In the Diamond Approach, the psychological and the spiritual are so interlinked…
…that they’re really indistinguishable. It’s not like you do psychological work for psychological issues, and spiritual practice to attain spiritual states. The psychological work is the actual practice that brings about the spiritual states.”– A. H. Almaas
Through the ages spiritual teachers, gurus, masters, saints, prophets and saints have addressed the fundamental issue at the core of human experience – separation from or ignorance of the divine, our true nature.
Central to this issue is the experience of being a separate psychological individual, which is often referred to in spiritual work as the false self or the ego self. Psychology, cognitive science and now, even neuroscience are revealing how this “self” is a construction in the mind. The self is not a thing that has a location.
The Contribution of Psychology to Spiritual Awakening
Psychological work and exploration have always been an integral part of spiritual traditions and wisdom schools. This part of the Work was wrapped and presented in the knowledge of the times, i.e., myth, gods and demons, allegory, and such. The development of psychology in the West brought deeper and more precise understanding to the issues and challenges associated with the transformation and transcendence of the individual consciousness.
Sigmund Freud discovered that the human individual manages to develop in spite of early intolerable difficulties by avoiding awareness of them through various methods of repression. This repressed material does not disappear but remains hidden in what he termed the unconscious, exerting a powerful force on conscious experience, actions, and dreams. One of the momentous discoveries of modern psychology, this made it possible to engage in therapeutic psychodynamic work, which is the retracing of conflictual and painful manifestations and symptoms to their unconscious roots, and then releasing the early conditioning. The ancient wisdom traditions did not have this understanding; hence their psychologies and methods could not and did not deal with this level of barriers to the soul’s liberation and realization. – The Inner Journey Home, ch. 15
Even though Freud’s appreciation of the totality of the human soul is all but lost in modern psychology, the formulations of psychoanalytic developmental psychology, ego psychology, self psychology, and object relations theory provide invaluable knowledge about the self, particularly the development of the ego and its various structures. – The Point of Existence, ch. 5
Is there something deeper than the self?
Because our sense of self is constructed, it provides us with many doorways into our deeper nature. The Diamond Approach has made several profound contributions to spiritual wisdom and knowledge. Two of these provide us with powerful and precise psycho-spiritual technology that helps us penetrate the constructed self to what is not constructed, to what is real.
2 Psychological Understandings that Serve Spiritual Development
A. H. Almaas has pioneered the application of psychological understanding to the process of spiritual development through his insights and recognition of the fundamental synthesis of the psychological and the spiritual:
- His theory of holes provides the serious seeker with the insight and understanding that is literally the the keys to the kingdom.
- His understanding and application of object relations theory as a means to free the soul (individual consciousness) from past conditioning and ego structures has revolutionized spiritual technology.
The Theory of Holes: Learn More>>
The Power of Understanding Object Relations
Object relations theory describes one way the mind organizes experience which results in the past constantly being projected onto present experience. This automatic mental activity and unconscious psychological process prevents us from perceiving reality, from seeing what is actually right in front us. The insight of object relations theory gives us a doorway into the NOW.
The graphic below is a rudimentary, two-dimensional representation of an object relation. Object relations have three components:
- Me, a sense of self
- Other, a person, a thing, a thought, an idea – something I am in relation to
- Affect, the energetic/emotional relationship or reaction between the two
Key points:
- The mind is comparative/relational in nature – this is like this. This is how the mind knows and understands, by comparing something to something else, something already known. You see how the past is always being laid upon present experience?
- This process starts the moment the mind becomes active – at birth? before birth? In the first few weeks or months of life? Very early. So early that it is simply how things are. We rarely stop to contemplate the implications.
- We are usually the small one because we were small, really small when this process started. Being the ‘big one’ in an object relation indicates that we haven’t dug deep enough.
- The small one is weak, vulnerable, ignorant, powerless and the like – because the infant was objectively so, it’s an infant for goodness sake!
- These impressions shape the soul and help form ego identity. The whole thing gets messy with the introduction of the superego into the mix which brings in judgment and self-hatred.
How to use these two insights for spiritual growth and exploration
- Look for the object relation in present experience.
- Get a clear sense of you and other
- Feel into the emotional dynamic and allow it to come more forward in the body. (this can be challenging and is one very good reason to have a teacher or guide to work with).
- Deepening the exploration will allow a ‘hole’ to emerge (even more challenging to be with)
- With support and presence, one is able to ‘not react’ and allow the hole to fully emerge.
- Without the reactivity and projection, the hole is simply empty, peaceful space.
- Hanging out in this space allows the possibility for the ‘real’ to emerge.