From Barriers to Being: The Role of Inquiry into Self
“The Way of Inquiry into Self” is adapted from “Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey” by A. H. Almaas. It discusses the Diamond Approach, which is an open and open-ended inquiry into various elements of human experience. The article emphasizes that the barriers to the natural unfoldment of the soul are primarily psychological and consist of fixed beliefs, attitudes, and compulsive patterns. These barriers can be penetrated through sincere and intelligent inquiry, leading to greater awareness and understanding of oneself. The article also highlights that this form of inquiry invites Being to disclose its hidden possibilities, enhancing the process and taking it to subtler and deeper dimensions.
The discoveries that form the basis of our path, the Diamond Approach, offer an original understanding of why the presence of Being, with its essential manifestations, is not active and functioning in most individuals. The fundamental insight can be stated as follows: Being, as manifested in essential presence and qualities, is a natural and central part of human potential. This potential inherently and spontaneously opens up and develops as part of an individual’s maturation. When this unfoldment does not occur, psychological and related barriers are the cause. These barriers consist primarily of fixed beliefs about oneself and reality in general, deeply held attitudes and inner positions, and compulsive patterns of reactivity and behavior.
These elements, in turn, are based on and are expressions of, psychic attachment (identification) to unconscious and unquestioned images and concepts about oneself and experience in general. These inner attitudes, positions, and assumptions reduce awareness of oneself, limit understanding of what’s possible, and impede the natural unfoldment of one’s potential.
The Diamond Approach is an open and open-ended inquiry into the various elements of our experience and its patterns. When that inquiry is sincere and intelligent, it is bound to encounter the aforementioned inner barriers against the free unfoldment of the soul. Challenging such barriers by questioning them leads to an insightful and directly felt comprehension of these barriers. In this way, inquiry and understanding penetrate the barriers and open our soul to the still-unknown possibilities sleeping in its depths.
Inquiry not only leads to greater awareness and understanding of ourselves but also invites Being to disclose its hidden possibilities through the unfoldment of experience and insight. This activates our essential presence in its various manifestations in a natural and orderly fashion. In turn, these essential aspects enhance the process of inquiry and understanding, taking both to subtler and deeper dimensions of experience and perception.
This activation of the subtle dimensions depends on our understanding, and this understanding reflects our capacity to inquire into our everyday experience. In the Diamond Approach, we don’t mechanically do exercises and practices that activate deep energies that we may not be able to understand or handle. Rather, the activation occurs independently, in response to one’s capacity for openness, inquiry, and understanding. And the fact that this capacity increases in direct relation to our level of maturity is the best safeguard against going too deep too fast.
We must emphasize here that the understanding we are referring to is not mental or intellectual comprehension but the direct awareness and experience of oneself that is insightful and clear. It is the clear discrimination of the truth of experience as an inseparable aspect of that experience. This understanding is the direct response of Being to sincere inquiry.
Embarking on such a journey of inquiry opens the door to a profound and intimate relationship with what it means to be a human being. The essential world of being human, being a conscious soul, opens up, and in each moment, you discover it. It also arises right where you are now; it does not exist somewhere else, waiting for you to find it. The journey of inquiry is the longest and shortest trip you will ever take—you travel as far as you need to go to be where you already are.
It is a most mysterious and personal journey that serves as an awakening to the capacities and possibilities in your soul for participating in the inner unfolding of your Being. As your self-exploration becomes oriented, you will recognize and encourage the implicit guidance that arises as you travel your inner space. And, as the journey continues and your awareness deepens, you will learn to appreciate the subtleties, the richness, and the intimacy that is yours as you follow the path of inquiry.
- The Nature of Barriers: How do you relate to the idea that psychological barriers are the primary hindrance to the natural unfoldment of the soul?
- Role of Inquiry: What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of open and open-ended inquiry in breaking down these barriers?
- Unfoldment of Being: How does the concept of Being disclosing its hidden possibilities resonate with you?