Deep Transformation

Ep. 235 | In the 18th dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the fascinating subject of how the physical world is related to the absolute. From a nondual perspective, reality includes the physical world, he explains; the world cannot be reduced to an illusion. Material reality is every bit as compelling as the spiritual perspective, he continues. How we perceive it depends on where we find our stance, what we are immersed in—in the formless or the world of form. Hameed recognizes and honors physical reality, while describing material objects as expressions, or glimmerings, of the ground of being—the physical and the ground of being inseparable, whether pure presence or pure emptiness.

And how does the relationship between creator and creation relate to the individual? Hameed presents his mystical theology: a triadic reality formed by God, the individual, and the physical world, where each maintains its own truth. Because the absolute is inherently not self-aware, it needs an individual to become aware of itself, he explains. We are its “knowing instruments.” Hameed’s mystical theology, establishing the relationship between the human being, the world, and God, or true nature, is both elevating and grounding, enlightening and somehow comforting. The essential puzzle pieces of reality fitted together, creating unity. From atoms and quarks to what happens after death and how all dimensions can possibly exist in exquisite harmony when there is so much disharmony in the world, this conversation is far ranging, stimulating, and punctuated with laughter, as Hameed, Roger, and John continue to explore The Inner Journey Home. Recorded May 14, 2026.

“When we experience the absolute, we see it as the truth of everything, the nature of everything—all are glimmerings of the absolute.”

• Introducing dialogue #18 in the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, an exploration of the chapter titled “Reality” in Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (00:49)
• Hameed explains how the Path of Love Series relates to the The Inner Journey Home/Wisdom Series (04:51)
• Seeing the physical world from the perspective of the absolute (06:10)
• Why do we experience the world as so very solid? (09:28)
• From the absolute perspective, material objects are glimmerings of the ground of being (11:49)
• From the scientific perspective, the physical world is “rock-level real” (14:45)
• The physical world should not be reduced to an illusion; it has properties that cannot be denied (18:13)
• In the physical world, death means no longer alive; spiritually, death is a transformation (21:50)
• Does the individual soul continue after death? (25:04)
• Why isn’t everyone awakened if we’re all part of the absolute? (26:40)
• Standing in the absolute, all dimensions are inseparable, existing in exquisite harmony, but this does not negate people’s experience of disharmony (30:38)
• The absolute is inherently not self-aware, that’s why it needs an individual to become aware of itself (32:56)
• The divine coma is the entry to the absolute (35:38)
• The relationship between the human being, the world, and God (38:59)
• Is there a personal God? (41:47)
• You can be an individual without being separate (47:33)
• God fulfillment & soul fulfillment are one and the same (50:36)
• The concept of service has many stages (52:57)
• Hameed’s mystical theology: a triadic reality, each with its own truth (57:06)
• The dimension of energy (01:04:26)
• Reality appears differently from different perspectives; this teaching is from the nondual perspective (01:06:10)
• Dzogchen & Hameed both give an inherent meaning to life; traditions espousing illusion do not (01:09:19)
• Individual creativity gives voice to the creativity of the universe (01:12:24)

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Journey Home: Soul’s Realization of the Unity of Reality
• Advaita Vedanta
• Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That
• Beginning of a famous Hadith Qudsi: “I was a hidden treasure and wanted to be known…”
• Sufi master Ibn Arabi, “God needs a soul just as much as a soul needs God.”
• A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
• The Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, Deep Transformation podcast series
• Meister Eckhart, German Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher & mystic
• Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage and liberated being
• Longchenpa, Dzogchen poet

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The A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series generally follows the sequence of Hameed’s magnum opus, The Inner Journey Home (which John describes as psychoactive and spiritually, psychologically, and intellectually transformative), so listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this exhilarating path of awakening.

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If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 234 | Renowned thought leader, speaker, and prolific author Warren Farrell has a passion for getting the truth out about issues that matter deeply—issues with enormous human consequences that might begin to heal if people better understood the forces driving these trends: the boy crisis, fatherlessness, the cultural tendency to vilify men, and the lack of healthy and effective communication between men and women. Warren has authored several data-driven bestselling books that go right to the heart of these matters, and in this conversation his expertise is clearly evident, right alongside his dedication to do everything he can to shift the evolution of the harmful idea that women are good but men are bad.

Warren has put himself on the line time and again to stand up for fatherless boys. He puts out a clarion call to couples to communicate with care, so that a father can be involved with the raising of a child, and in his books and workshops, Warren offers concrete steps to minimize children’s trauma, such as his four must-do’s after a divorce and the caring and sharing practices he teaches couples around accepting criticism without getting defensive. Immensely insightful, immensely practical, Warren points the way forward through a territory that has become murky, difficult, and hateful. Guaranteed, you will learn things about our contemporary culture you didn’t know before, and be inspired to do what you can to heal the disastrous divide between the sexes. Recorded September 25, 2025.

“We’re all in this together. We’re all in the same family boat.”

