Opening to Pure Being: Awakening to the Fundamental Nature of Reality with A. H. Almaas (Part 2)

Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms... “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing  is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

“Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

• Why Hameed is so uniquely articulate talking about these experiences, and why some teachers don’t talk about these things (00:27)
• The nothingness side of pure presence (04:28)
• The spaciousness here appears different; it is non-Euclidean (07:44)
• Being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness (09:22)
• What other traditions teach about emptiness (11:34)
• Awareness is pure beingness too (13:53)
• Awareness is an ontological reality; it is an “is-ness” we can recognize and it includes knowing (18:14) 
• Being being is the same thing as knowing being; this is gnosis: knowing by being (20:23)
• Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is (23:44)
• Knowing and mind are fundamental, not just intellectual (25:52)
• Awakened awareness: realizing that awareness is the nature of everything (27:10)
• Awakening cannot be earned; it is a recognition, but there are obstacles in the way (29:37)
• We’ll get into knowing and reification next time (32:45)
• This teaching affirms you are a real being, and you are an expression of the being of God (33:55)

Resources & References – Part 2

• 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
• Bernard Riemann, German mathematician who developed Riemannian geometry, a type of non-Euclidean geometry
• Saccidānanda, the subjective experience of the ultimate unchanging reality
• Mahmud Shabistari, 14th-century mystical Persian poet, The Secret Rose Garden
• Rigpa is a central concept in Dzogchen
• Mahamudra practice, the highest form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation

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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