“Who am I really?” “Why am I here?” “What does it mean?” These questions are universal, both current and ancient. Over the course of human history, there have been philosophies, psychologies and religions that have sought to illuminate a path toward the answers as well as to assuage the longing and anxiety underlying these questions. The Diamond Approach is a contemporary path of spiritual development. Its teachings respond to the innate human longing for meaning, for freedom, for realization.

The Diamond Approach is both an understanding of our deepest human nature and a path to realize our fullest potential. It employs a variety of time-proven skillful methods for inner work. Authentic spiritual insight together with contemporary psychological understanding allows us to travel the path of self- realization while addressing the issues particular to our time, place, culture and personality. Most of all, the Diamond Approach is a path for living as real, fulfilled, free and mature human beings.

Developed by A.H. Almaas, the Diamond Approach work includes teachings, meditations, movement, experiential practices of presence and discussion. Together, these provide guidance that leads you to the openness and depth of your True Nature. Living life from this depth provides understanding, guidance, fulfillment and loving support for the inner journey, bringing you home to the simplicity that you are.

"The Diamond Approach is a contemporary teaching that developed within the context of awareness of ancient spiritual teachings. It is unique in that it also considers modern depth psychological theories. Therefore the perspective of this teaching recognizes the inherent synthesis between the spiritual and the psychological domains of experience. The spiritual and the psychological can be separated only in theory, for in experience they are two dimensions of the same human consciousness. Recognizing this makes it possible to approach the path to inner realization informed with modern psychological knowledge, and thus allows the process of understanding one’s psychological experience to open one’s consciousness to the deeper truths of our spiritual nature.

It is a path of wisdom, an approach to the investigation of Reality and work on oneself that leads to human maturity and liberation. The Diamond Approach is a path of inquiry and exploration, a path of the truth. Founded by Hameed Ali, who writes under the name of A.H. Almaas, this school has been developed over the past 35 years by Ali and Karen Johnson in an on-going, lived way.

This teaching approaches the path by taking into consideration many things, including the structure of reality, both inner and outer. It views reality to be fundamentally the eternal truth of spirit that manifests itself in various dimensions, from the deepest dimension of absolute emptiness to the physical realm. This is ‘reality', and it includes the physical universe and all beings, with their minds and psyches. The inner truth of this reality is true nature itself, pure spirit, which is the ultimate and real nature of both the universe and all beings.

Because of its particular vision of Reality, it is not completely accurate to think of this approach as spiritual work, for this work does not separate the spiritual from the psychological, neither does it see these two as separate from the physical everyday life and scientific investigation of the content of perception. However, because we live in a society where the prevailing thought is that of the separated facets of Reality, the closest category recognized in this mentality, to our approach, is that of a spiritual path or exploration."

Some of Hameed’s many books:

"The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life"
"The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence
"Brilliancy: The Essence of Intelligence" (Diamond Body Series)
"Essence With the Elixir of Enlightenment: The Diamond Approach to Inner Realization"

Videos

A.H. Almaas
Karen Johnson
Byron Brown "Soul without Shame"
Sandra Maitri "'The Enneagram Passions and Virtues" Interview by Iain McNay