Karen Johnson is a co-founder of the Diamond Approach as it is taught in the Ridhwan School, a contemporary original spiritual understanding and path, expressing timeless wisdom on self-realization using the insights of our time. She is a colleague and friend of Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas). Her life is dedicated to the discovery of inner freedom and sharing the treasures with humankind.

In this interview, we discussed how the Diamond Approach is evolving, what differentiates it from other traditions, and the most recent developments of the past 15 years, about which Karen and Hameed have only recently begun to teach, speak and write. Neither the depths of spirit nor the surface of the mundane world can adequately express what reality is and what is possible for each of us. How can our human lives be both the arena for spiritual practice and enlightenment, and the occasion for our true being to express its infinite possibilities?

When we realize that we are each the miracle of matter and spirit and at the same time we are neither, our everyday ordinary experiences can become doorways to further possibilities of reality, of awakening to our spiritual potential in its endless possibilities. True Being lives through the particulars of our lives, utilizing them to reveal its potentialities. The Diamond Approach explores how to use our personal situations as occasions for practice and learning, and as opportunities for expression of our finer spiritual qualities. It enables people to work with their everyday experiences of work, relationships, play, creativity, love, sex and so on to learn to be the transcendent living a human life. Its students learn to employ each particular situation within this world to go beyond it in a way that includes it. Inclusive transcendence enables our human consciousness to view reality beyond the concepts of duality and nonduality. Each particular situation affords us the opportunity to use its energies and forces to liberate and optimize our experience. Following such path, it becomes natural to be of help to others and to life in general.

Book: The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life

Website: ridhwan.org

Summary and transcript of this interview

Interview recorded 5/31/2014

Karen Johnson and Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas) on Nondual Relationships at the SAND conference.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Karen Johnson and the Diamond Approach

00:03:14 - The Beginnings of Spiritual Awakening

00:05:53 - Childhood Experiences with Seeing Auras

00:09:03 - The Significance of Refined Perception

00:12:43 - Energy Information and Exchange

00:15:59 - The Essence of Spiritual Development in Ridwan School

00:19:19 - Meeting Hamid and the Beginning of a Journey towards Awakening

00:22:46 - Awakening of Presence

00:27:00 - The Evolution of the Working Relationship

00:31:46 - The Evolution of Work and Relationships

00:36:03 - Being's Guiding Intelligence

00:39:26 - The Energy of Mollusks in Teaching

00:42:46 - The Curriculum and Practices in the Ridwan School

00:48:48 - Different Perspectives and Dimensions of Spiritual Experience

00:54:24 - The Gray Night of the Soul

00:57:05 - Opening up the realm of the freedom vehicle

01:01:18 - The Development and Integration of Spiritual Experiences

01:04:54 - Acting Like a Normal Human Being

01:09:11 - The Deeper Realities and Fluidity of View

01:13:40 - Fluidity and Growth in Understanding Reality

01:17:14 - The Dynamism of Different Traditions

01:20:02 - The Possibilities of the Unimagined

01:23:33 - Discovering Freedom and Possibilities

01:26:31 - The Recognition of Life and Death

01:29:32 - The Individual and the Ocean of Consciousness

01:33:12 - Exploring Other Realms and Traditions

01:36:08 - The Experience of Featurelessness

01:39:19 - Varying Degrees of Impressionability

01:42:24 - Embracing Differences and Discernment

01:45:35 - Closing Remarks and Farewell

01:47:47 - Farewell and Closing Music