• Introducing Warren Farrell, outstanding feminist, intellectual father of the men’s movement, champion of gender role innovations & prolific author (00:54)
• How did Warren come to champion the women’s movement? (02:33)
• The opposite of power & privilege: what men are giving up (05:35)
• Toxic masculinity (11:05)
• Why do men commonly trade put-downs? (14:29)
• Misinterpreting male behavior & the need for dialogue between men & women (18:29)
• Sexual harassment and the “believe women letter” (22:01)
• After a divorce, the child’s needs need to come first (26:04)
• Speaking up about the importance of father involvement in raising boys changed Warren’s professional trajectory (30:29)
• Death from overwork, called kuroshi in Japan (33:55)
• Fatherless children have issues in 55 different areas, and the biggest predictor of male suicide is lack of father involvement (37:10)
• The idea that women are good, men are bad (38:26)
• Biological effects of lack of father involvement (40:22)
• 4 must-do’s after divorce to minimize children’s trauma (41:37)
• Rough-housing is a gift (44:07)
• A father’s unconditional love incorporates conditions (49:07)
• Teasing, one of the 7 important contributions that fathers make (50:31)
• Couples counseling: why is criticism so hard to handle? (54:04)
• Teaching couples to communicate effectively is the most important way to prevent the boy crisis (58:03)
• The relation between dad-deprived youth, gang membership, prison & being a victim of sexual molestation (58:53)
• The worst thing you can do after a divorce (01:05:11)
• The biggest hole in my heart and the best decision of my life: John Lennon (01:09:16)
• The ramifications of dad-deprivation in 1965 and currently (01:17:40)
• A closer look at gender differences in income (01:21:57)
• The feminist argument against Warren (01:31:00)
• When only one sex wins, both sexes lose (01:36:06)
• What can men do to help boys? (01:38:37)
• We need to work toward equality while recognizing our evolutionary differences (01:40:50)
• Our bias about men being full-time dads (01:45:06)
• Important skills Warren teaches in his Role Mate to Soul Mate book & his online course (01:51:48)
• Warren’s current book-in-progress, The Man Crisis (01:57:17)
• Roger’s summary of the extraordinary impact Warren has had on our culture (01:59:00)

• Warren Farrell’s website, https://warrenfarrell.com/, and YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/drwarrenfarrell
• Warren Farrell & John Gray, The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
• Warren Farrell, Why Men Are the Way They Are, The Myth of Male Power, Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap – and What Women Can Do About It
• Warren Farrell, From Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Seven Secrets to Lifelong Love
• National Organization for Women (NOW)
• National Coalition for Men (NCFM), a non-profit educational & civil rights organization that addresses sex discrimination against men and boys
• Marilyn French, The Women’s Room
• John Gottman, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
• Spotlight, movie about the Boston Globe uncovering a massive child molestation scandal within the local Catholic Archdiocese
• The Boy Crisis TEDx talk with Warren Farrell
• The 1965 Moynihan Report on the huge population of black, dad-deprived youth
• Gloria Steinem, leader of second-wave feminism in the U.S.
• The Boy Crisis: Cancel Warren Farrell (YouTube documentary)
• Mankind Project: Initiation Weekend + Integration Training
• Boys to Men Mentoring, co-founded by Joe Sigurdson
• Young Men’s Ultimate Weekend, founded by Mark Schillinger
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
• John Gray, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex

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Warren Farrell, PhD, has been chosen by the Financial Times of London as one of the world’s top 100 thought leaders. His books are published in 19 languages. They includeThe New York Times bestseller Why Men Are the Way They Are, and the international bestseller The Myth of Male Power. Dr. Farrell presented the findings of The Boy Crisis (2018) worldwide, from the White House to the Norwegian Parliament. It was a catalyst for bipartisan legislation for father involvement in Florida. He is currently working on The Man Crisis.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 233 | In the last episode of the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, Hameed explores the themes he introduced in the later chapters of his new book, The Inner Beloved. Hameed clarifies the role of mind on the path of heart (the mind is bedazzled and awed; the heart open), and details what happens when we reach the beloved, like “falling in love with everything” and experiencing the absolute as a “coming home” (even though there’s no one there!). We learn that, on the path of love, no matter what we do or don’t do, a heart-driven force beyond the mind is pulling us onward. Once we arrive, we realize the beloved has always been there—which is why our heart has been longing for the beloved all along.

Hameed explains that on the path of love, nonduality becomes intimacy—reality itself is pure intimacy, he says—and in fact, the nonbeingness of the beloved is the ultimate truth of reality. In a state of mystical poverty, we discover that all we are and have ever been has been borrowed from the beloved. The culmination of this Path of Love Series ends very beautifully, the love and intimacy of the beloved pervading Hameed’s words and the images he conjures for us. “The world is simply the luminosity of the beloved,” Hameed says. In listening to him, we share in some of the wonderful sense of coming home he experienced, a little of the radiant luminosity, too, and his own ongoing excitement over the ever unfolding mystery of the divine. Recorded April 9, 2026.

“We can be in the lap of the beloved and still enjoy life—loving everything from that place.”

