Desert Wisdom: The Middle Eastern Tradition - from the Goddess to the Sufis

By Neil Douglas-Klotz and K. Douglas

Book Overview

Part oracle, part meditation book, and part Aladdin's cave of Middle Eastern myth and sacred story, Desert Wisdom offers a fresh way to hear the ancient visionary voices of the Middle East that generated three (or more) of the world's great religions.

Renowned Sufi scholar and teacher Neil Douglas-Klotz, author of The Sufi Book of Life and Prayers of the Cosmos, has revisioned his acclaimed 1995 classic for the 21st century. Praised by scientists, poets and mystics alike for its ecological approach to "hearing" the native wisdom of the Middle East on its own terms, Desert Wisdom takes us on a journey from ancient Egypt throughout the Middle East to Sufi poets like Rumi and Hafiz. In between, we spend time hearing Genesis the way a storyteller might have told it and sit at the feet of the Aramaic-speaking prophet, Yeshua of Nazareth. Through it all, Desert Wisdom presents us with ancient wisdom about life's biggest questions like:

Why am I here? Who am I? And how do I love?

"Middle Eastern enchantment for the soul. Bravo "
--Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., featured in the film "What the Bleep Do We Know?"

"Read this book aloud. Let the sounds wrap around your heart. These are translations so unhampered by reduction, stiffness and religiosity that the modern window opens quiet on the ancient garden."
--Carolyn McVickar Edwards, Author of The Storyteller's Goddess

"A prophetic and mystical accomplishment of the first order "
--Dr. Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing and The Reinvention of Work

"Open the book anywhere, and you will discover delightful inner openings and insights."
--Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, author of Sufi Links and Spectrum of Reality

Already have the first (1995) edition?

What's New in Desert Wisdom 2.0:

*Seven new translations from the Aramaic words of Jesus.

*Ten new translations from the Hebrew (Genesis, Zohar and Dead Sea Scrolls).

*Three new translations from the Qur'an.

*Book reorganized for better use as an oracle in a similar format to The Sufi Book of Life.

*Meditations rewritten and keyed to "Life's Big Questions."

*All notes and commentary revised and updated.

*New "Quick Start Guide" and Preface.

*Complete indexes to meditations and textual strands, plus a new general index

*Plus: all translations from the first edition revised and updated, with improved transliteration of original texts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1456516477
• ISBN13: 9781456516475
• Release Date: April 2011
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 428 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Unifying wisdom through poetry, fact and experience

This book captures a passion for life in pure poetry that exposes the wisdom and insight pervasive through ancient traditions. The author succeeds in drawing lines from various religions and mystic traditions into a single objective awareness of the human experience of values. A translation of ancient wisdom is substantiated with hard factual explanations of how each verse came into being both in form and vibration. This book is more than just a book to marvel at wisdom or praise the vibration of poetry backed by factual evidence. In the end the reader will experience the wisdom and energy radiating from the ultimate source of the universe. Practical suggestions guide the reader to absorb the wisdom in actual experience through every sense of being. The reader discovers the power of living in a desert by reading the book again and again. The desert strips all forms of pretence and sophistication to expose the naked wisdom of the Middle Eastern traditions to be applied by the reader to enrich his own awareness and significance of being. This book is not once off reading but a companion with life-long value.