Absorption into the Ground of Being
In the Diamond Approach, “absorption” is a spiritual concept that refers to the process of the personality, or ego, surrendering its defenses and transforming into the Personal Essence, which is a state of Being. This transformation hinges on the abandonment of defense and resistance, which mirrors the spiritual understanding that surrender leads to enlightenment and realization.
To experience absorption, one must be directly aware of Being. Absorption is the innate ability of the human organism to completely assimilate learning from experience, to the point where the memory of the learning process is no longer needed, either consciously or unconsciously.
However, not all aspects of the ego can be absorbed. Identification systems that serve a defensive function or are composed solely of fabrications of the mind cannot be absorbed. These systems often resist some truth or are based on fantasies and misinformation, which are used to build ego identity. These cannot be absorbed because absorption requires the absence of all defenses.
The process of absorption is closely related to the aspect of Acceptance. Acceptance is a state of Being when there is no attitude of either “no” or “yes.” It is a pure, delicate, and gentle presence, devoid of any rejection. The complete cessation of rejection, which is the absence of all defense and resistance, precipitates the aspect of Acceptance. Thus, Acceptance is necessary for absorption to occur, as absorption cannot proceed if there is still resistance.
From another perspective, absorption is seen as the capacity and functioning that comes from absorbing internal and external experiences. This leads to true growth and development. The synthesis of Being coming in contact with mind and experience is what makes us grow as human beings. This process of absorption, digestion, metabolism, and assimilation of experience is simply about being present. If you are cut off from your being due to searching, worrying, hoping, and desiring, there is no contact between Being and experience and therefore no understanding. Without understanding, there is no metamorphosis, and without that, there is no growth and development in functioning.
Capacity and capable functioning come from absorption of whatever internal and external experiences you have. Absorption of experience leads to true growth and development. This growth, in which Being comes in contact with mind and experience, is an alchemical reaction or a synthesis which develops into the capacity for functioning in the world. This synthesis is actually what makes us grow as human beings. It is not something you have to search for; it is there all the time. The only thing that needs to happen for you to absorb, digest, metabolize, and assimilate your experience is to be there—simply to be. If you are searching, trying to figure things out, thinking, worrying, hoping, and desiring, you are cut off from your being. If you are cut off from your being, there is no contact between Being and experience and therefore no understanding. When there is no understanding there is no metamorphosis, and without that there is no growth and development in functioning. Do you see what this Work is, from this perspective? Do you see what understanding is? From this perspective, the work of inquiry and understanding that we do is nothing but the metabolism of unmetabolized food in your mind. It is nothing more than that. You have had many experiences throughout your life that you still have not digested, that remain in your mind as the unconscious: memories, thoughts, identifications, feelings, actions, patterns, and the like. They are giving you trouble because you have indigestion—mental indigestion—because these reactions need to be digested and absorbed. Your mind is meant to be empty, not full of all your history and reactions and identifications. – A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Four: Indestructible Innocence, pg. 29