® 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.

Enduring spiritual truth arises in different times and places. The Diamond Approach expresses such truth, making it accessible to us in a form suitable to our time and place. Because it has come out of our specific cultural, intellectual, and psychological context, it communicates spiritual wisdom in a way that is uniquely suited to us.

Two aspects of the present time are especially important to this form. First, there is much more communication across cultures and between different spiritual systems. Because we can have first-hand knowledge of many different spiritual traditions, new understandings are possible. Second, we also have available to us new knowledge that was not available before, especially knowledge about psychological development, suffering, and healing. For the first time, psychological and spiritual wisdom are available together. The Diamond Approach incorporates the findings of psychology with integrations of the wisdom of a variety of spiritual traditions.

However, Ali does not merely restate or translate others' spiritual wisdom or combine together psychology and spirituality. The Diamond Approach is neither a combination nor a revision of these systems. It is its own system, arising from the needs and opportunities of this particular time and place and through Ali's particular expression.

The Diamond Approach is consistent with a number of psychological and spiritual systems. It is congruent with aspects of the Gurdjieff work, Sufism, Vajrayana and Zen Buddhism, and modern psychodynamic theory. It is consistent with many insights and practices from these spiritual wisdom traditions which are now more widely available. At the same time, it draws from Ego Psychology, Object Relations Theory, and other psychological systems. I believe the perspective of the Diamond Approach is unique among spiritual systems in its integration of the psychological and spiritual aspects of full human development.

The Diamond Approach extends the earlier spiritual disciplines by providing a more thorough understanding of psychological issues, barriers, and obstacles as they occur throughout the spiritual search. And, although it is not a psychology, it has much to offer to the deeper goals of psychology. The case can be made that throughout its history, psychology has been moving toward a perspective such as this. Psychology has aimed to provide an experientially and intellectually satisfying understanding of being human and to provide a means of realizing human potential. The Diamond Approach moves us a step closer to fulfilling the promise of psychology, especially the transpersonal psychologies, by making psychological knowledge useful in spiritual work.