Another kind of focus is one that has to do with zeroing in. Zeroing in is not a matter of staying with the same object, but of making the focus smaller and more precise so you can see the specific details. When you focus the lens of a microscope, you can see the details of what you are looking at more clearly. The focus that results from zeroing in is also very important for inquiry, because if you don’t zero in on what’s happening, you tend not to see the specifics; you see only in generalities. Zeroing in is needed to take us deeper. As you’re zeroing in, you get closer and closer to the object of inquiry, and as that happens, it reveals itself more. That is the movement inward, the going deeper. So, as we have said, the focus of following the thread has to do with one-pointedness. What does the focus of zeroing in have to do with? How do you zero in? Think in terms of a lens, a zoom lens. What does a zoom lens do? It magnifies. And when it magnifies, what do you see? You see that everything else drops away, and the dropping away is the one-pointedness. But why do you want to use a zoom lens in the first place? In order to see more of the details. It’s a matter of becoming more specific. The closer you zoom in, the more you see specifically what is going on. In our inquiry, we zero in to see more specifics in our experience. We go from the general to the specific. This is a dynamic, continuing process that corresponds to the capacity of penetration. It happens when we are able to discriminate more of the specifics. 

Spirituality does not just involve seeing that there is spirit in addition to the physical. It involves seeing reality as it is—what actually is there, physical or non-physical. To make that possible, we need to be free from the conviction that makes us focus on the dimension of reality that comes through our physical senses. This conviction is so deep, so solid, and so entrenched, and it pervades our consciousness so completely, so universally, that we take it to be reality. We don’t think of it as a conviction, we think of it as unquestionable reality. Most people never question it. So everyone tries to live their lives from this limited perspective. You take the input of your senses as all of reality and then try to deal with your life from that perspective. Then you get in trouble because that’s not all of reality. So your beliefs are bound to be inaccurate, and your actions are bound to be ineffective. The simplest, most common example of this is that from the materialist perspective you tend to believe that if you have material success, you will be happy, or if your body looks a certain way, you will be satisfied with yourself. But in holding this perspective, you are actually bound to be unhappy, because the perspective of the physical dimension is not the whole truth about you. This is a vast subject, a very deep subject to explore. In one sense, it is obvious. But it is also subtle. As we have discussed, the universe we see is not separate from the concepts in our minds. But the universe we see is mostly the physical universe. The mind develops by focusing on the physical universe. This is true for every human being. The restriction of consciousness to the physical and the development of the mind constitute the same process. It’s not that you grow up and then you believe this perspective. As you come to know yourself growing up, the materialist perspective is developing. The perception of physical reality as fundamental becomes more and more entrenched; it becomes part and parcel of your mind, the way you think, feel, and perceive. This is why it is so difficult to see through or beyond it. We can’t imagine how we could perceive or act without this perspective.

That is how we learn in the Diamond Approach. It’s a hard way, in the sense that we get established in particular dimensions or conditions and then reality naturally moves us elsewhere. For example, as we teach the boundless dimensions of reality, we become established and realized in the boundlessness and nonduality of reality for some time; and we focus a great deal on how to integrate and stabilize that particular condition. But then, as that happens, there is always a relaxation and, without our expecting it, the realization moves to a different dimension, to a different mode of experience. In this way, we learn about all kinds of realizations. On this path, many of the realizations that we learn about seem similar to the realizations of other teachings. We might begin to compare: “This teaching is deeper; that teaching has a different understanding of this dimension; this teaching is a more complete expression of that state.” These discriminations may be true and may contain useful knowledge but, at some point, we understand that it is not up to the individual to choose where to land or where to abide or what realization should manifest. Reality is bigger than the individual. Reality is an immensity, is a mystery, is a Living Beingness that is constantly manifesting and revealing its possibilities. This is why in the view of totality we see the different realizations as way stations. Saying that they are way stations is also not entirely accurate. It’s a useful formulation but, after a while, it is deceptive because it implies going toward a finite end. We might assume that the different realizations are stations on the way to some final destination. But the destination itself turns out to be a way station. All realizations are in fact way stations. 

Our central method of working—engaging in consistent inquiry into our essential nature—quite naturally begins to put pressure on the structure of our self-identity, exposing its narcissistic characteristics. As this happens we become more aware of the narcissism in our character. Ironically, we begin to feel more narcissistic! For example, we become more acutely aware of our self-centeredness, or of our sensitivity to others’ opinions. These characteristics may have always been there, but at this stage we begin to notice and to question them. This focus spontaneously arises from our investigation of our essential nature and begins a new and much deeper phase of our spiritual work. We begin to be curious about aspects of our experience we have up to now taken for granted. An important aspect of this development is that it arises as a result of our continuing process of inquiry. It happens without premeditation and without being set up by spiritual beliefs about one’s identity. This development does not need to be initiated from the outside, nor worked on through some specific practice. 

We therefore take the view that dealing with all the factors causing narcissistic issues is the most efficient approach in the work of self-realization. In the Diamond Approach we deal with whatever level of self the student happens to be experiencing, and work towards understanding it without taking a rigid position about what element of experience to focus on. We allow the student’s exploration to guide us to the factors most relevant for his or her present experience. The work may focus on one factor for some time, or several, or may move from one to the other. Since the identity structure develops through the integration of internalized object relations, the child’s experiences in his actual relationships are the primary determinants of the development of his sense of self. This is a basic tenet of depth psychology. The child needs these interactions for this development, which not only affect it, but actually form it. The influences of these interactions can be divided into two groups: (1) those that affect the development of the self in general; and (2) those that specifically cause narcissism. The general factors which interfere with the development of the self contribute to the self’s alienation from its essential core and thus to narcissism. This group consists of all the consequences of inadequate satisfaction of the child’s needs during the various stages of development. The child’s needs change according to what phase of development he is passing through, and the parents (at the beginning specifically the mother) must satisfy these needs adequately, and also must respond flexibly to the changing needs. Inadequate care creates distortions in the developing structures of the self, resulting in many kinds of psychological difficulties, among these, narcissism.

You might say, “I’ve had experiences that are not seen by the physical eye, and I know they are there.” Yes, but do you act according to them? You don’t, because those experiences are like a dream for you, like a little scratch on the surface of your brain. You are still convinced that what your physical senses tell you is what is real. You believe that only physical perception is objective perception. That is the rock of reality, and that’s what you have to pay attention to and take care of. Other things, perhaps more subtle experiences, are nice; they come and go, and maybe they are real, maybe they are not. They are goodies, extras—not really as important as physical reality. So your focus, your valuing, and your conviction are based more—a million times more—on what comes through your physical senses than on what comes through any other channel. Our belief in the perspective of the physical senses influences our consciousness in a powerful, dramatic way. We cannot know how powerful this influence is until we perceive the nonconceptual. So freedom from the senses does not mean not using them. It means not believing that the information that comes through them is the whole story.

It is important to remember that our emotional issues, our difficulties in life, are not our basic focus in the Work. You can come into a group and see that sometimes these things are addressed; they arise in your process, and you think that is what you need to be working on. You believe that you need to work on your problems with your wife, your husband, your job, your inner critic. That is only the initial part of the Work. Our Work is oriented towards a much deeper dimension, and we deal with the emotional level because we have to, because the content of the mind is what the person is aware of. In the Diamond Approach, we use these emotional problems as stepping stones towards the more fundamental reality. We work to understand and resolve them, in order to be free from them. But the point is not only to be free from them; it is to enable us to look deeper, into what is not apparent. We use the appearance to go beyond it. This is what distinguishes the Diamond Approach from other approaches to spiritual work. Some methods try to go to reality directly. Some just try to push you to the other side. In our approach, we have a systematic teaching of understanding and a methodology which uses the appearance—its issues and conflicts and misunderstandings—as a stepping stone to go deeper towards the fundamental reality. This approach works well in this particular culture at this time. 

In other words, there are two overlapping movements in our practices. The central practice of inquiry, whose core is nondoing and noninterference, contains an active engagement that, at some point, becomes completely spontaneous. And, there is the nondoing practice that begins with sitting in an abiding stillness in which, at some point, a spontaneous understanding and discernment can emerge because of the presence of our discriminating intelligence. Inquiry can become spontaneous nondoing, and nondoing can become spontaneous inquiry. In inquiry, we are actively engaged—we’re experimenting, we’re exploring, we’re delving into things, we’re reading, we’re questioning—while, at the center of it, we are not doing anything to our experience and are only interested in understanding its truth. In the nondoing meditation, we are sitting still, being the condition of realization, and the revelation of reality is a spontaneous arising. Our focus is nondoing and inquiry simply erupts. When that spontaneously happens, we don’t say, “No, no, this is nondoing practice; I have to remain still,” because the arising is not our doing—it is Living Being manifesting as dynamic revelation. So if we insist on remaining in our meditative stillness, we are clamping down on the dynamism of Being. When the dynamism of Being is free, it freely reveals the understanding of the situation we are in and reveals further and further realization. 

So essence is here, all the time. It’s everywhere, and it’s for everybody. It really is the best news possible. Some people say, “Well, I didn’t know that before. Nobody told me, and I’m mad about that.” Good, be mad. But the point of feeling and understanding your anger or hurt is to be able to connect to the truth that essence is here all the time. If you just continue to be angry, you’ll just continue to separate yourself from it. If you continue to believe you’re a separate, abandoned soul, well you’ll just stay separate from the ocean you live in. And then you’ll keep on looking for it, searching for what’s right under your nose. That’s why it’s useful to see things from the perspective of the boundless dimensions. I teach about them because that’s how I see things—I’m just describing the truth as I perceive it and I don’t care whether anyone believes it or not.  It connects with some people though, and they say, “Yeah, that makes sense.” Not only does it make sense, it fulfils the heart, it releases the soul, and it cleanses the body. The body then becomes really juicy, open and full and we see that the body itself is made out of love and light. So it’s not the way it is with some teachings, those that say we should ignore the body and focus only on the spirit. What I’m saying is that by recognizing that your nature is more than physical and that you are not bound by your body, you open up to this other dimension, which still includes the body. Even if you identify with the body after that, you know that your body is not just physical anyway. And after a while you can’t really identify with it any longer, not because you don’t want to, but because you can see that it’s not a separate thing—it’s made out of the same divine love and light as everything else.    

There are as many variations as people. We could put those variations into groupings. One of the groupings is the nine points on the enneagram. But even within one fixation there are all kinds of variations. No two people are the same. No two people are the same, but in another sense, everyone is the same. Basically all fixations operate from one perspective. There are nine types or fixations but they all come from one point of view—of acquiring things for the self, and defending that self. When you see that your focus on your self, your separateness, your preoccupation with your personal life, are all barriers against the natural order of reality, you become more willing to be open and loving. There is no threat then about being generous. You see that generosity is our nature. There is no loss in letting go of your point of view; there is tremendous gain—yet no self gains it. The gain is everyone’s gain, the gain is for the universe. You will feel freedom, joy, fulfillment and happiness —but these feelings are not for you to possess, they are for the universe. Whenever any human being loses his point of view, the entire human race benefits. Ultimately, the work we do to understand our lives and our selves is not for us individually, but for the good of everyone, for the earth as a whole. We are not separate. We are a network. Just as you have cells and organs in your body which cooperate to make a harmonious entity, all life on earth, all forms of life cooperate to make one body. Our individual health will contribute to the health of the whole. This is why the more open you are, the more willing you are to be loving and to serve. This comes from a recognition that we are one being. It’s no longer a question of giving. It’s a flow—a flow from one cell to another for the health and maintenance of the whole organism. To think in terms of giving is to think from the perspective of the ego, which is that someone is there giving and someone is there receiving—separate entities. It is not a giving but a circulation, and we are happiest and most alive when we are part of that natural circulation, without anything obstructing that circulation. When the ego has a point of view and works to maintain it, you put up a barrier, a dam. 

So it may well be that this different account of reality just doesn’t make sense at first because we’re no longer looking at things from the viewpoint of the individual soul. When we’re studying the soul and its various aspects, its gross and subtle faculties and its ordinary and spiritual qualities, we learn about the nature of the soul and the true nature of the individual. In that work, you study yourself and you discover different ways of experiencing yourself. When we’re dealing with the boundless dimensions, we are discovering different ways of experiencing reality as a whole, not just our experience of ourselves. There’s a shift of focus from the experience of the individual soul to the experience of the wholeness of existence. Now we are looking at the true nature of everything, the whole universe, which includes but goes beyond the physical universe.  To use religious terminology, we can work on understanding the soul, or we can work on understanding God, or the supreme being. To understand the nature of everything is to understand what the supreme being is, the nature of God, or the universal spirit. And when I use the terms “God,” “divine being,” or “supreme being” here, I don’t mean an entity that lives in some heaven, that creates things in time and sends emissaries to reward or punish us or anything like that. If we think of it in that way, we’re still looking from the viewpoint of the individual soul. In the boundless dimensions there are no separate entities, human or divine. 

The heart is, by its very nature, sensitive, attuned to life; it appreciates human beings and recognizes their preciousness. Acting at the expense of another’s well-being is only possible when the heart is desensitized, shut down. For example, if you only express angry reactions to someone without allowing yourself to be vulnerable and expose the hurt feelings beneath your anger, that self-protection will hurt your own heart. Your heart is dying as you attempt to maintain your own psychic survival. So, moving from the animal soul to the human soul accomplishes the important shift of focus from both your physical and psychic survival to the survival of your heart. 

