Almaas A. H. - The Diamond Approach : an introduction to the teachings of A.H. Almaas

I myself can recommend the Diamond Approach as probably the most balanced of the widely available spiritual psychologies/therapies.

Ken Wilber

The work of A. H. Almaas places him among the greatest psychologists alive today. His brilliant vision of the human psyche embraces our Being from early development to the highest realms of spirit. From this he then offers a new language and direct approach for awakening to this manifold nature.

Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart, coauthor of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom

This is the first book to bring the main ideas of the Diamond Approach together in one place. That makes it an invaluable resource for every serious student of consciousness and psychology. The surprise is that this resource is delectable, a juicy morsel that engages the mind and the heart of the reader. Its at the top of my list for recommended reading this year.

Sherry Ruth Anderson, coauthor of The Feminine Face of God and The Cultural Creatives

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Diamond Approach has been developed and taught over the last twenty-five years by Hameed Ali (known chiefly by his pen name, A. H. Almaas), who is widely recognized as a leader in the integration of spirituality and psychology. This is the first book to introduce the complete spectrum of his teachings to a general audience.

JOHN DAVIS is a senior student of A. H. Almaas and a teacher of the Diamond Approach. He is also a professor of psychology at the Metropolitan State College of Denver and a senior adjunct faculty member at the Naropa Institute.

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THE

DIAMOND APPROACH

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHINGS OF A. H. ALMAAS

John Davis

with selections from the writing of A. H. Almaas

SHAMBHALA

BOSTON & LONDON

2012

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

1999 by John V. Davis

Cover design by Jim Zaccaria

Diamond Approach is a registered service mark of the Ridhwan Foundation.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Davis, John (John V.)

The diamond approach: an introduction to the teachings of A. H. Almaas / John Davis; with selections from the writing of A. H. Almaas.

1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2382-2

ISBN 978-1-57062-406-3 (pbk.)

1. Spiritual life. 2. Self-realization. 3. Almaas, A. H.

I. Almaas, A. H. II. Title.

BL624.D317 1999 98-55925

291.44dc21 CIP

To the Work and the many struggles that bring us to it.

CONTENTS

I NEVER INTENDED to create the Diamond Approach. It emerged and developed under its own intelligence and dynamics. It is true I am the primary person responsible for presenting it, but I have been more a vehicle and, much of the time, a guinea pig than one who intentionally developed it.

At the beginning, I had no idea that a particular complete teaching was unfolding. With an intense interest in the inner journey of liberation, I was doing all I could to be real and open to the timeless truths of spirit. I was passionately committed to finding the truth of what a human being is, what spirit is, and what reality is. It was not easy, and for some time, not much seemed to be happening. Yet I noticed that at times when my love of truth became selfless, when I was loving truth for its own sake and not for any personal gain, my experience opened up and deepened in ways I did not expect. I thought that my work was beginning to bear fruit when the first discoveries of soul and spiritual Essence occurred, but it has gone far beyond that. My experience increasingly became a flow of discoveries, realizations, and insights, revealing amazing and unimagined qualities and dimensions of Being. As these discoveries emerged, I found that they were accompanied by precise and detailed knowledge about them. My inner journey became an adventure that was thrilling and, at times, terrifying.

It took me a few years to recognize that this surprising unfoldment and revelation of the mysteries of Being was not only for me personally. The arising of the inner spiritual guidance of Being, and my recognition of it as such, led me at some point to recognize that a wisdom path was unfolding. I came to see that a contemporary teaching appropriate for our times was forming. I began to see that it was spirit itself, the true nature of Being, that was revealing this knowledge and developing this teaching. I became a willing and happy guinea pig, going through the various experiences that Being was revealing in my consciousness. I saw that my accompanying struggles with the barriers were necessary for Being to reveal the knowledge of how Essence is related to egoic experience in a very precise way.

Being has revealed its mysteries in my experience in a way that has profoundly impacted my consciousness and transformed it. The person that I am has steadily become a vehicle, servant, and mouthpiece for the truth that is being revealed as the Diamond Approach. The result is the deepening and expanding realization of my real identity as true nature. This identity is the same ultimate spiritual truth that I humbly and gratefully serve. And the beautiful thing is that this process turned out to be identical with the development of the new teaching of the Diamond Approach.

A few associates and my first students also became guinea pigs for the development of the new teaching. The teaching developed as my own personal needs, and those of my associates and the students I was working with, invoked Being to present the qualities and dimensions that were necessary. The Diamond Approach thus developed as a response to real needs in our contemporary times and not as a theoretical construct or a synthesis of existing teachings.

The author of the present book, Dr. John Davis, is one of the first students who joined this work at its inception. As one of my first committed students, he has witnessed its development and has personally undergone the path of transformation of the Diamond Approach. He writes not only from what he has heard from me but primarily from his own personal experience and understanding of this new path of wisdom. The fact that he is also a psychologist who teaches transpersonal psychology at the college and graduate levels preeminently qualifies him to give a coherent and accessible overview of the Diamond Approach. He has a great deal of experience in teaching and working with students in the Diamond Approach, and it is clear that he puts it to good use in the present book. The result is a very clear, detailed, but simple overview of the Diamond Approach, written by one who knows the subject matter both intellectually and experientially. Dr. Davis has rendered a great service here, both to the Diamond Approach and to the many readers who want a fresh look at the human potential and its spiritual dimensions.