282. Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) – 2nd Interview

A. Hameed Ali was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the USA to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him more and more into inquiring into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature. Hameed's interest in the truth of human nature and the true nature of reality resulted in the creation and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach®: “The Diamond Approach is a path of wisdom, an approach to the investigation of Reality and work on oneself that leads to human maturity and liberation. Because of our particular vision of Reality it is not completely accurate to think of this approach as spiritual work, for this work does not separate the spiritual from the psychological, neither does it see these two as separate from the physical everyday life and scientific investigation of the content of perception. However, because we live in a society where the prevailing thought is that of the separated facets of Reality, the closest category recognized in this mentality, to our approach, is that of a spiritual path or exploration.” Some of Hameed's many books: Runaway Realization: Living a Life of Ceaseless Discovery The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence Brilliancy: The Essence of Intelligence (Diamond Body Series) Essence With the Elixir of Enlightenment: The Diamond Approach to Inner Realization Website: ahalmaas.com Transcript of this interview 1st interview with Hameed Hameed Ali and Karen Johnson on nondual relationships Interview recorded 3/15/2015 YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to "Runaway Realization" 00:04:24 - The Journey to Realization 00:08:36 - Different Paths of Realization 00:12:45 - Perception of Reality and Different Experiences 00:17:04 - The Individual Being and its Intrinsic Reality 00:21:16 - The Enlightenment Drive and its Relationship to Instinctual Drives 00:25:30 - Aligning Humanity with True Nature 00:29:18 - The Emphasis of Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism 00:33:17 - The Manifestation of Grace and the Illusion of Separate Self 00:37:48 - The Illusion of Separateness and Development of Consciousness 00:42:14 - Different Ways of Manifesting Reality 00:46:15 - The Two Conditions of Freedom 00:50:05 - The Endless Process of Actualization 00:54:15 - The Development of Faculties and Expressing Realization 00:58:33 - The Process of Realization and Integration 01:02:01 - Removing the Barrier of Goal-Oriented Thinking 01:05:28 - The Freedom of Being and Views 01:09:40 - The Beginning of Fundamentalism 01:14:09 - Total Being and Non-Linearity of Time 01:18:13 - The Concept of Time and Timelessness 01:22:14 - The Subtlety of Motivation in Spiritual Practice 01:26:20 - The Practice of Living Life 01:30:25 - The Individual and the Whole Universe 01:34:14 - Interpenetration of Time and Space 01:38:20 - The nature of reality and our creative potential 01:42:30 - The Fine Gradations of Pure Presence 01:46:22 - The Nature of Consciousness and Knowing 01:51:00 - The Knowingness and Being 01:55:02 - The purpose of creation and the expansion of happiness 01:59:00 - Concluding Remarks & Future Interviews 02:02:06 - Next Week's Guest: Vasant Swaha