Now that soul, that noetic form of soul, one of the universal concepts that truly exists, is different from all other concepts in the sense that it has the capacity to think and conceptualize and create its reality and determine its own perception of things. A rock cannot do that, but the soul can. The soul also has the capacity to shut off awareness of the rest of the Universal Mind, and focus on one part of it, like the physical. A whole viewpoint develops based on that orientation towards physical reality. I think that is why it is said that we have free will—we have the capacity to say “no” to some aspects of reality, to live as if our own limited knowledge were all there is. And from that perspective, we make choices. In that sense, we do have free will. But from the perspective of the Nous, there is no free will. It is all the Nous anyway. At the locations called souls, Nous operates in a certain way: A particular location can cut off its perception such that it believes that it is running the show. Yet the same soul that has the capacity to delude itself also can work to clarify itself and begin to see the Nous, and begin to allow it to function. You can call this process surrendering, allowing the will of God, simply being, or just non-doing. So through the Work the soul can become free from the personal mind. The work for the soul is to go through the personal mind, which we have been looking at as object relations, images, reactions, patterns, and beliefs, as well as ideas, dreams, and identifications. In our Work the soul can become aware of the specific details of the personal mind, with the prejudices and the beliefs it has adopted, and discover that the soul’s reality does not have to be determined by that historical mind. The real concepts—the noetic forms of the essential aspects—correct the distortions. 

When we are inquiring, we are holding the content—the various facets of experience—and then interrelating those elements, seeing relationships, and analyzing and synthesizing. But our consciousness not only holds the whole interrelated field, it also sees through things; it sees through the veils, defenses, and resistances to underlying meanings, to underlying parts of our experience. We notice that our perception not only has a wider vision, but also that it can have a penetrating capacity. The penetrating capacity goes directly to the essence of the matter through brilliant illumination that pierces as it illuminates. Our consciousness is so smooth that it can move through little cracks, into tiny, subtle places. Brilliancy can seep into and penetrate those little subtle cracks and allow our consciousness to see things we wouldn’t normally see. This penetrating capacity is different from focus. The capacity of focus brings our attention to a single point. It allows us to look at just one element, and everything else becomes background. We stay concentrated, one-pointed; we can see more of the detail. That’s focus. Penetration is a matter of going in: entering deep like an acupuncture needle, seeping in like fine oil, or cutting through like a surgeon’s scalpel. We are not stopped at the surface, at what is presently showing itself; we see past what’s conscious into what’s hidden or buried. Obviously, this capacity is important for understanding our experience, especially when we are trying to see underlying meaning or underlying unity, because to do that, we have to go through many veils. Usually we do that through seeing relationships, by using analysis and synthesis. At those times, Brilliancy gives us the capacity to see underlying unity in a flash. 

Student: I find that I tend to come up against a big obstacle when I try to shift my external focus to an internal focus.

Almaas: That makes sense because the external focus is in the opposite direction of the Point. The Point takes you in deeper. You notice that in our discussion of focus, sometimes I talk about focus as going inward, deeper; and sometimes I talk about focus as following the thread. These are two different kinds of focus. They’re both the operation of the Point. Following the thread is a focus in terms of being one-pointed. You need to be one-pointed to stay with the same object of exploration. But this object now is a moving object, so as you stay with it, it becomes a thread. 

So we have now looked at two kinds of focus: a focus that is one-pointed so that you can follow the thread, and a focus that zeroes in by being specific. And both these qualities—the one-pointedness and the specificity—have to do with the Essential Identity. One-pointedness comes from the fact that the Essential Identity is a point, and specificity is derived from its being the most specific presence possible. It’s interesting how the geometrical and the affective sides of the Point are interconnected, and how both affect our consciousness and capacity. Geometrically the Essential Identity is a point, but in terms of feeling, it is the most specific kind of feeling—the feeling of identity. The Point is the shining star, the point of light that focuses the action of the Diamond Guidance as it unfolds our experience. By its light, we are drawn to the point of our experience, and through its focus we unravel the ever-deepening thread of meaning that leads to our true nature. Our Essential Identity is truly the only point of existence. 

Because the realization of Brilliancy in our inquiry is usually not complete, the capacity to hold relevant experiences together does not always function perfectly. The more we have realized and integrated the Brilliancy aspect—the aspect of completeness—in the Diamond Guidance, the more we are able to hold and recognize the relevant experiences on various levels, past and present. If you do not have the capacity to tell which experiences are relevant, inquiry takes a longer time. That is one of the reasons why having a teacher helps your inquiry. A teacher can see which experiences are related because of his knowledge and sensitivity to you. Over time, you will need to learn to be able to hold your experiences for yourself and to see the thread that connects them. This capacity to hold all the relevant material is at the opposite pole from the capacity of the essential Point to focus on one particular element. The Point gives us the ability to zero in on one thing and look at it closely, experience it with concentration, and analyze it. But we also need to have the capacity to pull back and consider all the related elements. We need both capacities—the focus and the general holding of all the relevant experiences. Frequently, inquiry needs to go back and forth between focus and the larger field.