• Introducing the 4th dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, focusing on the role of mind and the culmination of the path (00:49)
• On the path of love you are heart-driven by forces that mind cannot fathom (01:39)
• Hameed’s experience of falling in love with everything and experiencing the absolute as if “coming home” (03:00)
• The mind is bedazzled by the Mystery and recognizes its limitation in relation to the heart (08:20)
• When you get there, you realize the beloved has always been there (11:46)
• Emptiness beyond normal emptiness: Hameed calls this “absence” (13:05)
• The great liberation: where there’s nothing more to dissolve (17:18)
• As we are pulled, the love deepens & intensifies; we drown in the passion (22:06)
• Mystical poverty: the soul recognizes all of its qualities are borrowed from the beloved (25:05)
• What is right relationship between the realized heart and a healthy mind? (25:51)
• Krishnamurti would talk about no mind—but he was always using mind (28:40)
• Cutting through illusion & Hameed’s transmission from Manjushri (30:29)
• True mind: knowing in the moment (38:43)
• Dissolving dichotomies into wholeness: the world is simply the luminosity of the beloved (43:31)
• The ultimate truth of reality: the nonbeingness of the beloved (50:21)
• When tantra is enhanced by real love, then you can dissolve into the vastness (53:30)
• Stabilizing the realization is the second stage, actualizing the realization and not going back to the “doer” is the third stage (58:51)
• The dissolution of self doesn’t necessarily last: humility is an important step towards making the realization more constant (01:00:46)
• Nonbeing is the essence of intimacy: being completely one with the inner beloved (01:03:43)
• On the path of love, nonduality becomes intimacy; reality itself is pure intimacy (01:06:22)

For fans of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, the Wisdom Series, based on Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home, will be continued in June 2026.

• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
• Previous Deep Transformation Path of Love dialogues: Entering the Path of Heart, Emptying the Heart of All that Obscures the Inner Beloved & Dissolving into Bliss: The Ecstasy of Ego Death
• Kabir, Indian mystic and poet, Songs of Kabir
• Rumi, The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
• Fakhr al-Din Iraqi, Persian Sufi poet, Divine Flashes
• St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul
• Krishnamurti, Indian spiritual figure, speaker, and writer
• Manjushri, bodhisattva of discriminating wisdom, wielding the sword of discrimination
• Avalokiteśvara, principle bodhisattva in Buddhism, associated with Great Compassion
• Vajrapāṇi, principal bodhisattva in Mahayana & Vajrayana Buddhism, embodying the condensed power, energy, and strength of all the Buddhas
• Jigme Lingpa, a central figure in the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism
• Proclus, Neoplatonic philosopher who hierarchically structures all levels of reality, including the complex subdivisions of the intellect
• Huston Smith, “The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder,” from Beyond the Post-Modern Mind

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

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If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 232 | In this potent and profound conversation, Zen teachers, Integral Facilitators, and conflict mediators, Diane Musho Hamilton and her student and co-author Gabriel Wilson, eloquently reveal the practical benefits of a life founded on contemplative practice. What they bring home so effectively—both in this conversation and in their new book, Waking Up and Growing Up—is how much we have to gain from an interface of traditional Zen and contemporary knowledge. “Buddhist practice is the most genius way to work with human suffering,” Diane says, and grounded in awareness of the fundamental oneness is where we want to be when engaging in social or political activism, or when facing any kind of conflict. “It’s the evolution of consciousness and the attendant set of skills to support that,” she continues. We can awaken to an awareness of our true nature, and then take up the gauntlet of growing up—“straight up maturation, straight-up ego development.”

In fact, what Gabe calls Diane’s “experiment” is nothing less than evolving the 2,500-year-old tradition of Zen, preserving and innovating, holding on to the wisdom, power, and grace of the tradition while bringing in the contributions of the West: psychology, shadow work, neuroscience, emotional development, and stage-appropriate interpersonal skills. Also, how to make sense of power dynamics, work with authority, and allow being pushed out of our comfort zone. A testament to Diane and Gabe’s own inner work, this groundbreaking conversation is inspiring and impactful, punctuated with deep, personal, experiential wisdom from both guests that speaks directly to how we can best wake up, grow up, and show up in this challenging world of ours. Recorded July 24, 2025.

“There’s nothing like sitting with what is to prepare you to be with what is.”

• Introducing Zen teachers, authors, and Integral Facilitators, Diane Musho Hamilton & Gabriel Wilson (00:44)
• What drew Gabe to Zen, and what lack did he feel Waking Up and Growing Up would fill? (01:35)
• Evolving the Zen tradition: what do we need, particularly in western Buddhism, that we’re not finding? (05:26)
• Using Ken Wilber’s framework of waking up and growing up (08:50)
• What does “waking up” really mean? (10:02)
• Practice IS enlightenment: the awakened mind is only found in the here and now (12:23)
• There’s nothing like sitting with what is to prepare you to be with what will come (17:30)
• The realization that there’s no big opening to be had (23:05)
• What does “growing up” mean? (24:07)
• Providing students with interpersonal skills to accommodate their evolving levels of development (27:00)
• Writing for the younger generations: how to make sense of power dynamics, work with authority & allow being pushed out of your comfort zone (31:15)
• The wisdom of learning from those who have gone before us (34:49)
• Growing the capacity to deal with intensity in the moment (38:59)
• The example of John Lewis: being inclusive of the ego but not limited by it (44:29)
• How do we respond to what’s happening without imagining it shouldn’t be happening? (49:15)
• Holding the vision that we are fundamentally one when we engage in social activism (51:18)
• Be wary of using aggression in the name of love (54:11)
• Within the container of conventional religious traditions, developmental tasks are different for each stage (59:40)
• The teacher/student relationship cuts both ways (01:07:21)
• Preserving and evolving the Zen tradition for today’s world (01:08:55)
• Buddhist practice is the most genius way to work with human suffering (01:13:40)
• Looking to the future: are we innovating too much? (01:16:24)
• A lot of technology is racing us to the bottom of our brainstem; where we put our attention is important (01:20:32)

