Essence - The Diamond Approach to Self-Realization

By A.H. Almaas

"As has been written a thousand times, the ultimate nature of essential reality cannot be communicated in words. However, this reality manifests in pure essential forms of consciousness and experience, in what we call the "aspects" of essence, such as love, strength, peace, compassion, awareness - to name only a few. The experience of these aspects is completely palpable and subject to keen and precise discrimination. It is this fact that allows the verbal descriptions and analyses that this book undertakes." (preface)

"So in the experience of presence, what is present is essence, or true nature, which is independent of conditioning. Presence and essence are the same. We have discussed presence to have a taste of what essence is. As we see, essence is the part of us that is the experience of "I am." Essence is the direct experience of existence. Of course, essence can be experienced as other things, such as love, truth, peace, and the like. But the sense of existence is its most basic characteristic. It is the clearest, most definitive aspect that sets it apart form other categories of experience. Essence is, and that is what is most basic to its experience." (page 10)

" Essence is the real person, the real and true self. The personality is called false because it is attempting to take the place of the essence. As we will see in the next chapter, the personality and the ego identity develop to fill the void resulting form the loss of essence in childhood. So it is really and impostor, trying to pretend it is the real thing." (page 44)

"To be a genuine human being, a complete human being, is to be essence. To be essence is then not just and inner experience, but a total experience - a complete life. Life is then the life of essence, both inner and outer, in the privacy of our hearts and in the shared experience with others. Essence is then what dictates our actions, what determines our way of life, and what shapes our environment. This is real harmony." (page 82)

"The capacity to sense oneself must become so refined that the individual can discriminate between physical sensation and the sensation of essential substance. It is not enough that the mind be quiet. It is also necessary for the body to be sensitive. The mind can be quiet while the body is deadened. The body has to be awakened so that the center of sensing, the belly center, can be activated. The belly center, or what Gurdjieff called the physical center, is the center of sensing for all parts of the body. Its deepest function is the subtle sensing, the sensing of essential presence, that the Sufis call the organ for touch." (page 130)

"The pearl beyond price, the incomparable pearl, the personal aspect of essence is central for many important reasons. It is actually the true essential personality. It is the person. It is experienced as oneself. When the individual finally perceives it, the contented expression often is "But this is me!" The sense of oneself as a precious being. There is then a fullness, a completeness, and a contentment. It is as if the individual feels full and complete, realized. Nothing is lacking. No more search, no desire or wanting anything else. The person feels "Now I have myself. I am a complete individual. I am full. I am fullness I am complete. I want nothing else." (page 161)