Self-recognition of My Presence
In the Diamond Approach, the term “presence” is not confined to the notion of “my presence,” a concept often colored by the ego’s need to possess or claim experiences. Rather, it refers to a universal quality of Being that is both immanent and transcendent. This presence is not something you own; it’s something you are. It’s a fundamental aspect of reality that can be directly experienced but not captured or controlled. With its tendency to personalize and possess, the ego may initially interpret this as “my presence.” Still, deeper inquiry reveals that presence is not an attribute or possession—it is the very fabric of our existence.
The journey from “Recognizing My Presence” to “Self-recognition of My Presence” is essentially a shift in perspective. It’s a movement from seeing presence as something that belongs to the individual self to recognizing it as the ground of all being. In this shift, the ego’s limitations are transcended, and one comes to experience presence as a universal truth. A.H. Almaas, the founder of the Diamond Approach, emphasizes that this recognition is not an intellectual understanding but a lived experience. It’s an awakening to the ever-present nature of Being beyond the confines of ego and individuality.
When we discern the inner field that is the soul or individual consciousness, we experience it as presence, independent from and more fundamental than all the content of consciousness and all characteristics of subjective experience. When we recognize pure consciousness, we become aware of the process of consciousness, its existence, and its truth.
The presence—the “hereness,” the “beingness” of consciousness—is not something extra to consciousness; neither is consciousness an extra property of this presence. This is one of the primary discoveries in the inner journey: Presence is always consciousness, and pure consciousness is always presence.
This is similar to how photons are always light, and light is always photons. It is not that photons have the extra property we call light, or light possesses an extra property we call photons. Light and photons are two names of the same thing, emphasizing two different ways of viewing the same reality.
When we apprehend consciousness in itself, independently of the function of consciousness of objects, we experience presence. The term field of consciousness is an attempt to describe the soul’s presence. Furthermore, as we recognize that consciousness is fundamentally presence, the knowledge of our depth opens up.
Recognizing presence teaches us much about consciousness, soul, and essence. In this recognition, we can know ourselves in our fundamental mode of existence. We begin to see, perhaps for the first time, that what we are is more fundamental than our experience’s content. We are more fundamental than our sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, images, symbols, ideas, concepts, etc.
We awaken to our essential nature, which is more fundamental and more basic than our body, heart, and mind. We experience the fabric necessary for the existence of all we have taken to be ourselves. We begin to recognize our real self, our soul.
More precisely, by recognizing presence, we become aware of the fundamental ground of our soul; we discover the inner fabric that holds all of our experience; we are enlightened to what we are beyond time and space. -excerpt from The Inner Journey Home, Chapter 3 by A. H. Almaas