• Diane Musho Hamilton, co-founder of Two Arrows Zen Center
• Gabriel Wilson, founder of Freedom & Fairness
• Diane Hamilton & Gabriel Wilson, Waking Up and Growing Up: Spiritual Cross-Training for an Evolving World
• Diane Hamilton, The Zen of You and Me: A Guide to Getting Along with Just About Everyone
• Diane Hamilton, Gabriel Wilson & Kimberly Loh, Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart
• Ken Wilber, Welcome to the Integral Approach (Integral Life website)
• Ken Wilber, Finding Radical Wholeness (where Ken expounds his “waking up, growing up, cleaning up, showing up” model
• Deep Transformation’s A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series
• Dōgen Zenji, “Practice is enlightenment” (from the Fukan zazengi)
• Joanna Macy (1929-2025), environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory & deep ecology
• Sam Harris, philosopher, neuroscientist, author & podcast host
• John Lewis interview with On Being’s Krista Tippett: Love in Action
• What is Buddha? Zen koan (case 21) in The Gateless Gate: Classic Book of Zen Koans
• The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Zenshin Florence Caplow, Reigetsu Susan Moon
• Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology

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Diane Musho Hamilton is an award-winning mediator and a teacher of Zen meditation. Diane served as the Director of Dispute Resolution for the Utah Judiciary from 1994 – 1999, mediating many matters, from simple neighborhood disputes to complex, multi-party negotiations. She was most recognized for her skills in facilitating difficult conversations about race, gender, and religion in Utah. She began working with Ken Wilber and the Integral Institute in 2004 and has held transformative containers for people interested in their development for more than twenty years. Diane is the co-founder of Two Arrows Zen, a Buddhist practice center in Utah, and is the author of four books: Everything Is Workable, The Zen of You & Me, Compassionate Conversations, and, most recently, Waking Up and Growing Up: Spiritual Cross-Training for an Evolving World.

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Gabe Wilson is the founder of Freedom & Fairness, an executive coach, facilitator, and conflict mediator whose work sits at the intersection of organizational leadership, adult development, and contemplative practice. He is a monk in the Soto Zen lineage at Two Arrows Zen Center and a certified Integral Facilitator. Gabe co-authored Compassionate Conversations: How to Speak and Listen from the Heart and Waking Up and Growing Up: Spiritual Cross-Training for an Evolving World with Diane Musho Hamilton, and holds a master’s degree from Stanford in Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies.

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Starting with this episode, Deep Transformation is changing to a new release schedule. Going forward we will release one full, undivided episode every other Thursday at the usual time (5 a.m. Eastern Time). No more part 1 and part 2 of each episode weekly! We hope you will enjoy having the full episode available to listen at your convenience and won’t miss having a new release every week. If you would like to comment on this change, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you so much for all your support. In gratitude, the Deep Transformation Team

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 231 (Part 2 of 2) | In Part 2 of Deep Transformation’s third dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, Hameed Ali relates what happens on the path of return, after we have experienced dissolving into the radiance of the absolute. In following the path of heart (as opposed to the path of mind), we discover that in addition to pure emptiness, the absolute has (in its beingness aspect) a quality of consciousness that is pure intimacy. “The beloved is intimate with all things in the universe: intimate with people, with the rocks, with the stars… because its nature pervades everything.” Upon returning to the world, we find the universe has become the radiance of the beloved and ordinary life becomes full of love. That said, we may experience a great fear of losing our awakened realization, Hameed adds, which can further stir up old woundings which still need to be faced.

Back in the world, as the embodied beloved, do you feel compassion for other people’s suffering? co-host John Dupuy wonders. The extent of the compassion is almost unimaginable, Hameed answers. There is vast empathy for all the suffering in the world, and especially for the deep suffering underlying it all that is caused by people not knowing their inner truth. It is by giving the beloved the opportunity to appear and know itself as we live our lives that we love and serve the inner beloved, Hameed continues. He explains that awareness is the beloved witnessing its creation, and that the emptiness aspect of the beloved, emphasized in Buddhism and on the path of mind, brings a searing clarity to our experience. A beautiful conversation, in which co-host Roger Walsh remarks that the presence of the inner beloved seems to be increasingly reflected in these dialogues as they unfold. Perhaps you will feel it too. Recorded January 29, 2026.

