Cessation as Gateway, Not Final Destination

Ep. 213 (Part 1 of 2) | The 16th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series is about the absolute, the source dimension of all manifestation, deeper than any other dimension, the vastness beyond vastness. In Part 1, Hameed gives a wonderful description of the majesty and the blackness of the absolute, and tells the story of when he first experienced being one with the absolute himself. When Roger Walsh asks him, what are the doorways to the absolute, Hameed talks about mystical poverty and also the way of the heart. “When the true beloved shines through the heart, it’s an amazing ecstasy… a mindblowing kind of beauty,” he says. He discusses the fear people often feel as they approach cessation of all perception, and the need for the basic trust we were born with (which often gets clobbered as we grow up) to proceed. What changes after an experience of the absolute? John Dupuy asks. If one abides in this realization, it cleanses the soul of all impurities, and our action embodies the virtues, Hameed answers.

In Part 2, which will be released December 25th, Hameed delves into the paradox of the absolute (the absolute is the elimination, the annihilation, the cessation of all things—and the source of all things), the nonduality of emptiness and awareness, and explains that mystery is the essence of the absolute: the absolute IS mystery, he says. There is laughter all around when Hameed says you can never completely “get” it, because there’s nothing there to get! Your mind disappears as you’re trying to get it. Towards the end, the conversation relaxes so deeply into the subject of the absolute, you can just about feel its presence. We become intimate with everything in the absolute, Hameed says. It is the soul’s final resting place, our true home, where the search ends. Recorded October 9, 2025.

“The absolute itself is majesty, and the universe that emerges is beauty.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing dialogue #16 in the 
• A.H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on the source dimension, the apex of Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home (00:41)
• “By simply witnessing the process of manifestation… the soul experiences itself as a vast silent witness… discovering a dimension deeper than any other, the absolute” (02:18)
• Being the absolute, one experiences an emptiness so empty there is no sensation (05:29)
• Cessation of perception, as the Buddha called it, was exactly Hameed’s experience (09:57)
• Neglected teachings of Nisargadatta: awareness that is not aware of itself can be experienced as “rock-like” (11:26)
• The story of Hameed’s first experience of the absolute (15:19)
• Is the absolute the destination? What is cessation? Is it the same as the absolute? (16:47)
• What changes after an experience of the absolute? (21:00) 
• The absolute is majesty, the universe that emerges is beauty (23:18)
• The flowering of virtues follows true realization (24:24)
• The spiritual path has two sides: knowing who you are and living it (26:03)
• Moving towards cessation, people feel terror (26:53)
• Trust is essential; the more we are loved as an infant, the more we trust (28:25)
• What are the doorways into the realization of the absolute? (32:02)
• Mystical poverty is one doorway; the recognition that the soul has nothing of its own—it all comes from the Source (35:29)
• There is also the way of the heart, finding the true beloved within (38:03)

Resources & References – Part 1

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
• Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being
• Dzogchen’s dharmakāya
• The black light in Sufism (see Henry Corbin’s The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism and others)
• Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “I am rock-like; awareness that is not aware of itself”
• Advaita Vedanta
• St. John of the Cross talks about black light in The Dark Night of the Soul
• Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society : The Landmark Work on the Social Significance of Childhood
• Ibn Arabi, Sufi mystic, poet, philosopher, “… look for me in the heart of my lovers”

The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series will generally follow the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more. 

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell