Original Prayer

Teachings & Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus

By: Neil Douglas-Klotz PhD

Narrated by: Neil Douglas-Klotz PhD

The Prayer of Jesus, or the Lord's Prayer, is among Christianity's most beloved teachings, a daily devotion practiced by Christians everywhere. If we could travel back in time to the ancient Holy Land and witness Jesus himself speaking and meditating upon these words, what would we learn? In Original Prayer, acclaimed teacher and author Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz immerses us in the language and philosophy of Jesus's world to reveal a practice with the power to change forever the way we experience sacred scripture. Neil Douglas-Klotz begins by revealing the rich layers of meaning enfolded within the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic - the language that Jesus and his disciples actually spoke.Through his insightful Aramaic translations, Douglas-Klotz opens a window into the Lord's Prayer that allows us to hear and understand the teachings of Jesus as he authentically taught them 2,000 years ago. A way to experience scripture directly, through the body verse-by-verse, Original Prayer guides us through a series of 24 specific practices of body prayer - the original Middle Eastern form of meditation that uses chant, breathing, and awareness to engage the entire body and spirit in contemplation of scripture.These are the same kinds of devotions used by the first Christians to delve into the Gospels not as a scholarly exercise but as a living and breathing experience of God. In the fertile spiritual landscape of the ancient Middle East, prayer, meditation, and scriptural study were practiced as a single contemplative path. Now, with Original Prayer, you have within your reach the definitive resource for experiencing this luminous practice, using one of the most enduring cornerstones of the Christian faith - the Lord's Prayer.Learn More About: What Jesus actually said - the Lord's Prayer restored to its original meaning and language Body prayer visualizations, chants, and awareness practices from the ancient Middle East Ripeness, timing, and the cycles of the earth - the natural cosmology of Jesus How to create qadash, or holy spaciousness - an inner sanctuary where blessings can fill us.

©2007 Neil Douglas-Klotz (P)2007 Neil Douglas-Klotz

Profoundly insightful author..,

This text is already helping me to enhance my spirituality! Try it and you will grow! Thank you for sharing.

Excellent

Well researched and insightful. Life changing. A must read for all. It all makes more sense

It opened my eyes and changed me forever

Understanding the real meaning of the Our Father Prayer has been an eye-opening experience. It touched my soul so deeply. At first, the meditation and chanting were a bit weird, but by the second chapter, I was singing and practicing along the audio. Neil Douglas Original Prayer book was recommended book for a metaphysics class, it is clear to me now how religion has twisted prayer over the centuries and learning the original meaning of Jesus words had changed my perspective.

The words and sounds of Jesus

The words and sounds of Jesus the Nazarene and Son of God in this book of how Jesus teaches us to pray offer both a holy and mystical connection that is direct with holy sound and movement. Dr Douglas-Klotz reads his text and offers more than one might ever expect, including body prayers of meditation and significant knowledge on Wisdom's paths to the One Eternal God.

awesome

it was very good, and it is neat to learn a different language. It was also ABlessing in my Life.

Radical interpretation falls short and fails

This was an interesting listen. An essential component of Christianity considered from a radically different viewpoint. In the end it fell short for several reasons. The most important is that it didn't go into depth about the source of the Aramaic version of the prayer and the extant variants. As given in the book, and  other versions, we have likely only 80% to 90% of the words Jesus spoke. Whether the prayer starts with ABBA or AVOON (or however you want to write those in English), is an important example. The multivalent meanings of the words is critical. The author favors non-traditional translations to the extreme. A favorite phrase of mine is "traduttore, traditore." I first saw that in English as "every translation is a treason." Exactly. Search for versions and videos of the prayer in Aramaic on your favorite platforms and you'll see what I mean.

Another concern was the accuracy of the information presented. An early example was the author saying that the name Jesus occurs in the Qur'an more than that of any other Prophet, besides the Messenger. I had just finished listening to the Qur'an. That didn't sound correct. So I checked and, as I thought, Moses appears a lot more than Jesus. This gave me less confidence in what followed in this audiobook.

I'm not a traditionalist. I appreciated the inclusion of Sufi tales, which I've read in depth. The sevenfold nature of truth, as presented in Jainism, is a valuable tool when faced with such a radical interpretation. My concern is that the content is unbalanced and based on wild speculation.

The singing was amateurish, in my opinion. It almost sounded like Christian summer camp songs with a Middle Eastern twang. I found the author's voice distracting during the meditations. A professional singer, preferably a native Aramaic speaker, would have been much more effective.