“Regardless of what we think and feel, at our essence we are love.”

• The path of return: the fear of losing the beloved (00:34)
• Old wounds come up bringing more fear; you have to welcome all the wounding (01:24)
• Upon return, ordinary life becomes full of love—can this be translated into a scientific or mathematical theory? (02:26)
• Service is giving the inner beloved the opportunity to appear & know itself (04:47)
• The depth of compassion felt for the suffering of the world is almost unimaginable (06:50)
• If you don’t work things out, you can’t live in this world as the deity (10:47)
• The beloved is intimate with all things in the universe because its nature pervades everything (11:49)
• The primal cavity: the deep wish to go into dark, black emptiness (15:39)
• What is the relation between love and compassion? (19:36)
• The heart is just there for the beloved—the throne of the beloved (22:15)
• The more hatred and aggression, the more the disconnection (25:05)
• Witnessing: awareness is the beloved witnessing its creation (26:48)
• Realizing the emptiness: the radiance of the darkness is the essence of awareness (28:07)
• The feeling tone of these dialogues increasingly reflects the presence of the inner beloved (29:50)
• There is a lot more in the book The Inner Beloved, including conversations with Hameed’s students & exercises, that hasn’t been discussed (31:07)
• At our essence we are love: moving towards heart is the inherent potential of humanity (32:23)

• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
• Previous Deep Transformation Path of Love dialogues: Entering the Path of Heart, Emptying the Heart of All that Obscures the Inner Beloved & Dissolving into Bliss
• Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic
• “I was a hidden treasure and wanted to be known” is the beginning of probably the most famous hadith qudsi or extra-Qur’anic Word of God
• Longchenpa: A Guide For Readers (Shambhala)

Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 230 (Part 1 of 2) | The third dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas opens with co-host Roger Walsh commenting that in reading Hameed’s most recent book, The Inner Beloved, he is struck by how different the Diamond Approach’s path of love is from those in other traditions. Hameed explains that, indeed, his path is different in that it addresses the sequence of events on the path of love systematically, using contemporary psychological language to describe the difficulties and barriers that arise, and further, that he includes not only obstacles that come up in the mind (concepts and beliefs), but emotional pain and woundings, abandonments and betrayals, which is something other traditions don’t often talk about. Why are our hearts not open? Because opening to such painful emotions is scary; our fear blocks us from opening to the vastness of divine love. The secret to moving forward on the path of love, Hameed says, is to love more intensely, more deeply. Love itself is the fuel that gets us through the obstacles to union with the inner beloved.

Hameed speaks of the “death wish” that happens along the path, referring to our desire to dissolve completely into the beloved. “The deep heart loves the prospect of melting away and being nothing, being annihilated, completely absorbed into the beloved,” he explains. The death wish is a common reference in other paths of love, too—the Buddha calls this annihilation of self “emptiness”—and interestingly, Freud recognized it as a universal human characteristic, calling it the nirvana principle. “A deep intuition resides in every human heart,” Hameed continues, “a need for unification with what we love.” This can be small things—chocolate ice cream, our cell phone—which are legitimate objects of love, but in the end, only the inner beloved calls. Once again, Hameed gifts us with an illuminating teaching about the path of love, our desire for nonbeing, the hidden essence of love, and the integration of all we have let go of that happens after we awaken—all coming directly from his own lived experience. Recorded January 29, 2026.

“It is inherent to the human being… the movement to dissolve into bliss, into the beloved.”

• Introducing the 3rd dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, where we continue to explore Hameed’s latest book, The Inner Beloved (00:41)
• How Hameed’s path of love differs from other traditions (02:03)
• One difference is Hameed addresses the sequence of events on the path of love systematically, using psychological language to describe the difficulties & barriers that arise (05:27)
• On this path, obstacles are not just in the mind but include woundings that occur in relationships (08:09)
• After union with the beloved comes integration; here is where the nondual connection between the beloved and the world comes in (09:52)
• The state of desirelessness (10:36)
• The death wish: the yearning to be completely absorbed into the beloved (11:58)
• Freud called this deep, universal death wish in humans the nirvana principle (13:53)
• Buddha called this annihilation of self “emptiness” (18:28)
• The secret to moving the process along is to intensify our love (20:26)
• A deep intuition resides in every human heart: a need for unification with what you love (22:46)
• There is a kind of love where the yearning and wanting is just as ecstatic as loving itself—this is the hidden essence of love (26:45)
• Why are some called to the path of love yet others keep grasping for more substitute gratification? (28:50)
• There are 4 paths of yoga but the end is the same; the 4 suits of the tarot tell the stages of each yoga path (30:27)
• Coming out of the divine “coma,” the whole world is ablaze with love (33:02)
• The descent is not a loss of the realization, it is a further integration of what we have let go of (35:10)

• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
• Previous Deep Transformation Path of Love dialogues: Entering the Path of Heart & Emptying the Heart of All that Obscures the Inner Beloved
• Plato’s Symposium
• Freud’s nirvana principle was introduced in Beyond the Pleasure Principle
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Thubten Chodron speak about the absence of inherent existence in Searching for the Self
• Ken Wilber’s core text on substitute gratification is in The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development
• The 4 paths of yoga: Karma, Bhakti, Raja and Jnana (Yoga Easy)
• Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson
• St. John of the Cross writes about ascent in Ascent of Mount Carmel and descent in The Dark Night of the Soul

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas

Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

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Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation Listeners

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 229 (Part 2 of 2) | In part 2 of our What is Real Greatness Series podcast with Margaret Cullen, author of Quiet Strength, Margaret continues to enlighten us about equanimity: its power, its wisdom, and its practice. She relates some of the history of equanimity—first considered a supreme virtue in Stoicism, then passed on to Sufism and Judaism—and explains that throughout time, equanimity (and humility) have always been an integral part of people who have made a true difference in the world. Margaret talks about how humor can break the spell of our trance (“when we lose equanimity, we get caught in a trance, believing in something that has us prisoner—humor breaks the spell”), and, in the spirit of “The Serenity Prayer” (“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference”), she encourages us to make peace with what we can realistically do and let the rest go.

While Part 1 of this dialogue focuses on the power of equanimity in relation to the big picture and what is going on now politically, in Part 2 Margaret looks at practicing equanimity in personal relationships and in our individual lives. She marvels at Thoreau’s equanimous approach to his own death, and shares that she has found forgiveness to be the most important equanimity tool in relationships. “We reclaim our wisdom when we say ‘I’m sorry,’” Margaret explains. Margaret’s deep and nuanced understanding of the power and practice of equanimity is inspiring and illuminating, and bringing this virtue to our attention as a pragmatic tool we can use is also incredibly timely, leaving us with a sense of hope and empowerment. Recorded January 14, 2026.

“What aids in my equanimity more than anything else is self-forgiveness.”

• Welcome teacher, what am I supposed to be learning? (00:59)
• How humor can break the spell that holds us prisoner (03:03)
• The relationship between equanimity and peace (05:17)
• The praise and blame algorithm has exponentially increased our reactivity (08:14)
• Equanimity was a supreme virtue in Stoicism; the Stoics passed it on to the Sufis, who passed it on to Judaism (11:11)
• Thoreau’s equanimous approach to death (12:24)
• Nature’s effect on one’s equanimity (13:29)
• Equanimity is an integral part of true change makers, also humility (14:27)
• What practice would Margaret most recommend to cultivate equanimity? (17:19)
• Making peace with what you can do and letting the rest go (21:03)
• Practicing equanimity in relationships (22:13)
• Using self-forgiveness as an equanimity tool (23:44)
• In relationships, softening where we’re most triggered helps more than imposing ideals of how we should be (26:25)
• One key flavor of equanimity is non-defensiveness (28:51)

• Margaret Cullen, Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity
• Swami Beyondanda on the Deep Transformation podcast: Laugh Yourself Sane, Enlighten Up & Awaken to Cosmic Comic Consciousness
• Maimonides introduced the concept of equanimity to Judaism
• Stoicism, a philosophical movement & practical guide to living originating in ancient Greece
• When asked about facing death, Thoreau said, “One world at a time.” Henrietta Christian Wright, American Men of Letters
• Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga
• Sufi teacher Habīb Boerger, “Rather than making the ego your boss, make it your personal assistant”
• The Serenity Prayer (Reinhold Niebuhr’s original version)
• Richard Davidson & Daniel Goleman, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
• Paul & Eve Ekman’s Cultivating Emotional Balance training

“We could not help contrasting the equanimity of Nature with the bustle and impatience of man. His words and actions presume always a crisis near at hand, but she is forever silent and unpretending.” – Henry David Thoreau

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Margaret Cullen, a Licensed Psychotherapist (MFT), has been at the cutting edge of translating contemplative trainings into universal and accessible formats in mainstream settings ranging from elite military to maximum security prisons. She was one of the first certified Teachers of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance; and is co-developer of Compassion Cultivation Training at the Stanford School of Medicine (with Thupten Jinpa). Margaret also co-developed Mindfulness Based Attention Training for military spouses with neuroscientist Amishi Jha at the University of Miami, and is the founder of Compassion Corps, offering free compassion and mindfulness programs to under-resourced communities around the world. Margaret is a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 228 (Part 1 of 2) | In part 1 of our second What is Real Greatness Series podcast, Margaret Cullen, author of the newly published book Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity, explains there is far more power in the virtue of equanimity than we may have thought. Because equanimity is associated with non-reactivity, people often confuse it with a neutral sort of feeling, a dampener of emotions, when actually, equanimity allows us to expand our capacity to feel; it widens our tolerance and empowers us to be comfortable with change. “Equanimity is big enough to include our broken, despairing hearts,” Margaret says. “We can hold a vision of equanimity that is completely inclusive of the human experience.” Practicing equanimity allows us to deepen our love—for the world and for others—without becoming attached.

