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- Breshith, Abwoon, Bismillah...
could use of these opening sacred sounds of Genesis, the Aramaic Lord's Prayer and the Qu'ran awaken sacred unity?
- Do these ancient prayers reflect an understanding of what we know today as New Thought and Quantum Physics?
- Could it be a powerful peacemaking act, to simply have a perspective of how much these prayers have in common?
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Celebrate the Unity within the ideals of mystical Islam, Christianity and Judism, with the translations by renowned Sufi author/teacher Neil Douglas-Klotz, (Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti) and illustrations by internationally known peace artist Alana Lea, as they Illuminate Prayers of Peace.
Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph. D., has written numerous books representing the Unity behind the Middle Eastern traditions, including Genesis Meditations - A Shared Practice of Peace for Christians, Jews and Muslims and most recently, The Tent of Abraham - Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is a respected teacher from the Sufi path, a religious scholar and translator of Middle Eastern languages, who is able to impart Native Middle Eastern perspectives to Western minds in a powerfully gentle manner.
Alana Lea first met Neil in 1987, when she was deeply moved by his translations of the Aramaic prayers of Jesus, and began to study with him. She spent 15 years devoted only to the Aramaic Lord's Prayer practices, which healed a judgemental religious upbringing. She eventually became a student of his Hebrew and Arabic prayer translations, as the similarities between traditions became more clear, the space within the heart expanded to become more inclusive. This eventually led to the illuminations you'll find on these pages...
Today they share the purpose of transforming fear of "other" religions, particularly those rooted in the Middle East, by sharing these deeply healing prayers.
Here's what people have said about ILLUMINATED PEACE:
“If there was ever a perfect time for this book to Be, it is now. We need the beauty of its pages to nourish us in manifesting a peace that already is. We need this book to help heal the wounds of rigid dogmatic ideas about three great faiths with a deep and common root in the Middle East. May the one illuminating peace help us all.”
~Barbara Helen Berger
Author/Artist of GRANDFATHER TWILIGHT,
ALL THE WAY TO LHASA: A TALE FROM TIBET
“Artists inspire us. They nourish us. They give us bread for the journey. ILLUMINATED PEACE takes us deeply into the heart of the Unity of all Being through the artistry of Alan! a Lea and the translations and poetic renditions of Neil Douglas-Klotz. Both are inspired persons of their respective crafts and we are blessed to receive this work. Through them our spirits are refreshed and our work in the world, whatever it may be, is inspired.”
~Rev. Elizabeth A. Reed, Ph.D.
psychotherapist, director of THE SHALEM CENTER
“This is a book of exquisite beauty and profound meaning. The illuminated images bring greater vision to the illuminating words–filling the reader's heart with beauty and a recognition of the Divine.”
~Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.
Author of: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL: An Exposition of Prejudice,
Fundamentalism and Gender Imbalance
“Alana’s illustrations of Neil’s translations do exactly, in my opinion, what is needed to ground peace in communities in in conflict.”
~Joe Grabill
Professor Emeritus of History and Peace Studies,
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
“This work is the product of two profoundly rooted and wildly generous souls. Look deeply into “these pictures, and listen into the words– they will take you in. And what may happen inside “them–well, that's for you to know. I am glad for the chance to see and hear such beauty–ancient wisdom in contemporary tones! I am grateful for art that so wonderfully changes me and look forward to spending much time in this ILLUMINATED PEACE.”
~Susan Windle, Poet, Performer & Founding member of
VOICES OF A DIFFERENT DREAM
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
“Being born as human itself is very auspicious. If we learn to live without the boundaries of cast, creed and religious differences, we can make this world a beautiful place to live in. ILLUMINATED PEACE has brought an inspirational light of truth, to free from the cloud of ignorance.”
~Tenzin Chodak, REGIONAL TIBETAN YOUTH CONGRESS
Neil and Alana both conduct international peace programs. Your donations for these eBooks will help to expand their educational, interFaith outreach.
Upon receipt of your donation of any amount, to the Shalem Center, you 'll be sent a link to a printable version of the Illuminated Peace eBook with all of the added gifts below...
The Illuminated Peace eBook includes:
~ 6 separate color plates for you to print frameable art
~ 3 prayer text translations
~ 1 Sufi poem text translation
AND
~ 3 mp3 files of the spoken prayers, in both English and their native languages
THANK YOU for supporting international Peace education and outreach.
Shalom, Salaam, Shlama....
Alana Lea has studied Middle Eastern Mysticism with Neil Douglas-Klotz since 1987. Delving into the Aramaic passages he translated in Prayers of the Cosmos, she first began to illustrate them in 1998. This led to their current collaboration, ILLUMINATED PEACE. Inspired by traditional illuminated manuscripts from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, while using Hubble photographs as her digital paint palette, she has created visual prayers for Peace in the Middle East to accompany his poetic translations.
Alana is a versatile artist whose signature works are digital collage, often featuring botanical subjects and their habitat. Her watercolors and digital collage giclée prints have been exhibited in the Bruce Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Institution and reside in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Britain and Brazil.
Born in Brazil, Alana has called many of the world's most colorful cities home. Completing her formal education in San Francisco and New York in the late 1960’s, she began then to explore spirituality as well as art. Forgoing a more traditional education, she opted instead for the school of life experience, spending a year each in France, Morocco, England and Puerto Rico, living with artists and working alongside local craftspeople.
In addition to her work as a commercial and fine artist, over the last twenty two years, she has led Dances of Universal Peace in churches of various denominations, conferences, retreats and public events, internationally to offer diverse groups experiences of Unity.
Alana currently leads the Humanity Unites Brilliance (HUB) Peace Portal Impact Team and is the creator of Peace Art eCards, the Peace Portal social network, the internet Peace Portal tv channel. She is now dedicating her peace art skills toward alleviating poverty in Brazil through rainforest renewal, with the creation of Rainforest Eco: Life Affirming Fabrics.
NEIL DOUGLAS-KLOTZ, Ph.D., formed an interest in language, spirituality, the body, and ecological justice early in life. In many ways, he has been pursuing these interests ever since.
After graduation from college in 1973, he pursued a career as a journalist in the fields of social justice, environmentalism, and consumer protection. He soon returned to the topics he studied in college that centered on the body and changes of attitude and behavior, mystical and expanded states of consciousness, and the early pre-religious roots of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He pursued some of this study academically through the University of California, Berkeley, seeking out teachers from the native traditions of the Middle East, Pakistan, and India who exposed him to other modes and methods of learning, like body-oriented spiritual practices.
Beginning in 1976, he studied with the early students of the American Hebrew/Sufi mystic Samuel L. Lewis, who introduced him to the body prayer meditations called the Dances of Universal Peace. One phase of this intense period of study led him on a three-month pilgrimage in 1979 to sacred sites and teachers in Turkey, Pakistan, and India.
In 1982, he founded the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace (now based in Seattle, WA), a multi-cultural resource center for those who utilize the arts as their forum for both peace demonstration as well as spiritual practice. Over the past 15 years, he has been actively involved in leading educational exchanges and citizen diplomacy trips with the Dances to Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and to the Middle East. From 1986 until 1996, he served as a faculty member of the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality and as a member of the core faculty since 1990.
He currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he co-directs the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning, an interdisciplinary research institute that explores the boundaries of psychology, religious studies, and culture. He also sits on the board of the Edinburgh InternationalCenter for World Spirituality, which was involved in the nearly successful bid to host the World Parliament of Religions in 2004. In addition, he is active in the work of the American Academy of Religion and in 2002 was elected chair of their mysticism group.
Neil is author of "Prayers of the Cosmos," "Desert Wisdom," "The Hidden Gospels," "The Genesis Meditations: A Shared Practice of Peace For Christians, Jews, and Muslims," "The Sufi Book of Life," "Blessings of the Cosmos" and "The Tent of Abraham."
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