douglas-Klotz first learned the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, he recited the words and then chanted the sounds over and over again. “My body began to feel feelings I hadn’t felt before. It was a visionary experience, a hal [expanded state, in Arabic].” He has engaged in deep exploration of the body, mystical and expanded states of consciousness, and the early pre-religious ways of the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—which he explains reflect movement of a universe that is holistic, fluid, and conscious.

He is most well-known for his book, Prayers of the Cosmos, and his most recent book, Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus: The Hidden Teachings on Life and Death, is the culmination of his life’s work over 40 years. The organization he founded is the Abwoon Network.

Douglas-Klotz’s other books include The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish, Kahlil Gibran’s Little Book of Wisdom, Desert Wisdom: A Nomad’s Guide to Life’s Big Questions from the Heart of the Native Middle East, The Little Book of Sufi Stories and a historical mystery called A Murder at Armageddon. He has served as faculty at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, begun by theologian Matthew Fox, which in the 1990s gathered scientists, artists, educators, and students across different cultures and races. 

Douglas-Klotz and his partner live in Fife, Scotland, where in 2007 he co-founded the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace with Neill Walker. He lectures worldwide. Under his Sufi name, Saadi Shakur Chishti, he also offers spiritual retreats combining his work with Native Middle Eastern spirituality with the lineage of Chishti Sufism.