Margaret shares practical ways we can access equanimity—ways we can achieve conceptual clarity or a “wedge of spaciousness” when a moment has been hijacked by out-of-control emotions; how we can learn to turn directly and fully to what is arising in the moment; and how we can unhook from reactivity by not taking things too personally. “How can we respond heroically to the times we live in?” co-host John Dupuy asks. Margaret shares what she has learned teaching military units and special forces to cultivate equanimity—equanimity can save lives—and describes a compassion cultivation training program that has been established for police officers in California. Takeaways from this discussion may have important, powerful, timely effects on your life—and all of our lives; as John put it, “Never before have we had such a need for the medicine Margaret brings us.” Recorded January 14, 2026.

“How do we care about this world that is in so much trouble without feeling overwhelmed? The answer is equanimity.“

• Introducing podcast #2 in our What is Real Greatness Series with Margaret Cullen, psychotherapist, meditation & compassion cultivation trainer, author of Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity (00:48)
• What is equanimity and how did Margaret begin to experience it? (03:07)
• Coming to understand we don’t have control over the happiness of our loved ones (07:27)
• Finding a way to deepen our love without attachment (11:21)
• How can we respond heroically to the times we live in? (13:21)
• Equanimity is wisdom; wisdom is equanimity (17:16)
• Equanimity is big enough to include our broken, despairing hearts—we can hold a vision of equanimity that is completely inclusive of the human experience (18:11)
• Ways to access equanimity: perspective taking (22:12)
• Remembering the reality of impermanence (26:18)
• Unhooking from reactivity: Am I taking things too personally? (26:31)
• Cultivating equanimity in the military can make a huge difference—it can save lives (30:55)
• Compassion cultivation training program for police officers (32:51)
• The reframing technique & the power of turning directly to what is arising in the moment (37:31)
• Emotions are packed with important information for us; we gradually learn we can turn towards an emotion and survive it (38:28)
• Studies show that when subjected to provocative stimuli, practiced meditators actually feel more than other people (40:03)

• Margaret Cullen, Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly Through the Power of Equanimity
• Margaret Cullen founded Compassion Corps, offering free compassion & mindfulness training to under-resourced communities around the world; co-developed Compassion Cultivation Training at Stanford University, and is a founding faculty of the Compassion Institute
• Chögyam Trungpa, preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, founded Naropa University
• Sharon Salzburg, co-founder of the Barre Insight Meditation Society
• Dr. Dan Siegel’s window of tolerance is described in ​​The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
• Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Barre Insight Meditation Society, on Deep Transformation: Living on the Spiritual Edge
• Amishi Jha & Elizabeth Stanley, pioneers of bringing mindfulness into the military
• Courageous Heart, compassion cultivation training program for police officers in California
• Chief Ryan Johansen & former officer Chris Orrey on Deep Transformation: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For Everyone
• Paul & Eve Ekman’s Cultivating Emotional Balance training
• Richard Davidson & Daniel Goleman, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
• James Baraz on the Deep Transformation podcast: Awakening Joy

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Margaret Cullen, a Licensed Psychotherapist (MFT), has been at the cutting edge of translating contemplative trainings into universal and accessible formats in mainstream settings ranging from elite military to maximum security prisons. She was one of the first certified Teachers of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); is the founder of Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance; and is co-developer of Compassion Cultivation Training at the Stanford School of Medicine (with Thupten Jinpa). Margaret also co-developed Mindfulness Based Attention Training for military spouses with neuroscientist Amishi Jha at the University of Miami, and is the founder of Compassion Corps, offering free compassion and mindfulness programs to under-resourced communities around the world. Margaret is a Fellow of the Mind & Life Institute.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 227 (Part 2 of 2) | In Part 2 of Deep Transformation’s second Path of Love Series dialogue, A. H. Almaas explains that the inner beloved is at work in our hearts, pulling us irresistibly nearer as we venture forward on the path of love. The force comes and pulls us, he says, melts us and overwhelms us—sometimes with wounding and sometimes with ecstasy. Our great love for the inner beloved ultimately dissolves our attachments to other, smaller beloveds, which can be big things—family, friends, teachers—or little things: ice cream, cake, our favorite movie star. But our heart isn’t going to be happy until it meets the beloved face to face, Hameed assures us. Then, after emptying our heart, when we finally behold the inner beloved, love becomes the nature of the whole universe. Now our relationships are expressions of the inner beloved, and we find we love everything.

What makes the Diamond Approach’s path of love unique is that it uses love and inquiry combined to penetrate the obstacles that arise along the path. Thus, obstacles are not only burnt away through sheer devotion but also understood and recognized for what they are. Hameed also explains the difference between spiritual poverty of the soul and mystical poverty of the heart, between realization of the absolute via the path of mind versus the path of love, that nonduality is an outer expression of the inner beloved, and describes his own astonishing experience of “thunder and lightning in the heart” on this path. Towards the end of the conversation, Hameed reminds us that when we feel love, that is the beginning. Take the love itself rather than the object of the love, he says, and let it get bigger, let it get deeper, see where it takes you. Recorded January 8, 2026.

“The beloved is the source of love and what loves everything.”

