A.H. Almaas

Intelligence is one of the defining characteristics of human beings: an inherent ability to respond to the world with awareness, knowledge, learning, and insight. Most considerations of human intelligence are based on the notion that intelligence is a product of brain functioning. A. H. Almaas intro

The founder of the Diamond Approach guides readers through the difficult process of understanding and accepting our true identity We live in a world of mystery, wonder, and beauty. But most of us seldom participate in this real world, being focused rather on the part that is mostly strife, suffering, or meaninglessness. This situation is basically due to our not realizing and living our full human potential. This potential can be actualized by the realization and development of the human essence. The human essence is the part of us that is innate and real, and which can participate in the real world. In this third installment of the Diamond Heart series, A. H. Almaas guides and orients individuals who are engaged in doing the difficult work of realization. It is a transcription of talks given by the author in both California and Colorado.

THE WILEY-BLACKWELL HANDBOOK OF Transpersonal Psychology "The new Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology is a necessity today. Many transpersonal psychologists and psychotherapists have been waiting for such a comprehensive work. Congratulations to Harris Friedman and Glenn Hartelius. May this book contribute to an increasingly adventurous, creative, and vibrant universe." —Ingo B. Jahrsetz, President, The European Transpersonal Association "The Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology is an outstanding, comprehensive overview of the field. It is a valuable resource for professional transpersonal practitioners, and an excellent introduction for those who are new to this wide-ranging discipline." —Frances Vaughan, PhD. Psychologist, author of Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions "Finally, the vast literature on transpersonal psychology has been collected in what is clearly the essential handbook for psychologists and others who have either too apologetically endorsed or too critically rejected what undoubtedly will define psychology in the future. If you are not a transpersonal psychologist now, you will be after exploring this handbook. No longer can one dismiss the range of topics confronted by transpersonal psychologists nor demand methodological restraints that refuse to confront the realities transpersonal psychologists explore. This is a marvelous handbook—critical, expansive, and like much of what transpersonal psychologists study, sublime." —Ralph W. Hood Jr., University of Tennessee, Chattanooga With contributions from more than fifty scholars, this is the most inclusive resource yet published on transpersonal psychology, which advocates a rounded approach to human well-being, integrating ancient beliefs and modern knowledge. Proponents view the field as encompassing Jungian principles, psychotherapeutic techniques such as Holotropic Breathwork, and the meditative practices found in Hinduism and Buddhism. Alongside the core commentary on transpersonal theories—including holotropic states; science, with chapters on neurobiology and psychometrics; and relevance to feminism or concepts of social justice—the volume includes sections describing transpersonal experiences, accounts of differing approaches to healing, wellness, and personal development, and material addressing the emerging field of transpersonal studies. Chapters on shamanism and psychedelic therapies evoke the multifarious interests of the transpersonal psychology community. The result is a richly flavored distillation of the underlying principles and active ingredients in the field.

The opening installment in a five-volume series on the Diamond Approach—a path to greater self- and spiritual realization—presented by its founder Founded by spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas, the Diamond Approach presents a unique path to enlightenment that borrows from modern psychology and therapy.

Delve deeper into the Diamond Approach, a unique path to enlightenment that integrates spirituality and psychology We live in a world of mystery, wonder, and beauty. But most of us seldom participate in this real world, being focused rather on the part that is mostly strife, suffering, or meaningles

Founder and spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas continues his study of the Diamond Approach to uncovering the many facets of our human potential We live in a world of mystery, wonder, and beauty. But most of us seldom participate in this real world, being focused rather on the parts that are mostly strife, suffering, or meaninglessness. The situation is basically due to our not realizing and living our full human potential. This potential can be actualized by the realization and development of human essence. The human essence is the part of us that is innate and real, and which can participate in the real world. Comprised of transcriptions of A. H. Almaas' talks to inner-work groups in Colorado and California, The Freedom to Be is the second installment in a five-volume series on the Diamond Approach.

A “heartily recommend[ed]” text for “Enneagram enthusiasts . . . and followers of every spiritual tradition”—by the creator of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization (Helen Palmer, author of The Enneagram) Facets of Unity presents the Enneagram of Holy Ideas as a crystal clear window on the true reality experienced in enlightened consciousness. Here we are not directed toward the psychological types but the higher spiritual realities they reflect. We discover how the disconnection from each Holy Idea—defined as an unconditioned, objective understanding of reality—leads to the development of its corresponding fixation, thus recognizing each types deeper psychological core. Understanding this core brings each Holy Idea within reach, so its spiritual perspective can serve as a key for unlocking the fixation and freeing us from its limitations.

