Let’s not confuse being specific with being precise. They are not the same. Being precise is a function of the Clear Essence, the Clear diamond. Being specific is a function of the Point. The Point is the most specific essential presence there is. When you experience the Point, you are a singularity, as specific as one can be. There is no more specific experience of Essence than the Point – a one-pointed, singular, concentrated sense of identity and presence. It is the most specific way one can experience oneself. That’s why we say that it is simplicity itself. It has no parts – it’s one thing, very simple, very specific. And because it is the most specific quality, it aids us in being able to be specific about anything. Precision, however, is a matter of exactness, of distinguishing one thing from another.

There are other requirements besides curiosity for the full operation of the Diamond Guidance, but we have discussed the central ones. Discussing the rest of the requirements would entail going into the understanding of all other aspects of Essence in their relation to the dimension of objective consciousness, which is beyond the scope of this book. As we have described, the complete purification of ego needed for absorption requires the separation of the false from the true: the false to be eliminated, and the truth to be absorbed. It is not possible to separate the truth from the false if there is the slightest imprecision. And for there to be precision, specific perceptions and insights are required. Thus the exactness, precision and specificity of the Diamond Guidance are required for the process of psychic metabolism, and thus for the realization of the Personal Essence.

When you get precise, you don’t necessarily zero in, you just get clearer, sharper. To get more specific, you need to see more details. So in precision, you’re seeing the delineation, the sharper contrast—to know that what you are looking at is this and not that—while specificity means that you’re seeing things in greater detail. Both are necessary skills or capacities for understanding our experience. And just like precision, specificity is a capacity that can be more or less developed in us. Some of us don’t know how to get specific, while some of us can get specific down to minute details. Some of us can keep changing our lenses so that we have a zooming mechanism available to our inner eye. Some of us don’t have a zoom lens, so we compensate with other capacities. 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.