Stillness Speaks presents SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS

Stillness Speaks presents
SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS

Inquiry Continued … Book Excerpt Dominic Liber

Oct 6, 2021

Inquiry: “… By encouraging you to remain with your experience, whatever it is, {Dominic} takes you gently and gradually to deeper levels of your psyche and finally to the very presence of your spiritual nature …”  ~ A. H. Almaas

shambhala publications seriesRead about our Shambhala Publications Series launch (Dec 15, 2021) by clicking here … this post is part of this series even though it was published before the launch.

inquiry surreal liber almaas

Indeed, Almaas captures the essence of  Dominic Liber’s method for the Diamond Inquiry – “the primary practice” of The Diamond Approach teaching …

… which was conceived by A. H. Almaas and is “… Influenced by ancient traditions such as Sufism and Buddhism as well as by modern psychology, the Diamond Approach is particularly well-suited to twenty-first century seekers who embrace both spirituality and science …”  ~ from the Amazon page of The Diamond Approach: An Introduction to the Teachings of A. H. Almaas by John Davis … a book we briefly explored in a recent post.

Dominicdiving inner ocean liber offers a thorough, step by step guide to The Diamond Inquiry in his recently released book (Aug ’21 – Shambhala Publications), Diving in the Inner Ocean … which we began exploring through a 4-part series:

Part 1, started off the overview with excerpts from the Foreword by Almaas … and part of the Introduction by Dominic …

This post – part 2 – completes the book overview through the remaining part of Dominic’s Introduction …

All italicized text below is adapted from Diving in the Inner Ocean: An Introduction to Personal Transformation through Diamond Inquiry by Dominic C. Liber © 2021 by Dominic Liber. Reprinted here in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. Shambhala has also generously offered a free downloadable PDF of the Table of Contents (link is at the bottom of the post). You can purchase the book at Shambhala or Amazon.

So … here’s the remaining Introduction

Diving For Hidden Treasures

hidden treasure liber almaas

The inner world is not only an exciting adventure. It is even more personally meaningful than that. The secret depths of the inner world are the very things that we spend our lives longing for: love, wonder, connection, support, belonging, value, meaning, kindness, passion, joy, freedom, determination, power, peace, space. Somewhere between the surface and those magical depths we find the trenches where those things seem to be missing: experiences of being unloved, unsupported, not belonging; of feeling worthless, meaningless, and so on. We manage the circumstances of our ordinary lives above the ocean, sometimes tying ourselves up in knots, to get as much of these qualities as we can and to avoid the trenches. We are heavily influenced by the beliefs and conditioning we grew up with about what these things are and how to get them or even if we can get them. It might never occur to us that the true source of all of these qualities is our very nature, hidden in the depths of our own inner world.

Diamond inquiry takes you diving into your ordinary experience to discover and understand how these hidden qualities are at play, and eventually to discover the inner truth of them in an immediate and palpable way. Little by little as you discover more, your life can become the expression of these qualities from within, rather than the innocent misunderstanding of trying to get them from outside. So that is a second reason you might want to inquire—to discover the truth about these inner treasures beyond what might seem like trenches, with a deeply liberating effect on your life.

inquiry true source inner world liber almaas

Inquiry does not aim for one particular state such as compassion, openness, love, or joy—no matter how wonderful those states are. Instead, inquiry opens you to the possibility of finding whatever it is that is most needed for your particular, personal next step. For example, one time you might need love, but at another time love might not do it—you really need your strength! Sometimes in your life you will need to feel and know your value, while at other times what you most need is to feel some space. Magically, you do not need to know and you do not need to decide—indeed you cannot! But by following and exploring in the way you will learn here, you will be led by the inquiry to exactly what is needed. It is just how the inner world works. In time, you will discover all sorts of different qualities that you might never have imagined.