More than just a tool to diagnose your personality type, the Enneagram was originally developed to help people find the ultimate freedom of consciousness and achieve spiritual liberation. A. H. Almaas brings us back to this original mission as he shares the essential keys that will help readers break free from the limitations and distortions of each type’s fixation—and to express their true spiritual nature in everyday life.

A passionate and deep exploration of how love is essential to our spiritual growth and development, from beloved author and teacher A. H. Almaas. Love is a universal energy--and a primary force that powers our movement toward spiritual illumination. All the ways we need love are simply reflections of our need for spiritual growth. In Love Unveiled, A. H. Almaas explores three dimensions of love: appreciative love--the true liking of somebody or something; merging or connecting love--a force that melts away separateness; and passionate, ecstatic love--capable of consuming us from inside. In their own way, each reveals the beauty and exquisiteness of our spiritual heart, which is the heart of the divine. However, the path of spiritual love is not without challenges. Almaas explores the barriers that tend to block our experience of loving awakening and provides experiential exercises throughout the book to help readers along their path. The exercises focus on the obstacles or misunderstandings that commonly arise for each quality or dimension of love. Presented in the form of writing or monologuing prompts, readers can work independently or in small groups to confront the emotional obstacles on their spiritual path. Regardless of where you are on your path, Love Unveiled will help you explore love in three essential dimensions and gain a deeper connection to yourself.

In Luminous Night's Journey, Almaas shares excerpts from his personal journal, which describe a certain thread in his own journey of realization and the processes involved in integrating that realization. This publication marks a fortunate development in our knowledge of how Being is realized in and through the human soul: The process of realization and integration of true nature described in the voice of one who articulates precisely and vividly the psychological and epistemological barriers which confront the individual consciousness as realization is integrated in the context of personal life. Almaas describes how his participation in the unfolding manifestation of Being ushers him into realms that expose and transform increasingly deep ego structures and attachments. Luminous Night's Journey clarifies how the unveiling of Being and the exposure of ego structures constitute one process, leading to the soul's integrated realization of absolute nature and the manifestation of the human being as a personal embodiment of that nature.

From beloved author and teacher A. H. Almaas, an exploration of love beyond the boundaries of the individual self, revealing that nondual love is the nature of everything, including ourselves. Love is a transformative aspect of the spiritual path—and, in fact, it is our very nature. A. H. Almaas takes us on a journey beyond a narrow, individual understanding of love to an exploration of what he calls the boundless dimension of Divine Love. This is not the kind of love that we feel toward somebody else; it is nondual, a love without boundaries. Or put another way, it is universal true nature experienced as love. By shifting our focus beyond our individual human experience to the experience of the whole of existence, we are able to see the true richness of the universe. All of reality takes on a quality of inner light, of softness and ease, of sweetness and holding. When we are open to the dimension of nondual love, we can relax and trust our inner ground that is also the ground of everything: our true nature, free from limitations—a sense of complete release, freedom, and delight, that is free of conflict, fear, insecurity, and worry. Almaas discusses the obstacles that make it difficult to awaken to true nature in this form, such as our belief in a separate self and our past conditioning. Each chapter includes an inquiry or practice, such as explorations of attachments and worldly desires as well as inquiries into union, surrender, and grace.

Spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas presents the highest level and most profound teachings of the Diamond Approach on the true nature of reality and the path to enlightenment The teaching in this book is off the map—because reality itself cannot be captured in a map. In fact, reality is far more alive, f

Over the past twenty-five years A. H. Almaas—widely recognized as a leader in integrating spirituality and psychology—has 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 experience—a 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 Guidance"—the inner wisdom that emerges from our true nature—and 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.

Well-known spiritual teacher A. H. Almaas uses the metaphor of the mysterious philosopher's stone to discuss a tremendous liberating power that leads to endless enlightenment For millennia alchemists sought the philosophers’ stone, the miracle substance believed to be the key to all the secrets of existence. The quest was fueled by some of the prime questions of human existence: What am I? Why am I here? How has this world come to be? A. H. Almaas shows that the tremendous liberating power of the mysterious philosophers’ stone is closer to us than we realize. In fact, it is the true nature of all reality—in all times and all places, without being limited to being anything in particular. Through the philosophers’ stone, real transformation can happen, our consciousness can become free, and we can open to all the possibilities of reality. Almaas discusses the factors that are involved in igniting the catalytic property of the philosophers’ stone and then begins to unpack the properties of true nature when it is free of constraints. Finally, we are left with the revelation that true nature is endlessly knowable, and yet nothing we can know or say about it exhausts its mystery and power. The result is a new understanding of what liberation and practice are—and a view of what it’s like when seeking ceases and life becomes a process of continual discovery. We begin to appreciate that the freedom of reality expressed in the complete and fulfilled life all human beings seek—and few find—is actually the simplicity of the ordinary.

A revised and expanded edition of the definitive guide to the Diamond Approach, the modern contemplative practice that integrates psychology and spirituality and emphasizes the importance of self-inquiry. The Diamond Approach has been developed and taught over the last forty-five years by Hameed Ali, who is known chiefly by his pen name, A. H. Almaas. This book, the first to offer a full overview of the Diamond Approach, is now revised and expanded with a new foreword by Almaas, a new preface by the author, and a new chapter that explores the most recent developments in Almaas's teaching and practice methods. Author John Davis offers a rich, compelling introduction to the unique spiritual tradition that philosopher Ken Wilber recommends as "the most balanced of the widely available spiritual psychologies/therapies." Influenced by ancient traditions such as Sufism and Buddhism as well as by modern psychology, the Diamond Approach is particularly well-suited to twenty-first century seekers who embrace both spirituality and science. Beginning with an account of his own work with the Diamond Approach, Davis proceeds to outline the tradition's central practice of Inquiry, a form of open-ended exploration of present-moment experience akin to mindfulness practice. From there, he launches readers into an exploration of metaphysical concepts such as soul, space, Essence, self-realization, and the dimensions of Being. Complex yet concise, profound yet accessible, The Diamond Approach offers readers bold new perspectives on reality and human potential.

An exploration of the spiritual journey as a path of love, where the heart’s discontent becomes the doorway to ultimate fulfillment. Although the heart seeks fulfillment in people, possessions, and experiences, no external love can truly satisfy our deepest longing. Our discontent is an opportunity, a sacred invitation to turn inward. True fulfillment arises only when we empty our hearts to make space for the formless and intangible inner Beloved that is our true nature. In The Inner Beloved, A. H. Almaas guides us on a transformative journey of the heart. With poetic insight, personal reflection, and practical exercises, he shows how the search for love leads us through emptiness and into a luminous darkness—a place where the mind is confounded, but the heart awakens to a passionate love for the unknown. As we surrender to this mystery and discover the unity of lover and Beloved, we feel a complete intimacy with the fundamental truth of reality, allowing us to rest in the deepest fulfillment possible.

In this book Almaas demonstrates that healthy ego development is part of the continuum of spiritual development. He also establishes the possibility of attaining inner realization and developing our essential being—"the pearl beyond price"—in the context of living a normal human life.

Two innovative spiritual teachers show how to use desire and passion—eros—as a gateway to realizing our fullest potential What do desire and passion have to do with our spiritual journey? According to A. H. Almaas and Karen Johnson, they are an essential part of it. Conventional wisdom cautions that desire and passion are opposed to the spiritual path—that engaging in desire will take you more into the world, into egoic life. And for most people, that is exactly what happens. We naturally tend to experience wanting in a self-centered way. The Power of Divine Eros challenges the view that the divine and the erotic are separate. When we open to the energy, aliveness, spontaneity, and zest of erotic love, we will find it inseparable from the realm of the holy and sacred. When this is understood, desire and passion become a gateway to wholeness and to realizing our full potential. Through guided exercises, the authors reveal how our relationships become opportunities on the spiritual journey to express ourselves authentically, to relate with openness, and to discover dynamic inner realms with another person. Through embodying the energy of eros, each of us can learn to be fully real and alive in all of our interactions.

The keys to self-knowledge and deep contentment are right here before us, in this very moment—if we can simply learn to live with presence and open awareness In The Unfolding Now, A. H. Almaas presents a marvelously effective practice for developing the transformative quality of presence. Through a particular method of self-observation and contemplative exploration that he calls inquiry, we learn to live in the relaxed condition of simply “being ourselves,” without interference from feelings of inadequacy, drivenness toward goals, struggling to figure things out, and rejecting experiences we don't want. Almaas explores the many obstacles that keep us from being present—including defensiveness, ignorance, desire, aggression, and self-hatred—and shows us how to welcome with curiosity and compassion whatever we are experiencing.