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Editor’s Preface Fundamental to the Diamond Approach is the recognition that ultimate reality, the underlying ground of being, is the deepest truth of what we are. We are but a form manifesting out of it, and so the human soul expresses the depth, richness, and ultimate nature of that ground. As such, the pursuit of what is true in a person’s experience cannot help but lead eventually to the ultimate mystery of our innermost nature.
Approach. By discerning what is true in our own experience, we invite our beingness—our true nature—to reveal itself. Often this involves going through many layers of belief and conditioning that obscure this underlying truth. There is no rush or pressure to get to the bottom of things but rather a simple willingness to allow and be with the truth in any given moment. We learn to trust that if we can be open, nonjudgmental, and nonreactive, the immediate truth—whether it manifests as emotion, thought, or sensation—will reveal something deeper that has been hidden. As we inquire in this way, ever deeper truths will continue to be revealed.
The guidance for this exploration and discovery of our personal truth lies in our heart. The mind may discriminate our experience, but it can only speculate and reason, without knowing directly what is real. The heart, on the other hand, listens, tastes, and knows what is true by being one with the experience, staying closely in touch with and touched by life. As such, the personal, spiritual journey of inner realization relies on the heart knowing what is real and following its guidance.
True nature is drawing us through love. Without recognizing it, we are being drawn toward home, where we will feel undivided, whole, contented, and fulfilled because we will know ourself in our deepest nature.
The best the mind can do is help us clarify what prevents us coming nearer to the mysterious Beloved. And at some point, the mind must surrender completely to the endless mystery, as the path will take us beyond all concepts, words, and efforts to understand.
Introduction
All genuine spiritual paths are oriented toward the realization of this ultimate source. In Kashmiri Shaivism it is known as Shiva; in Advaita Vedanta it is Parabrahman; and in Mahayana Buddhism it is Dharmakaya. For Kabbalists it is Ain Sof, for Christian mystics it is the Father, and for Sufis it is the divine essence or the mysterious essence of God. In this teaching, we refer to this fundamental truth as the Absolute, recognizing that it is pure mystery. This is not to imply that all these names refer to the same experience, for the ultimate mystery reveals itself in different ways in different paths, and in different individual beings.
For some the search is felt directly as a passionate desire to be one with the divine, and that is the nature of the path expressed in this book. This search is powered by an intense yearning for something not yet known or understood, and the growing recognition that the heart will not be satisfied except by finding this hidden mystery and becoming one with it.
The natural process of emptying the heart of absolutely everything, good or bad, eventually takes us into mystical poverty, as described by St. John of the Cross in his treatise The Dark Night of the Soul.
The union we have longed for turns out to be nothing but the cessation of the individual soul and its dissolution into this majestic beauty, leaving only the absolute Beloved to shine as the only and singular reality.
AI Summary
The Inner Beloved by A. H. Almaas and Ram Dass presents key insights from the Diamond Approach tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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