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December
21, 2001
Dear
Friends,
Thanks to the One! We see
another year dawning in which to continue our work. The necessity for
it appears clearer than ever before.
Thanks to the One also for
the efforts of those who continue to help maintain and update this
website as well as our various email lists: Amida, Selim, Vakil,
Covita, Richard, Narada and many others.
Sabbatical: My
own spiritual guide, Moineddin Jablonski, left his body last February.
This milestone has prompted me to take a 6-months sabbatical from
teaching from mid-September 2002 until March. During this time,
I have also set the intention to take a traditional (for Sufis)
40- day retreat. I have also scheduled time to work on further
writing and translation projects, which had to be put on hold this
year. For this reason, my travel schedule will be shortened for
2002 and some regular events put on hold. Kamae Miller will be
continuing with her own schedule.
Summer
Institute 2002: We will again hold a two-part summer institute
in the Borders area of Scotland. See details at the workshops
page LINK HERE. The annual retreat in Germany in July will also
go ahead, but there will be no longer retreat or institute in
the US in 2002.
The
Earth, Native Wisdom and Jesus trip to Galilee, April 21-May
5: An extended and revised trip from the one we took last
year. At this writing, we are going ahead with this trip: its
emphasis on earth wisdom, citizen diplomacy and peace seems essential
for this time. This trip will again focus on sacred, natural sites
in Galilee with which Jesus is associated. The emphasis will
not be on buildings or shrines but rather on indigenous sites,
such as mountains, sacred springs, valleys and a seaside temple
to Asherah, that represent a connection to the older Middle Eastern
wisdom traditions. We will, of course, be chanting, meditating
and dancing at these sites. My intuition during a 1993 pilgrimage
to the Israel, Jordan and Syria was that the key to peace in
this region lay not in the established religious traditions,
but rather in a connection to the land through the older earth
wisdom present there. This will be an opportunity to continue
that exploration. We will also be meeting with peacemakers from
the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. Contact: Deborah
Oberg, Tel. 1 (309) 828-2965. Email: dkoberg@aol.com.
New
recordings are coming:The first is the teaching tape for
the Aramaic Prayer and Beatitudes, reissued on CD, which makes
it easier to repeat various parts. This is due
The
second is a CD of melodies to the Sura Fateha of the Quran (translated
in Desert Wisdom from the Arabic). These melodies came through
while on retreat during the passing of my own Sufi guide in February
2001 and are dedicated to him. The melodies contain much of his
feeling and emphasis on embracing both the shadow and light in
one’s own being.
Asherah Rising: As an outgrowth of last year’s
trip, Kamae has started a business to help bring the crafts of Middle Eastern
women to the West. She
says:
Asherah Rising-- For
years I have had these words come to me over and over again, especially
at Aramaic retreats. But I got busy with other things and let them
disappear from my consciousness. Earlier in the year when I was
ill, they came to me again. Finally in May at the valley at the
Universel in Holland, where Inayat Khan said that if you wish something
there it will come true if it is the heart's desire, I felt I wanted
to do something that benefited women.
In Israel
shortly afterwards, we met several people who need material help. It came to me that
I could sell, in person and through our website, handwork made
by Druze, Christian and Bedouin women that would benefit them and
their families, bring beauty and do some uniting of East and West.
Most of the things come from Nazareth especially from my contact
with Martina. She and her husband have a shop there called Cactus.
They have also dug below it and discovered an old Roman bath, which
is amazing. The shop is next to what is called Mary's Well, where
it is said Mary heard the Angel Gabriel. Their hospitality is
Middle Eastern, that is, very open, generous and with little thought
of self. The Arabs in Israel, no matter what religion, are treated
like second class citizens.
I have,
for instance, silk shawls, purses, pocketbooks, knapsacks and scarves,
all hand-embroidered
or crocheted. Please see our website in December for a sampling
of these unique items. I hope you all will agree that these are
lovely. Thank you! –Kamae
Most
of these items will only be available in person at our longer events;
however, through our
website we will be offering various of the hand-crafted bags and
pouches. Pictures and ordering information will be available early
in 2002 in the Publications section of the site.
Webnews: We
have also posted more new articles and papers to our abwoon.com website.
Some of these are the scholarly papers that I have been writing
since 1997 in order to make a bridge between the world of academia
(the people who ultimately teach our children) and the world of
the mystic. Others are mainstream articles that I have written
over the years in the areas of spirituality, psychology, ecology
and native traditions.
Thank
you for your generosity! Last year donations for Abwoon
outreach through the Shalem Center in the US totaled $2545. This
continues to help our outreach to the Middle East and Russia
and additionally has helped participants from non-hard currency
countries attend our retreats in Germany and Scotland. For next
year, we are extending our scholarship fund to include students
and young people in all countries. Your generosity has also helped
toward helping me engage a personal secretary, Narada Ian Ramsay,
who is helping with many things, particularly while I am on sabbatical.
To make a donation (and receive a tax deduction if you are a
US taxpayer), please contact: donations@abwoon.com
Yours
in peace,
Neil
Douglas-Klotz
Interview
with Neil Douglas-Klotz on Full Circle RTRFM in Australia in
April 1995 www.fullcircleradio.co
October 04, 2001
Native
Wisdom and Peace in Conflicting Times
Neil Douglas-Klotz
(The second half of this article is a revised from one of a similar
title written in 1991 during the Gulf War.)
For those of us engaged in the study of Middle Eastern spirituality,
particularly with an emphasis on peace-making, the events of the past
weeks can be deeply disheartening. Because many of us have been working
in these areas for so long, it may seem that we are going backwards.
Nevertheless, it is good to remember how long is the “family history”
both of these areas, as well as of the part of the Western psyche
that is involved with it. Not least we are seeing the outcome of events
brought into motion by actions of the West stemming back at least
to the end of World War I, when the victorious Allied forces carved
up the Middle East into spheres of influence for their own benefit,
without consulting the people of the Middle East.
Having said this, we have a number of spiritual practices,
some only rediscovered or revived in the past two decades, that can
help us focus our prayer and action in wise ways, with love rather
than with fear. With fear, nothing wise is ever accomplished. These
would be my recommendations for those sharing the work of the Aramaic
Jesus, Desert Wisdom and the Dances of Universal Peace:
The
2nd Aramiac Beatitude in memory of those souls who have passed
suddenly. This can also help to relieve the confusion and sense of
shock of our own inner selves. Now is a ripe and blessed time to reconnect
with the part of our inner and outer communities that feel in confusion,
in grief, wandering. Without the re-connection on this basic self
level any action or reaction will tend to be from a place of fear
rather than love.
The
Aramaic Prayer of Jesus in whole or parts: As an affirmation of
a deeper power of peace and creation. As a comfort for the souls who
have passed unexpectedly. As a prayer for peace between and among
all of the conflicting parts of our inner and outer communities: Alaha
Allah Elohim Elat as an affirmation of the deeper unity that goes
above and *beneath* religion and politics, that is, in the earth itself.
Inana
Raya Thauba (“I am the Good Shepherd”: The I Am leads us to the
ripe actions for the moment): Reconnecting to Simple Presence shows
us the ripe response under the confusing and trying circumstances
that life presents. Or the phrase of Hazrat Inayat Khan: "Use us for
the Purpose that Thy Wisdom Chooseth.”
Practices
focusing on Hokhmah, Holy Wisdom, as in the “Depths of the Self”
body prayers in Desert Wisdom. Wise action comes from love, not fear
or revenge. Holy Wisdom can be both severe and compassionate, but
always clear-sighted. This comes from knowing the self to its depths,
both the expansive and condensed part of our being.
It is very necessary to end the wholesale slaughter of
human beings by other human beings under the asinine assumption
that only by such methods can peace be brought to the world.'
—Samuel L. Lewis , 1970, in the film "Dance to Glory"
Looking at the broader picture, we can see that Samuel Lewis
was working on solutions in the very area that now affects the whole
planet, but which in his time seemed an obscure corner of the world.
As I wrote in Desert Wisdom, in various letters and draft documents
before his death in 1971, the founder of the Dances, Murshid Samuel
L- Lewis, himself a Jew who lived in Egypt for two years, presented
a very simple peace plan for the Middle East, which distills to the
following major points:
1) Establish a cease-fire for the entire Middle East as a starting
point for the consideration of all boundaries and related ecological
matters affected by them: water/ soil salinity, reforestation, natural
resources including oil. This region-wide conference should address
the following question: how could the entire region work together
economically and ecologically? How can the needs of Jews, Christians,
Muslims and all other minorities be met?
2) Denationalize all religious holy shrines, places and cities
(like the Old City of Jerusalem) in the entire region (perhaps under
UN auspices); make them "places of refuge" and establish safe passage
between them.
3) Take up the question of all present refugees and occupied
territories on the same basis, equally and dispassionately.
4) Parties involved should use words in a consistent way, not
ignoring actual history- Who is a "Jew"? Who is a "Palestinian"? Samuel
Lewis states: "If Israel is a "Jewish" religious nation/ then it should
recognize other religions; If Zionism is not Jewish but political
and territorial, based on the Hebraic traditions of the principles
of refuge, more or less, then it should take into consideration all
displaced personalities."
5) The U.S. should withdraw military presence and establish
accelerated cultural exchange to overcome its appalling ignorance
of Middle Eastern peoples, which has consistently led to bad diplomacy
in the area. I would add here that the same type of "citizen diplomacy"
and exchanges used with the Soviet Union would make the quickest impact.
It is what we have been focusing on in our trips to Galilee with Deborah
Oberg and Dr. Joe Grabill.
This peace plan would still be a good place to start. As we share
meditations for peace as well as the Dances of Universal Peace in
Western countries, we prepare the ground for such a process.
This preparation includes: 1) breaking down ignorance and fear
of all Middle Eastern people, all native or "foreign" people and their
sacred traditions; 2) demonstrating that there can be other
ways to increase "life force" than by killing people or controlling
their resources to feed our own addictions. On this latter point,
Samuel Lewis comments (in his paper called "The Bestowal of Blessing":
"What is the greatest need of the world? The need is for more
love and also for more life... .The need for life can most easily
be seen in the continuance of war on earth, that nations are fighting
or preparing to fight, and often it is not clear what they are fighting
about."
The Dances of Universal Peace were originally envisioned during
World War II and actually initiated during the Vietnam War. My own
work with native Middle Eastern spirituality was inspired by the need
ror an increased concentration on the depths of these practices, with
the same focus, rather than with any sense of self-congratulation.
As those who "demonstrate" our peace in this way, we are not strangers
to this situation; we must simply work harder. Hopefully, this will
be the catalyst for the period Murshid Samuel Lewis where humanity
rises up with one voice to say "NO MORE WAR."
Love
and blessings,
Neil
Douglas-Klotz
Saadi Shakur Chishti
Summer
and Fall Institutes 2001: Due to a long overdue trip to Australia
next April, Kamae and I have made a virtue of necessity and reoriented
our longer retreats for next year into two 10-day institutes. Each
institute will have two sections, focusing on various topics. The
overall goal is to help lighten the load of our travel, as well as
enable us to connect with those of you involved in the work in a deeper
way. A summer institute in Scotland will include two 5- day sections.
The first an Aramaic Jesus retreat focusing on indigenous Middle Eastern
as well as Celtic traditions. This will include guest presenters,
visits to sacred sites in the area and the Native Middle Eastern and
"I am" Dance cycles. The second section will be follow on this years
successful "For the Love of the Dances"--- Advanced Dance and Walk.
The retreat in 2001 will focus especially on Lucid Voice and Body
practices, new Dance creation and longer cycles. Limit of 33 persons
each section (so if you like smaller groups, this is it!)
Our Fall
Institute in the US, held at a Zen Retreat Center in the Mountains
near San Diego will also feature two 5-day sections. Section One:
"Original Prayer: the Meditation of the Aramaic Jesus." Focus on the
Aramaic Prayer cycle and other mystical dances that relate the experience
Jesus' way of prayer and feeling for his place in nature and the cosmos.
Section Two: "Walking the Cosmos--Within and Without." Led by Kamae
A Miller, Gayatri Blumberg and myself. We will take a journey into
cosmology and myth from many traditions, including Dance, art process,
story, ritual and advanced, creative work with the Walks. Limit of
50 persons for each section.
More
information on both institutes can be found via the calendar.
Please note that the numbers on these retreats are limited and register
early.
Jesus and Ecology trip to Galilee: From May 17-29, I will be
co-leading a trip to Galilee with Dr. Joe Grabil and Deborah Oberg,
my collaborators in the "Jesus and Ecology" project. This trip will
focus on sacred, natural sites in Galilee with which Jesus is associated.
The emphasis will not be on buildings or shrines but rather on indigenous
sites, such as mountains, sacred springs, valleys and a seaside temple
to Asherah, that represent a connection to the older Middle Eastern
wisdom traditions. We will, of course, be chanting, meditating and
dancing at these sites. My intuition during a 1993 pilgrimage to the
Israel, Jordan and Syria was that the key to peace in this region
lay not in the established religious traditions, but rather in a connection
to the land through the older earth wisdom present there. This will
be an opportunity to continue that exploration. Details about the
trip will be available shortly from the contact address in the calendar.
The initial
deadline for the trip application is December 20, 2000.
New publications: We include two new CDs in this issue: The
first is a live recording of all of the "I Am" Aramaic Dances, choosing
the best of the past two years annual retreats from Canada and the
U.S. And the best is wonderful! The second is the long-awaited solo
piano renditions of variations on the Aramaic Prayer melodies by Eric
Akbar Manolson. This seed for this incredible outpouring of creativity
was planted at least ten years ago at some of the retreats in Niagara
Falls, Canada where Akbar used to accompany the prayer cycle on piano.
It has evolved since then into its own work of art, both healing and
meditative at the same time.
