The Absolute Nature of Reality
In the Diamond Approach, “Absolute” refers to the ultimate nature of reality, beyond all dimensions and qualities. It is described as the source of everything, with all things arising from it. The Absolute is not simply nonbeing; it is experienced as a boundless and infinite field that contains and holds all manifestation. It is beyond space and time, as it is beyond manifestation. However, when it begins to manifest appearance, this manifestation appears as if in an expanse, an infinite and boundless expanse, that looks like black space.
The Absolute is also described as the ultimate depth of true nature that is complete freedom from self. It is the experience of total selflessness, of no self of any kind. The individual self is seen simply as a window for experiencing no self. It is not the center, and there is no center. So the absolute is a profound realization of emptiness of self. It also can appear as the emptiness of everything, the nonbeing of everything in the sense that nothing has an ultimate identity. Things appear and we experience them, but they don’t exist in the way that we usually think.
When we discover the absolute in our heart, which is a particular realization of the absolute, we find out that it is what our heart has always been looking for. We learn that we have been erecting idols in our heart, when our heart is in reality the throne of the divine essence, the absolute. When we see the luminous crystalline mystery in the depths of our heart our love runneth over; we are beyond ourselves with deep joy and passionate love. We finally recognize our true and one beloved, the one we have been looking and waiting for, and understand the reason for our previous lack of total contentment and complete fulfillment.
In summary, the Absolute in the Diamond Approach is the ultimate nature of reality, beyond all dimensions and qualities. It is the source of everything, and it is experienced as a boundless and infinite field. It is beyond space and time, and it is the ultimate depth of true nature that is complete freedom from self. It is the experience of total selflessness, and it can appear as the emptiness of everything. When we discover the absolute in our heart, we find out that it is what our heart has always been looking for.
The absolute is a luminous mystery, yet also the source of all knowledge and being. Everything we know is a knowledge of it; for whatever we know is a manifestation that expresses something about it. Even when we approach it as unmanifest and absolute mystery, nondetermination and nondelimitation, we gain tremendous luminous insights about it. When we see that it is nonbeing and being implicit and undifferentiated, it is an earthshaking insight; when we realize it is stillness and silence it is a balm for the heart; when we know it is nondimensional it uplifts the most ecstatic lovers; when we recognize it is mystery it dazzles our minds and hearts with joy and bliss. Although all these are correct in that they tell us something about the absolute, and lead us deeper into it, they are not completely correct, because the absolute is ultimately indeterminable. They are approximations on the right track, for they lead us deeper into its mystery. We learn a great lesson through this process, which is that the knowledge about what we have thought of as determinate and discriminated objects of knowledge is always approximate, and never absolute. We learn that no knowledge is absolutely exact and correct, for it is never the whole truth, and that there is no such thing as the whole truth. It is always relative, always approximate, yet it can be correct enough to keep us on the right track, and to take us further into the mysteries of truth. In other words, exact, precise, and objective knowledge about something is always relative to a task, an endeavor, a worldview, a perspective, a dimension. It can be useful and enhancing for our life and understanding, but its greatest function is to take us closer to the mystery. Everything reveals something about the mystery, but nothing reveals everything. By revealing something it takes us closer to it, and by its limitations it invites us to greater knowledge and understanding. We keep learning and moving deeper; the more we know the more we see that we do not know. For to move nearer to the mystery is to know it further; but to know it further is not to know it, but to see its mystery. – The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality, ch.21
If what you want is the Absolute, the depth of true nature, the method is complete surrender, complete relaxation. The Absolute is not something somewhere else; it is you. You do not see it because you are tense. So making an effort to move toward a goal of getting somewhere will take you farther away from what we truly are. The best thing is to take it easy and relax and have a cup of tea. Don’t worry about anything. Be assured that you will never die. Ultimately, nothing will ever happen to you. All that will happen is that you will put on different robes, different clothes. Some you will like, some you won’t. Clouds will come and go, but the sky always is. As the Absolute, you are like the sky and nothing will happen to you. Nothing can happen to you. – Diamond Heart Book Five: Inexhaustible Mystery, Ch. 5
When I recognized the Absolute, I immediately felt that I had found what I had been looking for. There is no more search after that. You don’t seek anything else and you know that there is nowhere else to search. Not only is there no longer any search, but there is nobody left to search. The Absolute is you. And even though sometimes I am not it exactly, I know I am it anyway. I might be experiencing one or another manifestation of consciousness instead of directly being the essence of consciousness. – Diamond Heart Book Five: Inexhaustible Mystery, Ch. 5
As we go deeper into the mystery of the absolute we move away from the surface and experience ourselves as a vast immensity, a solid emptiness. We clearly perceive the universe as an unfolding surface of light. There is the sense of the manifest universe not only as appearance, but also as appearing from the absolute. So the perception is not only a matter of seeing the oneness of existence, but also that the oneness is a flow from the absolute. Appearing is the process of continual creation, out of the absolute. Appearing is time, is universal action. It is obvious and self-evident that there is no personal action, that there are no causes in time. The absolute is the only cause, the prime mover. – A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality , Ch. 21
Therefore, the absolute is the absence of all the components that give us the sense of self. The silence and stillness of the absolute means that there is no inner content, no inner forms, not even sensation. There is absolutely nothing upon which to base a sense of self. There is no sense of boundary or image, no sense of center or existence, and hence nothing to give us the feeling of self. We experience ourselves as totally selfless, completely devoid of self. There is absolutely nothing, and such nothing is the source and nature of all our manifestations; it simply witnesses them. There is no sense of a self that experiences or is aware of manifestations or movements. More precisely, to experience the absolute is to experience the absence of self, person, entity, soul, essence, substance, presence. We realize very distinctly that the sense of the entity of the self is actually a result of holding different things together with some sort of glue. The glue is the concept of entity, giving the illusion of entitihood. When this holding is relaxed, then nothing remains; there does not remain even a sense of being. In other words, when we realize our deepest nature we realize it is pure and absolute selflessness. We have nothing inside, even though we are the source and ground of all existence. We are not a self, and do not have a self. We are the mystery of nonbeing, the absence of any basis for self or personality. – A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality, Ch. 21
The Absolute is the realm of complete mystery, or of bedazzlement, as the Sufis say. And only here will the heart feel it has arrived home, at long last. There is wonder, there is beauty, there is Majesty, but it is all mystery upon mystery. The peace is stupendous, the certainty is absolute and the beauty is dazzling. It is the ultimate Beloved of the heart, the Spirit of spirits, and the mystery of all existence. It is the absolute Presence of absolute annihilation, which is then seen to be the primal cause of all. Obviously, such words make no sense to the mind, but when consciousness finally reaches this its final abode, the heart will hear these words as music. – A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach