What is the soul, and how do we come to know it? What is its journey in life, and what stages and obstacles are encountered along the way? These questions are explored here in detail according to the Diamond Approach, a spiritual path that combines systematic inquiry into personal experience, the practice of traditional spiritual methods, and the application of modern psychological research. The Inner Journey Home is the centerpiece of the Diamond Approach literature, providing a complete overview of the teaching with references to the author's other books for more details on certain topics.

A. H. Almaas’s thinking as presented in Inner Journey Home may contribute to a transformation of the meaning of the word soul. His original thinking on the nature of the self has already appeared in The Pearl Beyond Price and The Point of Existence. The present thinking on the soul deals with the fundamental underpinning of these works. A powerful understanding of the nature of the human being that facilitates psychological and spiritual liberation, Almaas’s approach to the soul also honors the human being as a mode of reality that cannot be reduced to an object. The perception and understanding of the soul as a multidimensional living field addresses many questions in consciousness studies and brings to bear an understanding of self-organizing systems.

The orientation of this book moves toward a living understanding of the fundamental unity of reality. We believe that it is possible to communicate a vision of reality that heals the current prevalent dissociation of self, world, and Being. We also understand that the alienation of the self from Being is a source of much suffering and hardship in the world, and hope to contribute to alleviating that suffering through this new understanding of the nature of the human being and the path to reclaiming our connection to Being. Our approach is not a theoretical one based on an externally defined discovery of unity, as for instance the whole-systems approach that is so significant and valuable in some current scientific discussion. Although these discussions are important and resonant with our understanding, our discoveries come from a systematic investigation of the nature of reality starting with the direct knowing of the nature of self or soul. This revelation inevitably leads, as is known in all authentic spiritual and philosophical traditions, to an understanding of the nature of the cosmos and the nature of Being or the divine. - A. H. Almaas

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"This informed and scholarly work effectively counters a materialist view of reality. Its value is further enhanced by appendixes presenting different cultural concepts of the soul and extensive endnotes grounding the author's views in other historical and philosophical works." —Library Journal

"This profound book offers a visionary understanding for anyone who wishes to know and traverse the territory of the psyche and the soul, the spiritual and the psychological. Almaas is among our wisest and most illuminated teachers, and this is one of his masterworks." —Jack Kornfield, author of After the Ecstacy, the Laundry

"Through his own wise and passionate inquiry, Almaas brilliantly illuminates a transformative path to inner freedom." —Tara Bennett-Goleman, author of Emotional Alchemy

Contents

PART ONE: SOUL
1.   Soul or Self
2.   Organ of Experience
3.   Organism of Consciousness
PART TWO: PROPERTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SOUL
4.   Noesis
5.   Potential
6.   Morphing Dynamism
7.   Impressionability of Soul
8.   Living Presence
PART THREE: ESSENCE AND SOUL DEVELOPMENT
9.   Soul and Essence
10.   Animal Soul
11.   Normal Development of the Soul
12.   Ego Development of the Soul
13.   Liberating the Soul
14.   Primitive Structures of the Soul
PART FOUR: THE INNER JOURNEY OF THE SOUL
15.   The Inner Journey
16.   True Nature
PART FIVE: DIMENSIONS OF TRUE NATURE
17.   Divine Love and Light
18.   Being and Knowledge
19.   Awareness and the Nonconceptual
20.   Logos and Creative Dynamism
21.   The Absolute and Emptiness
PART SIX: ACTUALIZATION OF REALITY
22.   The Journey of Descent
23.   Reality
24.   Separation of Soul, God, and World