Speaking of new art, Alana Lahme Lea has been rendering beautiful
colour art to go with translations of the prayer. A catalog does not
do them justice, but see our website (and its links to Alana's) to
see and purchase collector's quality reproductions.
Thanks for your generosity! Last year donations for "Abwoon
outreach" through the Shalem Center in the US totalled almost $3000.
This has helped our outreach to Russia, Estonia and Brasil and additionally
helped participants from non-hard currency countries attend our retreats
in Germany and Scotland. For next year, we are extending our scholarship
fund to include students and young people in all countries. To make
a donation (and receive a tax deduction if you are a US taxpayer),
please contact: donations@abwoon.com
Finally, many thanks for all of your prayers and support for Hidden
Gospel (in its many faces). The English and German paperbacks are
due out early next year. Meanwhile, I am working on a new book….the
story continues!
Yours in peace,
Neil Douglas-Klotz
November 2000
Original Prayer: Embodied Meditations on
the Aramaic Words of Jesus with Neil Douglas-Klotz
Original Prayer is a six-cassette, nine-hour course exploring the
depth of the Aramaic Lord's Prayer with Neil Douglas-Klotz. Original
Prayer begins by exploring the many, rich layers of meaning enfolded
within the Gospels as written in Aramaic, the language that Jesus
and his disciples actually spoke. Through specific insights revealed
within the Aramaic Lord's Prayer, listeners learn over a dozen unique
body prayers, an ancient Middle Eastern form of meditation that engages
the entire body in the contemplation of scripture. This is the same
devotional practice used by the early Christians to delve into the
sayings of Jesus, not as a scholarly exercise but as a living, breathing
experience of God. This series is edited from a live workshop with
Neil Douglas-Klotz, recorded separately from Sounds True's "Hidden
Gospel" tape series.
Length: 6 cassettes, 9 hours, with accompanying study booklet. Sounds
True. ISBN 1-56455-720-0 $59.95
**The Hidden Gospel. Both the book
(from Quest) and tape series (from Sounds True) are now out and available.
The book is the ideal introduction for those friends and family. For
old hands, it contains many new translations, as well as an English-Aramaic
glossary of all words translated. The Sounds True set contains
new material I developed since writing the book and is expertly engineered
and edited. It would be ideal for a study group, as it contains a
body prayer, chant or practice every 20 minutes, allowing you to use
one-half of a side (or a whole side) each session. You can,
of course, order either the book or tape from Abwoon Study Circle.
But if you wish to help "prime the pump," you can also do so through
your local bookstore or online shop
**Remembrance of Light. In line with Abwoon
Study Circle's focus on peacemaking through the wisdom of the Native
Middle Eastern traditions, we have produced a CD of the "Nuri Muhammed"
zikr, a practice of remembrance in the Sufi tradition that emphasises
peace and unity between humanity and nature.
**New Website. We have redesigned our website to be more
beautiful and user-friendly. It will also allow for secure book
and tape ordering from both the U.S. and Europe (for books shipped
from the U.K.). The domain name is...yes, you guessed it....www.
abwoon.com
**Advanced Dance and Walk retreat in Scotland.
Since moving to Scotland, many people have asked Kamae and I when
we were going to start holding events there. We have now found a beautiful
site near Edinburgh in the Clyde Valley. This is our only English-speaking
advanced Dances of Universal Peace and Walk retreat next year. Come
deepen in this experiential side of the work. Come for the Dance and
stay for the Edinburgh Festival, which begins directly afterwards.
Details inside.
**Montana Aramaic Retreat, August 6-12.
After our East Coast Canada site fell through for August 2000, we
are again returning to Camp Miminagish for our annual North American
retreat. This is one of the most stunning natural sites we have ever
used. Please register early, as there was a waiting list last
year.
**Aramaic Jesus work in Russia, Estonia and Brazil. We have
been invited next year to give retreats in these countries next year.
You can help us fund them by directing donations earmarked "Abwoon
outreach" to the Shalem Foundation (details elsewhere). Also,
if you would like to attend our workshop in St. Petersburg in April,
and stay a few days to see this beautiful city with our Russian Dance
Network friends, please see the listing contact in our full schedule
inside. This also helps fund our work in these non-hard currency
countries, where we donate our time.
Many thanks for your past support! May the dawning of
another year, and Christian-era millennium, bring all of us more confirmation
that love and wisdom are stronger than fear and ignorance.
Yours in peace,
Neil Douglas-Klotz
If you would like to contact us, please use the addresses
below:
For book and tape ordering:
In North American and world-wide: selim@abwoon.com
In the United Kingdom and Europe: narada@abwoon.com
For help setting up and supporting an Abwoon Study Circle:
UK: abwoonstudyuk.@abwoon.com
North America: abwoonstudyna@abwoon.com
For general information about our programs and work: abwoon@abwoon.com
