A. H. Almaas - Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey

Readers of Almaas previous books will not be disappointed. This new work is intended as a practical guide to applying the methodology of the Diamond Approach to personal inquiry. The true power of this book lies in its ability to address a part of us that does not inhabit the words in our mind but lives disguised in the varied content of our life.

NAPRA Review

ABOUT THE BOOK

Over the past twenty-five years A. H. Almaaswidely recognized as a leader in integrating spirituality and psychologyhas been developing and teaching the Diamond Approach, a spiritual path that integrates the insights of Sufism, Buddhism, Gurdjieff, and other wisdom traditions with modern psychology. In this new work, Almaas uses the metaphor of a spacecruiser to describe a method of exploring the immediacy of personal experiencea way of investigating our moment-by-moment feelings, thoughts, reactions, and behaviors through a process of open-ended questioning. The method is called the practice of inquiry, and Spacecruiser Inquiry reveals what it means to engage with this practice as a spiritual path: its principles, challenges, and rewards.

The author explores basic elements of inquiry, including the open-ended attitude, the focus on direct knowledge, the experience of not-knowing, and the process of questioning. He describes the experience of Diamond Guidancethe inner wisdom that emerges from our true natureand how it can be realized and applied. In this process Almaas looks at many of the essential forms of Diamond Guidance, including knowing, clarity, truth, love, intelligence, compassion, curiosity, courage, and determination. Also included are exercises and questions and answers from the original talks by Almaas on which the book is based.

A. H. Almaas is the pen name of Hameed Ali, the Kuwaiti-born originator of the Diamond Approach, who has been guiding individuals and groups in Colorado, California, and Europe since 1976. He is the author of Luminous Nights Journey, The Pearl Beyond Price, Facets of Unity, and other books.

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SPACECRUISER INQUIRY

True Guidance for the Inner Journey

DIAMOND BODY SERIES: I

A. H. Almaas

SHAMBHALA

Boston & London

2012

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2002 by A-Hameed Ali

Cover photograph: Martinique, by Andr Kertsz.

Reproduced courtesy the estate of Andr Kertsz.

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

Almaas, A. H.

Spacecruiser inquiry: true guidance for the inner journey/A. H. Almaas.1st ed.

p. cm.(Diamond body series; 1)

Includes index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2536-9

ISBN 978-1-57062-859-7 (alk. paper)

1. Spiritual life. 2. Ridhwan FoundationDoctrines. 1. Title.

BP605.R53 A56 2002

291.44DC21

2001049804

To our teachers and guides,

who guide us at each stage of life.

And also to all explorers and researchers,

who love the adventure of discovery.

CONTENTS

T HIS SERIES OF BOOKS is an attempt to outline the methodology of the Diamond Approach, a contemporary spiritual teaching with its own direct understanding and view of reality. The Diamond Body series refers to the practice and embodiment of the Diamond Approach, as a complement to the Diamond Heart series, which pertains to the direct experience of true nature on this path, and the Diamond Mind series, which relates to the objective knowledge and conceptual understanding of this teaching.

The series will range from direct discussion of methodology, to the illustration of various applications within different contexts, to the integration of some of the classical methods of spiritual work into this teaching. Some of the volumes in this series illustrate the methodology through actual work on elements of the body of knowledge that is unique to the Diamond Approach teaching, such as the aspects of spiritual essence, the dimensions of reality, and the facets of mind.

To appreciate the place and function of the methodology in any approach to spiritual work, we need to understand how the methodology relates to the view of reality on which it is based and to the teaching that arises from that view. This understanding will help clarify the role of this series of books in the revelation of the Diamond Approach.

Throughout history, human beings have felt the need for intentional, focused work and guidance, to be able to advance beyond the average human development known in most societies. Much of our human potential lies in realms not accessible or even visible to normal consciousness. This is specifically the case for humanitys spiritual potential, which is the ground of human consciousness and the source of true and lasting fulfillment, peace, and liberation.

This situation has led to the arising and development of many teaching schools throughout the ages, inner work schools that specialize in the development of the total human beingparticularly the actualization of the depth of human potential. Such a spiritual school is usually built on a teaching that emerges from a specific logosa direct understanding of reality and the situation of human beings within that reality. Through the teaching, the logos reveals a path toward the actualization of our human potential. The methodology of the path also reflects the wisdom arising from this direct understanding. It is not just a haphazard collection of techniques aimed at helping students to arrive at certain inner states. The methodology will be successful in unfolding the path when it is a faithful expression of the particular logos of that teaching. You could say that practicing the methodology of a teaching is the specific key needed to open the door of this teachings logos of experience and wisdom.

This understanding of the relationship between logos, teaching, method, and reality has another important implication. As a methodology is practiced within the logos of a particular teaching, objective reality will reveal itself in forms relevant for the journey of self-realization undertaken through that teaching. In other words, a profound and fundamental manifestation of reality characteristic of one teaching may never arise for followers of a different teaching, because each teaching orients to reality through a different logos.

One way of understanding this is that because each teaching traverses different terrain in its unfolding journey, the same underlying reality will be revealed in different forms along the way. Consider, for example, that the Inuit people of the Arctic Circle recognize more than twenty forms of snow and ice. These are true forms of physical reality never recognized by someone living in temperate latitudes, because the climate and the demands of the environment are different. In a similar way, followers of a spiritual teaching will encounter distinct experiences of objective reality that are appropriate to the journey of the soul addressed by that teaching.