A Practice For Contemporary Life

Diamond inquiry is a practice for contemporary life. We do not live in monasteries. We live rich and full existences with spiritual lives, family lives, love lives, bodily health, sex lives, work lives, financial lives, political lives, community lives, interests, and so on. With inquiry, you can approach and explore experience related to any aspect of life, inner or outer, to find out its deeper truth, to see how it connects with your inner depths. As you do this, you clarify and transform where you are coming from within yourself in meeting that area of life. In this way, inquiry can touch and transform every part of life with a unique, personal directness and immediacy. It brings more truth, exposes the barriers to your inner depths in each situation, and in time allows more realness and freedom, helping you find exactly what you need. And it all happens right in the midst of life, not by leaving life. This makes it uniquely relevant and effective for people today, whether they would think of themselves as spiritual in any traditional sense of the word or not.

trevi umbria italy ordinary life liber almaas

Inquiry And The Diamond Approach

This form of inquiry was discovered and developed by A. H. Almaas, the originator of the Diamond Approach, with his co-originator Karen Johnson and the community of the Ridhwan School that has grown and come to life from their beginnings. The Diamond Approach is an approach to personal development that uses diamond inquiry as the central practice for growth and transformation. The Diamond Approach has given rise to a vast and detailed knowledge of the inner world, and A. H. Almaas has written many books about its nature, dimensions, and hidden treasures. This book focuses on the fundamentals of the practice, since the practice is the key to the entire Diamond Approach teaching. Once you begin to get a sense of how to explore here, then you might be interested to read about these various details in more depth since you will have some practical sense of how to explore them directly. Engaging the broader Diamond Approach path through the Ridhwan School with the support of a teacher and a group adds in-depth experiential teaching on particular aspects of the inner ocean. It is like hands-on learning about cave diving, night diving, or reef diving, or going on expeditions to study different marine ecosystems and hidden ocean treasures up close. Of course, the practice of inquiry offers many benefits just on its own, whether or not you choose to learn more about the Diamond Approach.

inquiry cave diving liber almaas

. . .

~ Dominic C. Liber

Part 3 will offer excerpts from the chapter At The Pool: What Is The Inner Ocean? … where Dominic delves into what he means by “being at the pool” and preparing before the actual dive into the inner ocean … so stay tuned …

 

All italicized text above (except the Sufi saying)  is adapted from Diving in the Inner Ocean: An Introduction to Personal Transformation through Diamond Inquiry by Dominic C. Liber © 2021 by Dominic Liber. Reprinted here in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. And, click here for the free, downloadable PDF of the Table of Contents. Again, you can purchase the book at Shambhala or Amazon.

 

And, here’s a gentle reminder to help those in times of extreme need … to that end we highlight two “hubs” of giving from which you can select your desired recipient(s) …

1) Direct Relief, which is “… a humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 states and more than 80 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies – without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay …” … and since 1948, it “… has worked to help people who confront enormous hardship to recover from disasters and improve the quality of their lives. The tradition of direct and targeted assistance, provided in a manner that respects and involves the people served, has been a hallmark of the organization since its founding …”

2) Go Fund Me continues to be a platform (amongst many others) for exercising – and deepening – our kindness and compassion. To this end, we have selected a few “pertinent to this time” campaigns that bring relief … for animals during natural disaster (like the llming IDA Hurricane) … for a family that lost the father – a marine in Afghanistan – while expecting a new baby … for small businesses … for restaurant workers – the world over …

Also, … here’s a GoFundMe blog post Fundraising for Coronavirus Relief: How You Can Help the Fight that offers a very comprehensive map for the COVID relief efforts including how you can help, what to give to, and lots more … We are supporting some of these campaigns personally and also as Stillness Speaks (through donations).

— — — —

We are all facing financial challenges but IF your situation allows you to donate and help then please do so …

Of course, there are many more worthy and noble efforts – the ones highlighted here are simply suggestions that may inspire you to donate to whatever effort you are drawn to …

THANK YOU!

And, may you continue taking a deep dive into your inner world … leading to ever deepening personal transformation … and …

May you remain safe and healthy as you navigate this global crisis.

Images (edited & Logo added): 1 & Featured) Composite of a) Surreal floating island by rolffimages and b) Go green call for global sustainable development to save the planet environment illustration by varuna, 2) Cover page for Dominic’s book, 3) Buried Treasure In a Cave by Kacpura, 4) Man with galaxy in mind by rolffimages, 5) Picturesque sight in Trevi, ancient village in the Umbria region of Italy by e55evu, 6) Cenote underwater cave by aquanaut. 1 & 3-6) for use only on our website/social channels (these images are not permitted to be shared separate from this post). 2) generously provided by Shambhala Publications with permission to be used on our website and other digital assets.
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