1. The path of love also has many joys and rewards (00:30)
2. The experience of the absolute on this path is distinctly about love (02:41)
3. The Diamond Approach’s inquiry practice allows us to understand the obstacles that arise (05:11)
4. Relationship can be a path on its own, but it’s not the same as the path of love, where outer relationships are disengaged from (09:30)
5. Mystical poverty: when the heart has nothing left in it, only the inner beloved (12:53)
6. The inner beloved is a jealous lover (13:44)
7. When we finally behold the inner beloved, we find we love everything (14:18)
8. Hameed’s experience of thunder & lightning in the heart (15:23)
9. The inner beloved is the source of love, the source of the universe (17:10)
10. Nonduality is an outer expression of the inner beloved (17:40)
11. Love has a magnetic component to it; the inner beloved wants to be one with us (21:19)
12. Mystical poverty is a relinquishment of all competing loves; love is what melts the attachments (23:46)
13. Mystical poverty of the soul is not the same as mystical poverty of the heart (25:40)
14. We need to remember the mystery of the inner beloved (28:05)
15. The soul is an experiential lens for perceiving inner truth (28:52)
16. When we feel love, that’s the beginning; let it get bigger, let it get deeper, see where it takes you (30:22)
17. Love is the most powerful force in the spiritual universe (30:44)

For fans of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, the Wisdom Series, based on Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home, will be continued later this spring.

1. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
2. Poet Longchenpa only rarely talks about love and beauty, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind
3. Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic devoted to Kali
4. Advaita Vedanta
5. A Course in Miracles, a path which focuses on relationships
6. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

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Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation Listeners

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell

Ep. 226 (Part 1 of 2) | In Part 1 of Deep Transformation’s second Path of Love Series dialogue with A. H. Almaas, we learn what a spiritual journey on the path of love entails: particularly, emptying our heart so it can discover the deepest inner truth, the inner beloved. “Most of the path of love has to do with emptying the heart with love and yearning combined to burn through all the idols which stand for the inner beloved,” Hameed says. “The heart knows it loves something deeper than itself… and it pains it that it is separate from it.” There are other paths of awakening, for example, the Buddhist way is largely the path of mind, but for Hameed it was the path of heart that took center stage and revealed its secrets.

The path of love is not methodical or intentional—it just happens, Hameed continues. The beloved works on the heart, works on the soul, and throws itself nearer—and it’s in this nearness that you encounter all the obstacles that keep you from uniting with the beloved. Longtime practitioner, co-host Roger Walsh mentions that the exercises included in Hameed’s latest book, The Inner Beloved, intended to help us remove our blocks to perceiving the inner beloved, have worked a treat for him, opening him up in a new way to where his practice feels more flowing and easeful than before. “Love is sorely needed these days on earth,” Hameed concludes, “as our hearts are full of garbage—wounding, hatred, envy. But there is an organ in the soul—the heart—which has its own dynamic: yearning, love, intensity, and passion that penetrate the barriers and dissolve them.” Another deeply moving and illuminating conversation with co-founder of the Diamond Approach, Hameed Ali. Recorded January 8, 2026.

“Love is a much bigger force for a human being than any other thing.”

1. Introducing the 2nd dialogue in the Path of Love Series, focusing on A. H. Almaas’ latest book: The Inner Beloved (00:40)
2. Most of this path towards discovering our inner nature has to do with emptying the heart (02:48)
3. There are other paths of awakening, but for Hameed the path of love took center stage (06:53)
4. Getting a taste of the inner beloved early on can become the seed of our inner longing (08:41)
5. Can we have a second person relationship with the inner beloved? (09:55)
6. The path of love has to do with yearning and with feeling “nearer”—some traditions even have words for different degrees of nearness (11:16)
7. Even after realizing absolute truth, the heart continues to need emptying; we haven’t yet recognized the inner beloved (14:47)
8. The path of love isn’t for everybody; for Buddhists, it’s the path of the mind (18:04)
9. In Hameed’s book, there are powerful exercises to remove blocks to perceiving the inner beloved—these worked a treat for Roger (19:07)
10. The heart is a subtle organ of the soul with its own dynamic: yearning, love, intensity & passion that penetrate the barriers and dissolve them (22:34)
11. The suffering people go through is inevitable without pursuing the spiritual path to its final stages (25:21)
12. Great fears come up: of losing our love for our loved ones & our love for the world (29:26)
13. We encounter our deep woundings on the path of love; it’s not an easy path (33:00)
14. The path of love is not methodical or intentional—it just happens (33:46)
15. The beloved throws itself nearer, and in that nearness you encounter all your obstacles (34:41)
16. Our hearts are full of garbage… love is sorely needed these days on earth (35:10)

For fans of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, the Wisdom Series, based on Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home, will be continued later in the spring.

1. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
2. A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart
3. A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality
4. Rumi, The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
5. Abraham Maslow wrote about meta-motives and meta-pathologies in Toward a Psychology of Being and The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
6. Poet Longchenpa only rarely talks about love and beauty, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind
7. Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic devoted to Kali

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

---

Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation Listeners

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

---

Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. 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 to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell