Each of us is different. Everybody has their history, capacities, and situations and, as we do our work, each of us will need to use whatever resources we have. But one thing we have in common—which I have observed both in my own experience and in the experience of others—is that when there is a true breakthrough, when there is a new knowledge about reality, when there is experience of reality that brings in new dimensions, it is always because of true nature. As we have seen, it is never because of our own individual efforts. It is never because of what we think we’re doing. This is a central insight of the dynamic of realization: In our practice, it is Total Being practicing. Whatever insight we have is because the depth of true nature, the sense of the purity of reality, has touched our mind and sparked an insight or an idea or a revelation. That is to say, we never arrive at true spiritual insight or understanding by simply thinking. Just as thinking alone will not do it, neither will doing anything in particular or feeling anything in particular. The realm of realization, the spiritual realm that brings about freedom, is not accessible to the intentions or efforts of our individual consciousness regardless of how heartfelt or intelligent or skillful they are. From the beginning of this teaching, it was always essential presence, spiritual presence—that purity of awareness or consciousness that is independent of thought, feeling, and sensation—that brought about both the realization and the teaching at the same time. 

But the view of totality, because of its unboundedness, provides a framework that allows discovery to happen in any field or area in an unlimited way. It shows that understanding, knowledge, and experience have no limit. There is no reason to posit a limit or an end. Creating a closed system always excludes some truth, which amounts practically to excluding the truth of Total Being to live its freedom. So the insecurity and instability that the view of totality reveals helps us to understand the dynamic of realization, which can in turn vivify our practice and make it more effective. The view of totality liberates practice, and freedom is the value that emerges—a freedom that reveals practice as a living dynamic between the individual and reality. The more we recognize that it is Total Being that is living, the more there is a sense of freedom and the more living is free. 

As we understand the relationship of inquiry and nondoing, our practice becomes more aligned with the dynamic of realization. This maturation of practice, this ripening of wisdom, becomes a spontaneous recognition of the centrality of nondoing in practice. As we learn to simultaneously take responsibility for and be open to the revelation of Being, we learn the skill of nondoing. This doesn’t mean forgetting our practice or getting lost in distractions or indulging in reactions and preferences. Nondoing means that our practicing and the manifesting of Being become one movement in our direct, personal experience. Now, practice is consciously realization realizing realization. As we practice, Being is practicing. 

The view of totality, its attendant conception of reality called “Total Being,” and the understanding of the dynamic of realization—the relationship between individual practice and realization—begin to articulate the nonhierarchical view of the Diamond Approach. As we plumb the depths of our immediate experience, at some point we can begin to uncover the underlying implications of its view. From the vantage of totality, we can discern not only the distinctness, the validity, and the experiential universe of that particular view but also the relationship of one worldview to another. Doing so unleashes the inherent freedom of reality, and reality shows its delight by leading us to other views and further mysteries. This is the upshot of uncertainty: We are loosed from the search for final meaning into a life of limitless adventure. 

We will begin by examining the dynamic of realization, which is the relationship between the practice of the individual and the unfolding of reality. Following this line of inquiry reveals various delusions of practice, each of which we will explore at some length. But in order to fully understand the significance of practice and realization, we need to look at the dynamic from both perspectives—that of the individual practicing and also that of reality living its life as individual practice. What allows our inquiry to become nimble enough to consider both perspectives at once is the view of totality, one of the wisdoms that emerges from the fourth turning of the wheel. The view of totality, which can entertain multiple views without having to attach to or be constrained by any of them, expands exponentially the power and the freedom of our inquiry. 

It will be difficult for us to understand the dynamic of realization, the fulcrum of the path, unless we look at it from the view of totality. If we look at it from the view of any one realization of true nature on one dimension or another, we will not be able to understand how realization happens. Furthermore, although it is necessary for understanding the dynamic of realization, the view of totality is much larger and more comprehensive—it encompasses many further understandings. The particular understanding that we are exploring—the fulcrum or dynamic of realization, which is how realization happens on the path—is one application of the view of totality. The view of totality is a context within which we can inquire into anything. It provides us the possibility of looking at any question from many views simultaneously. 

As we understand this dynamic of realization, as we recognize and understand that our practice is the whole universe practicing, we begin to appreciate more directly the importance of not interfering with our experience, the importance of nondoing. It is not the individual who practices nondoing—it is reality itself. As Living Being perceives itself as an individual functioning, it misidentifies its own dynamism with individual activity. When it sees that this confusion has disconnected it from itself, Living Being simply ceases identifying with individual activity. Functioning happens without identification with a centered self. This is nondoing. As you see, I keep talking about a dynamic. This is because the view of totality is not a particular state; it is an understanding that can arise in many states, many dimensions, many kinds of realization. So we are exploring the living dynamic of realization. When I say “living,” it is because reality is dynamic and it is more than dynamic—it is alive. Alive means there is intelligence and growth and evolution. We are talking about force. We are talking about dialectic. Realization won’t happen without you practicing. I don’t necessarily mean sitting and meditating; I mean being open and interested in reality. When you are learning and evolving and maturing, that is practice. At the same time, realization won’t happen simply through practice. Practice and grace, the two sides of realization, both have to be there. And yet, they are not exactly two, nor are they simply one. What do you call the view that as you practice as an individual, the reality that pervades all time and all space is manifesting its truth? What do you call the view that your taking responsibility for your practice is reality intensifying its dynamism to reveal itself? Is it dual? Is it nondual? Which is more important, the individual or grace?  

