Opening to the Absolute: The Mystery That Liberates with A. H. Almaas

Ep. 183 (Part 1 of 2) | In the tenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali addresses what co-host Roger Walsh calls perhaps Inner Journey Home’s most profound chapter of all, the chapter on True Nature, as well as subjects he writes about in his autobiographical fragment, Luminous Night’s Journey. In the second turning of the Diamond Approach teaching, we transition from exploring individual true nature to boundless true nature—the absolute, ground of all manifestation. Following the mystery of truth, you come to absolute truth, Hameed tells us, and you find a mystery that not only liberates but makes everything happen. Hameed describes the absolute as the radiant blackness before the light, its luminosity awareness, and relates how, in the absolute, the feeling of intimacy is palpable. Here, the soul recognizes “I am home.”

Hameed relates how being and nonbeing are integrated, and about how time and space emerge out of true nature. Every moment is a new creation, he explains, not formed by the past or present, but new, instant to instant, from nonbeing to being. Hameed says true nature is the essence of freedom, and that in these troubled and times the important thing is to recognize “I am free” and ultimately indestructible, and to be ourselves, grounded by the truth of our inner nature. Towards the end of the conversation, co-host John Dupuy asks Hameed, “What motivates you? Why aren’t you simply hanging out being true nature?” Hameed laughs and responds, “I am.” Recorded April 10, 2025.

“In the absolute, everything dissolves; the absolute is the universal solvent.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing the 10th dialogue in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, focusing on The Inner Journey Home‘s chapter, True Nature (00:55)
• What is the phenomenological experience of presence? (02:07)
• The soul can feel like presence—but more often it is structured by our history and appears as our ego self (05:14)
• Presence is the true nature of everything: perfect, complete, totally blissful (06:24)
• Love of truth naturally appears in the heart along the inner journey (09:04)
• The concern with talking about true nature is if you describe it, people look for something that isn’t it (11:57)
• Hameed wrote Luminous Night’s Journey to elucidate the experience of the soul, the absolute, and how soul and absolute are integrated (13:48)
• In the second turning of the teaching, we transition from individual true nature to boundless true nature: the absolute, the ground of all manifestation (18:11)
• The visible and invisible, manifest and unmanifest (19:58)
• Everything happens not from present to future, but from nonbeing to being (21:04)
• Everything dissolves in the absolute: it is the universal solvent (21:41)
• The absolute is the luminous, radiant blackness before the light (24:57)
• In the absolute, the soul recognizes “I am home” (26:47)
• Looking into the absolute, there is nothing; looking away from it, you see the manifest (28:48)
• The concept and experience of cessation (30:44)
• Hameed’s distinction between consciousness and awareness (32:40)
• Awareness = luminosity + emptiness (34:25)
• Emptiness is not empty space, it’s being and nonbeing unified (36:39)

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, Luminous Night’s Journey: An Autobiographical Fragment
• Fourth Way teacher E.J. Gold, The American Book of the Dead
• Saccidānanda, a description of the subjective experience of ultimate unchanging reality: existence, consciousness, bliss
• St. John of the Cross, “The Dark Night of the Soul” (poem)
• Dharmakāya
• Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That, “Every moment is a new creation.”
• The cessation of perception as recognized by the Buddha (Wisdom Library website)
• Fana, the Sufi experience of cessation
• Nirodha refers to the cessation or renouncing of craving and desire; it is the third of the Four Noble Truths
• Dzogchen

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