Thomas Legrand is a wisdom’s seeker, a social scientist and sustainability practitioner.
He is the author of the internationally acclaimed book “Politics of Being. Wisdom and Science for a New Development Paradigm” (2022), an invitation to radically rethink our model of development, which received the Grand Prize of the Nautilus Book Award in 2024.

His spiritual journey began at the age of 23 with an encounter with native spirituality in Mexico, before embracing the wisdom of a wide range of traditions and practices, including meditation, energetic healing and Tai-chi-chuan. He lives with his wife and their two young daughters near Plum Village, the monastery of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in the South West of France, his country.

He is currently the Lead Technical Advisor for the UNDP-convened Conscious Food Systems Alliance.

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Interview recorded November 9, 2024

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Neil Douglas-Klotz is an internationally known scholar in the fields connecting religious studies (comparative Semitic hermeneutics) and psychology as well as a poet and musician. He is the author of Prayers of the Cosmos, Desert Wisdom, The Hidden Gospel, and The Genesis Meditations as well as coauthor of The Tent of Abraham with Sr. Joan Chittister and Rabbi Arthur Waskow. He is the past chair of the Mysticism Group of the American Academy of Religion and is active in various international colloquia and conferences dedicated to peace and spirituality.

Website: abwoon.org

Amazon Author’s Page, listing all of his books

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Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded November 5, 2022

YouTube Video Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction to Neil Douglas-Klotz
• 00:03:29 Neil’s background
• 00:04:40 – A Childhood of Alternative Beliefs
• 00:09:22 – How I Made Major Life Decisions
• 00:12:20 Aramaic, Sanskrit, Sound and Meaning
• 00:13:42 – The Connection Between Language and Objects
• 00:15:54 Chanting, mantra and the evolution of consciousness
• 00:17:47 – Human Consciousness and Modern Life
• 00:20:34. Changing the cultural paradigm of materialism
• 00:21:52 – Separation from Family Conditioning
• 00:22:09 Yeshua’s healings and the culture of his time.
• 00:24:14 Did Jesus exist?
• 00:26:29 – The Transmission History of the Gospels
• 00:26:55 How and when were Jesus’ words first written down?
• 00:30:22 – The Origins of Aramaic and Greek in Jesus’s Vicinity
• 00:31:11 Aramaic and Greek at Jesus’ tme.
• 00:33:04 Hundreds of early gospels.
• 00:34:50 – The Origins of Christian Creeds
• 00:35:49 Modern Christian religion and politics.
• 00:37:03 Neil’s new book Revelations of the Aramaic Jesus: his method and texts
• 00:39:04 – The Translation of Scriptures
• 00:39:10 The King James Version of the Bible
• 00:40:27 “What would Jesus do?”
• 00:43:29 – The Connection to the Source of the Self
• 00:44:10 Evolution of Neil’s work
• 00:45:07 “I am the way, the truth and the life….”
• 00:47:50 – The Meaning of “Hayye”
• 00:50:15 Jesus’ miracles and healings, and early human consciousness.
• 00:52:13 – Healing through Connection to the Unseen
• 00:54:15 The important Aramaic words usually translated “good” and “evil”
• 00:56:50 – Ripening in the Breath
• 00:59:50 Jesus and prayer, with and without words
• 01:00:45 – Entraining with the Teacher’s Consciousness
• 01:03:01 Worst mistranlation that empowers colonialism and ecocide.
• 01:04:49 – The Injustices of the World
• 01:06:56“Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven…”
• 01:08:57 – The Interconnection of Inner and Outer Life
• 01:09:09 The “sin against the Holy Ghost.”
• 01:12:06 The Aramaic “lord’s prayer” in brief
• 01:14:37 – Hollowing oneself for resonance with the cosmos
• 01:18:57 – The Aramaic Prayer of Dedication
• 01:20:39 Conversion, “saving the soul” or the soul saving you
• 01:23:18 – The history of Christianity and religion’s impact
• 01:23:40 Snake handling?
• 01:25:28 “I and my father are one.”
• 01:27:25 – The Living Togetherness with the Creating Source
• 01:29:38 “omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent?
• 01:30:45 “only begotten son”
• 01:31:36 – Jesus, the Cross, and Trust
• 01:35:05 “Did Jesus die on the cross?”
• 01:35:40 – The Possibility of Jesus’ Survival on the Cross
• 01:37:53 Seeing angels or beings from other faiths
• 01:39:04 Jung’s “Christian yoga”
• 01:39:44 – Awakening and Healing with Neil Douglas-Klotz
• 01:40:56 “original sin”
• 01:43:46 “judge not lest you be judged”
• 01:43:57 – Finding Your Path in Life
• 01:45:51 What is mine to do?
• 01:47:47 Jesus suffering
• 01:48:12 – The concept of pain and suffering in Christianity
• 01:50:32 “let him who is without sin cast the first stone”
• 01:52:02 – Tangled Relationships and Casting Stones
• 01:54:19 the “house divided against itself”
• 01:56:11 – Representatives of Anything Worthwhile
• 01:57:36 “you shall know them by their fruits”
• 01:57:56 non-dual existence
• 02:00:32 – The Concept of Hell in Ancient Semitic Mysticism
• 02:00:38 The ancient Semitic afterlife
• 02:02:28 Reincarnation in the Bible?
• 02:04:54 – The Power of Chants and Music
• 02:05:40 The source of Neil’s Aramaic chants
• 02:07:36 Chanting Abwoon d’bashmaya
• 02:10:34 – The Power of Transformation

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