A. H. Almaas - The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers Stone and the Secrets of Existence

Sign up to receive news and special offers from Shambhala Publications.

Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala.

The ALCHEMY of FREEDOM

The Philosophers Stone and the Secrets of Existence

A. H. Almaas

SHAMBHALA

Boulder

2017

SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2017 by A-Hameed Ali

Cover art by Andy Gilmore

Cover design by Katrina Noble

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

Names: Almaas, A. H., author.

Title: The alchemy of freedom: the philosophers stone and the secrets of existence / A.H. Almaas.

Description: First edition. | Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2017. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016027279 | eISBN 9780834840607 | ISBN 9781611804461 (paperback: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Spiritual life. | BISAC: SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / General. | PSYCHOLOGY / Personality. | SELF-HELP / Spiritual.

Classification: LCC BL624 .a457 2017 | DDC 204/.4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016027279

CONTENTS

WE LIVE IN TURBULENT TIMES, a time of accelerated change on many fronts that includes a great deal of upheaval. It is in the context of such changing times that I am introducing this most recent teaching, which turns the known paradigms of spiritual awakening upside down, questioning them while still upholding their validity. Inclusivity and freedom are values that emerge in this life-affirming and human-cherishing exploration.

I wrote my previous book, Runaway Realization, to open the horizons of the reader to an expanded range of what the Diamond Approach encompasses, and what spiritual awakening includes. I introduced in that book different kinds of awakenings or realizations from what are commonly known within most spiritual circles. And I explored how practice could be reconciled with the teaching of nondoing. Spiritual discourse in recent times has been so dominated by nondual teachings that many spiritual teachers have had to call themselves nondual teachers in order to even be recognized as spiritual. I wantedin my last book and also in my online course with Sounds True called Endless Enlightenmentto liberate spiritual awakening from such a one-sided view of what is possible, and to bring balance to the larger sphere of spiritual discourse.

My books before Runaway Realization reveal the rich wisdom of the Diamond Approach, which includes both individual and nondual realization. They go into great detail about much of what has been known as classical spirituality in the various world traditions. In Runaway Realization and this current book, The Alchemy of Freedom, I have referred to my most recent teaching, which is simply one part of the treasures of wisdom in the Diamond Approach, as the view of totality.

I want to emphasize to the reader that it is not easy to grasp or appreciate what the view of totality means without first learning about individual and nondual realizationwhat I have called the first and second turnings of the teaching wheel in the Diamond Approach. To truly appreciate the view of totality, one needs to also be acquainted with some of my previous books. Reading The Unfolding Now or The Inner Journey Home would provide such preparation.

The present book attempts several things. One is to point to how we can learn experientially what the view of totality means. I go over some of the realizations and transformations necessary for such unexpected openness. Second, I discuss some of what becomes possible when such openness is availableilluminations and understandings of enlightenment that seem esoteric only when looked at from the perspective of nondual realization. This enlarged range of direct experiencing brings back all the realizations of the previous teachingswhether individual or nondualbut in a greater clarity and a more encompassing synthesis. This third thread reveals in a direct way how all the complexity and richness of the spiritual journey expresses kinds of simplicity that are difficult to appreciate because of how ordinary they seem to the inexperienced traveler. This book does not exhaust the matter, but discusses some of its highlights.

The essence of reality turns out to be a kind of simplicity difficult to appreciate or grasp because of how indeterminate it is. And this is true for the beings experiencing it as well. Emptiness simply expresses it; so does awareness, love, truth, or creative dynamism. And as they express it, they also reveal that they are limited in encompassing what this essence actually is, even though the realization of any one of them is awakening and enlightenment. We begin to appreciate that the freedom of reality expressed in the complete and fulfilled life all human beings seekand few findis actually the simplicity of the ordinary.

A. H. ALMAAS

June 2016

FOR MILLENNIA ALCHEMISTS sought the philosophers stone, the miracle substance believed to be the key to all the secrets of existence. Turning lead into gold or granting immortal life were magic tricks compared to the limitless potential of the stone. The quest to find the philosophers stonethought to be the central element needed for the perfection of the human soulwas fueled by some of the prime questions of human existence: What am I? Why am I here? How has this world come to be?

As we turn over these questions about the true nature of what we are and what reality is, we are drawn down a path of playfulness, delight, and paradox. We find ourselves playing hide-and-seek with the purity that is at the heart of all reality and all spiritual transformation. This wily true nature is neither hidden nor can it be caught. Our experience of it is unmistakablewhether as awareness, love, truth, or consciousnessand yet we cannot say finally what it is. It pervades everything and yet is nothing in particular. This true nature appears in many ways, and even though each form of true nature is all of it, true nature can never be exhausted.

Every time we catch hold of true nature and know for certain what it is, it gives us the slip. We can even begin to question what is grabbing hold of what. Do we chase it or does it catch us? And does it even make sense to call true nature an it? The more our efforts are thwarted, the more our minds baffled and our desires distilled, the greater the chance that we might wake up to a kind of revelation that has nothing to do with seeking and finding.

Taking up where he left off in Runaway Realization, A. H. Almaas explores what it is that makes anything and everything and nothing happen: the central element, the spiritual prima materia, the true nature of experience and reality. Where we are helpless to tread, our being itself can be ignited in a way that cant help but unfold its true nature. It is this self-creative dynamism of being that makes possible the view of totality and the nonhierarchical view of the Diamond Approach, where realization is free from having to be in any particular condition.