Appearance in the context of the Diamond Approach refers to the manifestation and experience of essential forms in the soul, individual consciousness.
The Diamond Approach is a unique method that integrates spiritual, psychological, and physical aspects of human existence, aiming for maturity and liberation.
In the Diamond Approach, appearance is closely related to Essential Qualities, experienceable forms of our essential nature. These qualities are not ordinary feelings or emotions but are characterized by freshness, purity, and precision that pervade the consciousness of the entire soul. They are likened to precisely cut diamonds of various colors and qualities, each reflecting aspects such as Strength, Love, Clarity, Peace, and Truth.
The appearance of these essential qualities is described as a transformative experience that brings a sense of aliveness, beauty, and vibrancy. It is an immediate consciousness that cannot be captured by memory but must be experienced in the present moment. The sharpness of this diamond consciousness is likened to the sharpness of an ice diamond, always melting at the point where it touches the soul’s consciousness, yet never losing its precise edge.
The method of the Diamond Approach emphasizes inquiry and personal exploration, allowing individuals to penetrate through the personality structure and connect with these essential qualities. It’s a compassionate path that does not reject the ego but seeks to find what is real underlying it.
Similarly, true nature is our innate essence, but we can perceive it only when we see through the particular forms, which is possible only when we experience without any veils or distortions. In our conventional everyday reality, our unconscious prejudices and conditioning distort and limit our perceptions such that we cannot see what is most fundamental. Usually we see the appearance of things and take it to be the whole of reality, meanwhile missing the essence of all we see. This is why conventional reality lacks a spiritual ground. We are seeing the appearance as if it were separate from or without its true nature. It is like believing the true nature of ice to be the little cubical shape it takes on in the freezer tray. We believe that the many forms that life takes are inherently different and separate and their nature is defined by their physical properties. – Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey, ch.3
There appear to be two realities or two truths. It seems that reality is not just one thing, but two things. The first is appearance, or what we call conventional truth. The second is fundamental truth. The appearance of reality is what you perceive all the time, what you see and experience. Everything that appears to your senses is the conventional truth. That’s why we call it appearance—it appears to your consciousness. The more basic reason it is called appearance is that in relation to the ultimate or fundamental truth—which is the reality itself—it is clear that conventional truth is only the way things appear. It is not really how things are. We need to understand as deeply as possible that the appearance of things—of everyone and everything, of the whole universe—is not reality. – A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Four: Indestructible Innocence, pg. 169