We began this book by looking at the relationship between the particular individual who practices and the larger reality that is manifesting realization. In order to understand that dynamic of realization—the fulcrum of the path—we had to resort to the view of totality. What we discovered is that we cannot fully understand the relationship of practice and realization from the perspective of any one state or condition of realization, regardless of how profound or enlightened it may be. The view of totality is both very unsettling and very liberating. Its liberating power comes from its unbounded inclusiveness, which, at the same time, is unsettling because it doesn’t tell us where to stand. In fact, it shows us that there is no place to stand. This challenges our tendency to fixate and to take positions, which is a cornerstone of the sense of self. Our usual sense of self requires some kind of position—a secure perch or foundation or ground—to establish itself. The view of totality reveals that any stability, any fixity of experience, is ultimately a delusion. Reality is not only empty but also fluid; it moves smoothly like a flowing, free void. Although the view of totality allows us to establish any realization and perspective—from the ordinary to the extraordinary—it doesn’t hold any of them as the final resting place. Because of our need for a stable place to rest, we often find this kind of dynamism difficult to bear. But the other side of this instability is an undreamed-of freedom. The view of totality, because of its all-inclusiveness and lack of fixation, heralds a type of freedom that we have never imagined possible. And what we see is that the price of this freedom is ontological insecurity. We cannot be secure and imagine that we are going to be free. Security requires stability, which easily becomes fixation, the kernel of the usual sense of self. 

This points to the importance of the manifestation of the particular. Reality is not only a nondual truth in its oneness and indivisibility. That is important, but the fact that there is individual consciousness is also important. More than that, it is necessary. If there were no individual consciousness, this nondual truth would be manifesting the universe, but it would be an insentient and unconscious universe, not aware of its mystery and transparency. Many teachings, of course, recognize this truth. It’s obvious, unless you abide in the nondual condition for a long time. If that is the only condition you experience, you might tend to forget the value of individual consciousness because the nondual condition doesn’t readily reveal the importance of the individual. Even though the enlightened view is that there is no individual self who can be responsible for enlightenment or take actions that lead to enlightenment, the individual is nonetheless necessary for the dynamic of realization. From the perspective of totality, the individual soul is not only the organ of perception but also the organ of realization. There would be no awareness or experience of realization without the individual consciousness. Many teachings have recognized the significance of individual consciousness. One of the most obvious examples is the Sufi tradition. Ibn Arabi, a major figure considered the Grand Sheikh of the Sufis, wrote, “God needs the individual soul just as much as the individual soul needs God.” 

There is truth to these perceptions. They are one way that we can experience the arising of Being, and there is some true understanding in those experiences. However, from the perspective of Living Being, we can see that this understanding is still an approximation of what is actually happening. In other words, we can understand how Being arises in a way that gives us a more complete and more thorough understanding of practice and how practice is realization. So far in our exploration of the dynamic of realization, we’ve seen our practice and the arising of true nature as a looping dialectic, as two sides of one process, one dynamic. But we can go still further toward understanding what is happening in practice. So far, our understanding continues to lend itself to the perspective of the individual soul, the individual self, appropriating the realization, appropriating the insights, appropriating the understanding and the manifestations. We have seen how our practice contains an assumption of causality that appropriates the action of Being. We are exerting effort, we are being responsible, we are being committed, we are practicing—all of which exertion and sincerity we assume results in realization. In addition to the assumption of causality in this attitude, there is in it a persistent self-centeredness. We are still looking at things from the perspective of the self. Now I’m not saying that looking at things from the perspective of the self is a bad thing. I am not even saying that it is a wrong thing. I am simply saying that it is one way, and that there are other possibilities. And we can observe that looking at things from the perspective of the self, after a while, doesn’t feel very good. People are unhappy with it. And it’s good to know that there are other possibilities that Being can manifest, in which people find themselves full of joy and happiness and freedom. 

As we understand the dynamic of realization, by utilizing the view of totality to explore how practice is related to realization, we open up and reveal the true condition of reality. We do this so that each of us has more freedom and openness in our inquiry, so that each of us has more freedom and capacity to live authentically and to live in a way that reveals the mysteries of Being. We can’t truly and completely be settled, peaceful, and happy unless we participate in the freedom of the dynamism of Being, in the inherent values of Living Being. In other words, the freedom of the dynamism of Being to reveal its possibilities without constraints is experienced by human beings as the freedom to be, as liberation, satisfaction, and happiness. When Living Being is free to reveal and express its possibilities, its inherent true nature, its purity and mystery, it is the same thing as the individual fulfilling his or her design. And as long as we don’t fulfill our design, as long as we are not living in harmony with our design, we are bound to be dissatisfied. Depending on the constraints that limit the dynamism of our being, our dissatisfaction can appear in many ways that reveal old, patterned, and known ways of being.