The Genesis Meditations: A Shared Practice of Peace for Christians, Jews and Muslims [Hardcover]

This book teaches how Jesus actually may have meditated and recreates step-by-step examples the reader can follow. This 'original' meditation grew from the common ground of all three religions springing from the Middle East: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The key, says Neil Douglas-Klotz, is in interpreting Jesus from the standpoint of his own native language, Aramaic. On the basis of such translations, Neil links Jesus' meditative practice to his way of prayer.

Neil Douglas-Klotz is a rare jewel; a brilliant scholar with heart whose
words have the power to reconnect us with our sacred source. This is truly a book for our times, revealing the common root of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and making it available in a wise and practical way.
—Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of Seven Paths to God and Inner Peace for Busy Women

Deeply moving, compelling, and radiant with hope, this book is a living
prayer that can contribute to personal and interreligious transformation.
The Genesis Meditations tells an enthralling story and contains dozens of gorgeous meditations for remembering and returning to our original mystical experience with God.
—Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices and Woman Prayers

At a time when superficial religious beliefs separate us, Neil
Douglas-Klotz’s in-depth work into these same beliefs brings us together.
—William Elliott, author of A Place at the Table and Tying Rocks to Clouds

First, Dr. Douglas-Klotz entices us into a fascinating intellectual journey.
Then he guides us into a deeper spiritual realm of our own, showing us how we could meditate on the Creation in our own language. By the time we finish his book, we are ready and able to join body, heart, mind, and spirit into a healing wholeness—indeed, the wholeness of Creation.
—Rabbi Arthur Waskow, author of Godwrestling—Round 2

NEIL DOUGLAS-KLOTZ, Ph.D., internationally-known scholar of religious studies and psychology, is author of Prayers of the Cosmos, Desert Wisdom, and The Hidden Gospel. A former departmental head of comparative spirituality at Holy Names College in California, he now lectures worldwide. He is co-chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion and currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he codirects the Institute for Advanced Learning. He founded the International Network for Dances of
Universal Peace in 1982 and is a senior teacher of the Sufi Ruhaniat International through which he has led spiritually rooted peace-
seeking journeys to Russia, Eastern Europe, Syria, Jordan, and Israel.

Introduction

This book investigates and proposes to revive an ancient form of prayer and meditation that grew from the common ground of the three religions of the Middle East. This "original meditation" focuses on the creation of the universe and the archetype of the first human being. It seeks to bring the energy and power of this "beginning-time" directly into our hearts and lives, so that we can experience its creative, life-giving power unfolding as our own personal story.

In so doing, we touch the genuine, spiritual power behind all three Western traditions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This original meditation lies behind the awe and wonder of Christians at the rebirth of Christ child each midwinter. It fuels the intense, heartfelt hope of Jews experienced each fall in the New Year celebrations of Rosh Hashana. It roots the devotion of Muslims each year during the fast of Ramadan, preparing for the "night of power," when blessing flows freely, just as it did when Muhammad first received the Quran. These are all celebrations of hope, not fear, of love, not hate. By experiencing the creation story as our own personal story, we have the same opportunity to recreate and renew ourselves, as our ancestors did, and to find a deeper connection with the divine in our everyday lives.

On the investigative side, the book proposes that the original meditation of many early Christians, and possibly Jesus himself, was not primarily on an apocalyptic or cataclysmic "ending." Instead it focused on the life-affirming, love-filled, creative "beginning" described in Genesis and the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus was not looking for the proverbial "Apocalypse Now!" to bring history crashing to a close. Instead he tried to reorient his listeners to the power of divine creation through the experience of "Genesis Now!"

Given the overwhelming dominance of apocalyptic images in everything from popular film to fundamentalist religion today, this may seem an extreme statement. Yet a focus on beginnings rather than endings has dominated human consciousness for most of its history. Creation story themes and the living practices that accompany them run throughout both the Hebrew scriptures and the Gospels. In the latter, they help make sense of statements like Jesus’ controversial "Before Abraham was, I am," as well as his admonition to Nicodemus that he be "born again."
In the later Christian tradition, the practice of living the creation story survived on the fringes of empire in the writings of Celtic and medieval European Christian mystics like Pelagius, John Scotus Eriugena and Meister Eckhart. The view of the creation story as an actual spiritual practice (rather than simply a decorative theme) takes absolute center stage in both Jewish and Islamic mysticism, Kabbalah and Sufism respectively. The book further investigates how the modern Western world lost this ancient worldview, and proposes how it might begin to regain it.

I believe that the actual practice of this meditation can prove just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago, when people started to write it down in Jesus’ time. It shows us an immanent rather than a detached divinity. It cultivates a sense of wholeness as opposed to separation. It can build a bridge of peace between the three religions of the Middle East. It can affirm a radically different view of life in a world that looks to save its ecosystem and rediscover an authentic connection to the sacred.

This book guides the reader through both the background and an experience of the "original meditation," which I believe offers nothing less than a vision of what it means to be fully human.