® Copyright 1999 by John Davis. This material is excerpted from the author's book, THE DIAMOND APPROACH, and published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.

It might help to give a brief map of the Diamond Approach and introduce its basic concepts here in the first chapter. Most of these terms are described later in the book and in thorough detail in Ali's writings. In the Diamond Approach, the true nature of existence is referred to as Being. Being is the fundamental nature of all manifestation; it is the ground and the expression of the exquisite diversity of all that is. Being reveals itself as both diversity and unity. From this ground of Being arise awareness, presence, flow, and emptiness.

The soul is the individual consciousness or medium of experience. It is not a fixed or entity (as the concept is sometimes understood), but a pattern flow of consciousness. The soul is shaped and influenced by all experience, and it may be structured by the conditioning of the ego (or personality) or by its true nature, Being. In a sense, it is the soul which makes the journey of awakening from conditioned and constricted patterns to the realization of its true nature. The true nature of a person, as it arises in the soul, is referred to as Essence.

Essence is the pure, unconditioned nature of who we are. As the foundation for our everyday experiences as well as our sublime spiritual high points, it is always present, though usually hidden from our consciousness. Essence can be experienced in many different aspects and dimensions. It is not just one big, generic "spirit," but a whole world of qualities which can be discriminated in a precise way. When we first awaken to it, we may be struck or touched by a sense of presence, like what we experience is real in a way that is beyond our minds. Essence is the truth within the forms and experiences of our lives

The work of the soul is to open, clarify, and purify itself in order to experience Essence more directly, more completely, and with fewer obscurations or blocks. Essence is then experienced as open, clear, and pure. When this same true nature is recognized as the true nature of everything, it is referred to as Being.

Without direct experience of these phenomena, descriptions of them are merely beliefs or will not make sense at all. A fundamental premise of the Diamond Approach is that these admittedly cryptic descriptions can, in fact, be experientially understood and validated. The point of the Diamond Approach is to help make Being understandable as a lived reality and to deepen and refine our soul's openness to Essence. When there is direct contact with presence, awareness, emptiness, Essence, and Being, these phenomena are no more mysterious than any other. In fact, that direct contact will be even more clear than our ordinary experience. We realize in our everyday existence, consciousness, actions, and relationships, that our true nature is Being.