DIALECTIC INQUIRY ON THE JOURNEY OF ASCENT
Head, Heart, and the Process of Understanding
Does the Diamond Approach’s focus on psychology and personality issues feel overly emphasized?
Is the DA too head-oriented?
Does the Diamond Approach lack heart?
I think these two threads and others like them arise partly due to the Diamond Approach’s use of open-ended inquiry and psychodynamic exploration to liberate the soul from its identification with history and ego structure.
First, let me say clearly that these are my current thoughts. They will evolve, perhaps before the last line is written on this page.
It is important to notice that part of the process of realization of Pure Being is the metabolism of some object relations. This means psychodynamic and structural work can lead to this dimension of experience. This is usually completely ignored by spiritual teachings, which makes the realization of this dimension difficult and extremely rare. We see here that a large part of the barrier against this dimension of Being is the existence of nonmetabolized past object relations. Most spiritual teachings focus on the existential and epistemological barriers, which are only some of the relevant issues. In the Diamond Approach, we see that consideration of the psychodynamic and structural issues is very helpful in realizing these deep aspects of Being, and integrating them in a deep personal way. The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach – A. H. Almaas
Gurdjieff referred to man as a 3-center being – head, heart, and body. This concept serves us in the Diamond Approach in helping to discriminate and open up the experience of the self.
Gurdjieff spoke of humans as “three-brained” beings, possessing three separate “centers” — the physical, emotional, and intellectual centers. In most people, who are seen as still “asleep,” these three centers work at odds with each other, out of harmony, interfering with the individual’s possibilities for higher development
Humans, particularly those of us raised in the Western world, seem to have more dominant head centers – most likely due to living more and more in a conceptual worldview with more and more information flooding us and an idealized sense of being an individual with control and choice.
It is little wonder, then, that many initially view inquiry as a head-centered activity and process. Isn’t it? The short answer vis-a-vis the Diamond Approach is no. Inquiry is a 3-center process, and later, as we mature in our understanding and capacities, it is a 4-center process and eventually can be a no-center process.
When you are inquiring, it is important to keep sensing your body—to stay in direct touch with its movements and sensations. This includes the numbness, dullness, or tension you may feel. Grounding your awareness in your bodily experience is important because your essential qualities will arise in the same place where you experience your feelings, emotions, and reactions. They are not going to appear above your head; they are going to arise within you. So, your body is your entry into the mystery. Spacecruiser Inquiry: True Guidance for the Inner Journey – A. H. Almaas
Most people come to the Diamond Approach or any spiritual path for one of two reasons:
- Most are dissatisfied or suffering in their current circumstances and seeking something more expansive.
- Some unknown force draws some or has had some primary awakening that radically shifts their worldview.
What one discovers, sooner or later, is that the dynamism underlying both of these is love. One quality or function of love is it calls us to know ourselves and reality as deeply and intimately as possible. It calls us beyond knowing and being to the soul’s deepest longing – absolute absence, but that is another story.
For many, at first, it is difficult to see, much less experience, this functioning of love, though most are quick to acknowledge this conceptually or intellectually. To actually experience it immediately and completely is beyond challenging for the normal self – it is impossible as it dissolves that self. The self’s desire to be central to the “enlightened life” is problematic.
Inquiry serves the heart and soul by opening up our experience and consciousness in a manner that is unique to our personal structuring, attuned to our process, and at a rate that is optimal for our developing capacities.
Inquiry and psychodynamic work help to open the doors, create space, and let the light in for more heart to emerge in our experience.
Where many, if not most, face challenges is our deep addiction/need/reliance on conceptualizing experience for understanding. It’s what the mind does, but the identification with the mind and this process is a great challenge for spiritual seekers – knowing knowing beyond concepts. Knowing knowing as experiential being and awareness. The mind doesn’t get this. Its concepts are simply insignificant until it is transformed by experience – and the transformation is not fundamentally dependent upon 1, 100, or 1000 spiritual/essential experiences.
Let’s look at how inquiry helps to open and nurture the heart on the journey of ascent.
In this journey of ascent, the process has been primarily that of discrimination, separation, purification and resolution. Her (the soul) nature reveals itself as more simpler, more subtle, and increasingly devoid of forms, qualities, determinations, and concepts. The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality – A. H. Almaas
We begin the journey of ascent within the world of ego and personality. Some fundamental elements of ego structure are:
- Object Relations & Self-Image
- Identifications & Fixations
- Ego Ideal & Superego
- Reactivity & Defense Mechanisms
Each of these elements limits our understanding of love and the capacity of our hearts.. Understanding these ego elements assists us in developing our skills for inquiry but can also support the tendency to intellectualize inquiry – a two-edged sword.
As we work with the soul, two significant issues involving heart arise – innocence and vulnerability. For most of us, exploring these brings up a great deal of inquiry involving all the aspects of ego structure. Much of our journey, growth, and understanding always engage these elements as ego beliefs, conditioning, and resistance are challenged as we take each step and break new ground.
The exploration of innocence and vulnerability certainly holds the potential for more heart.
We work with two essential qualities early on in the Diamond Approach, which are obviously connected to the heart center – green (compassion) and yellow (joy). Exploring the red essence involves the heart around courage, passion, and expansion.
Two of the “mother aspects” we explore on the journey of ascent are pink love and merging love – both are loaded with psychodynamic content for deep inquiry.
The work on the Personal Essence involves work on our capacity for contact. Certainly an area calling forth a lot of heart work.
Then there are the boundless dimensions, and what do we usually engage first? Divine Love.
In all of these inquiries, heart is a central thread, and open-ended inquiry is a primary component in our process of understanding.
The function and service of inquiry is to take us deeper into the immediacy of our experience. Perhaps part of the answer to the question first raised is that we have reified inquiry, repeating questions and monologues. Perhaps we have settled into some object relation with inquiry that needs to be inquired into!
The process of inner work has two threads: seeing the negative causes of suffering, and seeing the positive causes of suffering. The negative causes of suffering involve the negative experiences, often from childhood, that created suffering. What I call the positive cause of suffering is the actual blockage of our potential, our essence. The positive cause is the alienation from true reality. After a while the process of understanding involves these two threads working together. You understand personality, and you understand essence. You understand your history and you understand your nature. You understand your mind and you understand your beingness. These two threads are inherently intertwined in our work in the Diamond Approach. Diamond Heart Book Five: Inexhaustible Mystery– A. H. Almaas
For me, I think the question of whether or not the Diamond Approach is too focused on the psychological or psychodynamics or doesn’t have enough heart has more to do with how much distance there is between me and the immediacy of my experience. Maybe it’s different for others.
In this practical, self-paced audio course, you’ll learn how to explore the ocean of your inner world using a powerful practice called Diamond Inquiry.