A. H. Almaas Books

Explore the Diamond Approach, a distinctive journey that merges spiritual practices with psychological insights. This path offers a comprehensive framework for personal development and self-discovery, guiding individuals towards deeper understanding and enlightenment. By integrating these disciplines, it provides tools for transforming inner experiences and fostering a profound connection with oneself and the universe.

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.

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. The Diamond Heart series is a transcription of talks given by the author in both California and Colorado, for several years. The purpose of the talks is to guide and orient individuals who are engaged in doing the difficult work of realization.

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. Through the method’s core practice of inquiry, practitioners engage with their inner world—the very qualities and experiences that make them human—as a means of unlocking their potential and discovering the true power of their spiritual nature. This five-volume series is a collection of Almaas’ lectures on the Diamond Approach. In Elements of the Real Man, he covers topics such as faith, commitment, nobility and suffering, truth and compassion, allowing, and growing up. Through these talks, Almaas offers valuable guidance and advice for those on a spiritual path, and he explores the challenges and psychological barriers faced by those seeking self-realization.

The founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization examines narcissism through a spiritual lens, presenting it as our greatest barrier to understanding our truest self In this book, the author explores the underlying spiritual understanding of narcissism. He presents a detailed map of the steps involved in working through barriers that prevent us from recognizing the most essential nature of our true identity. “Almaas is one of the most significant voices for a new and remarkably integrated spiritual vision. His work connects the personal, the universal, the psychological and the spiritual not as pieces put together, but as the inseparable mandala of the sacred that we are. I respect his work to the highest degree and commend it to anyone interested in living the life of the spirit.” —Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry

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.

Essence has been combined with The Elixir of Enlightenment, a short introductory text directed toward students on the path who are frustrated by either the spiritual or psychological barriers that Western life can present. Discusses the values and shortcomings of spiritual training, and explores why an impasse may occur. Reveals how a precise understanding of your own personality can free your inner resources so that your essential being can lead you toward enlightenment.

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.

"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 divine love 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 nondual true nature experienced as love. By shifting our focus beyond the individual human experience to the experience of the wholeness of existence, we are able to see the true richness of the universe. When we are open to the dimension of divine love, we begin to experience our true nature, free from limitations-a sense of complete release, freedom, and delight, free of conflict, fear, insecurity, and worry. Almaas discusses the obstacles and obscurations that make it difficult to awaken to true nature in this way, such as our belief in a separate self and our past condition. Each chapter includes an inquiry or practice to explore the themes further"-- Provided by publisher

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.