How did you find the Diamond Approach?
I found the Diamond Approach through a good friend whose judgment I trusted. She went to one of the first retreats in Germany some 25 years ago. She experienced this retreat as very valuable and effective in providing tools for exploration. So I decided to check it out for myself. I was used to more dynamic and therapeutic ways of working with people and it took me a while to notice and appreciate the subtle realms of Being. I never felt attracted to teachings where I was required to believe in a doctrine or blindly follow a teaching. In the Diamond Approach, I liked the humanness and openness of the teachers.
When you first started, what was your greatest challenge?
In hindsight, my biggest challenge was to realize that I was mostly oriented to striving for some ideal, both internally in my process and externally in my worldly life. One other personal challenge at that time was the difficulty to stay present with feelings of inner aloneness.
What has kept you engaged with the Diamond Approach teachings?
I feel a deep appreciation for the many teachers that have expressed and embodied a living teaching. The Diamond Approach has offered me practical tools for inquiry that continue to refine and deepen, as more essential qualities are available in my explorations. What kept me engaged is my longing to explore and the fact that I kept discovering more about the nature of reality. I am pragmatic and love to find out what is true. This path provided that for me.
What aspect of the teaching is most alive in you right now?
Ever since I started my journey I have been interested in the relationship between the physical body and Being. Our body is an amazing expression of consciousness and I feel there is much more to find out about the possibilities of Being expressing itself in the physical. The other area that is alive is an interest in understanding how presence meets our historical ego-structures, and how that affects these structures.
What has been the most surprising discovery for you (in the past year? Month? Week?)?
I found a freedom that does not depend on external circumstances. Presence lives in the now and is a constant surprise. Life lost its stale repetitiveness and became an ongoing miraculous unfolding. It doesn’t mean I always feel good. It simply means there is more trust that all the experiences that life brings are precious.
What advice/encouragement would you offer to someone ‘on the fence’ about attending an Intro event?
I would encourage them to try out the teachings that they naturally feel attracted to. Then attend a few retreats, meet some of the teachers and see if your heart resonates with this particular teaching or teacher.
If you could have one wish for humankind, what would it be?
My wish would be that more and more people discover presence. That would be the only way to ensure that we start living from a bigger perspective that is not guided by fear, survival instincts or the misunderstanding that we are separate from each other or nature. I don’t expect that to happen to humankind as a whole any time soon but many individuals are waking up to presence and living a life that is an expression of our true nature.
Rob Merkx is a teacher in Diamond Approach groups in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy. He is part of the teaching team for the newly forming Diamond Approach Group UK4 and the Diamond Heart Europe 3 Retreat Group. He is also a teacher in the online course Introduction to the Diamond Approach.