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A.H. Almaas

A.H. Almaas is the pen name of A. Hameed Ali who has written more than 14 books including his most recent The Unfolding Now. In 1976, he founded the Ridhwan School, an organization with members in North America, Europe, and Australia that is dedicated to promoting the Diamond Approach®. Almaas resides in the San Francisco Bay area.

Author photo © Hameed Qabazard

Henry Shukman

Henry Shukman is an authenticated Zen master in the Sanbo Zen lineage, Spiritual Director Emeritus of Mountain Cloud Zen Center, and co-founder of The Way meditation app. He is also an award-winning author and poet. Henry’s traumatic experiences as a youth, combined with a spontaneous awakening experience at 19, paved the way for his development of a well-rounded approach to spirituality and meditation – one that includes love for self and the world as its foundation. For more, see henryshukman.com and thewayapp.com.

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Personal Growth Spirituality

A.H. Almaas and Henry Shukman: “The Many Faces of Aw...

A.H. Almaas
Henry Shukman — December 16, 2025

What if awakening isn’t a single destination but an endless unfolding of reality’s many faces? This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon facilitates a groundbreaking conversation between two of the most profound spiritual teachers of our time: A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of the Diamond Approach, and Zen teacher Henry Shukman.

In this rare dialogue, these teachers—meeting for the first time—explore how different wisdom traditions point to distinct dimensions of awakened experience. Rather than claiming all paths lead to the same mountaintop, they celebrate the unique territory each tradition reveals: from the “blazing forth” of creative emptiness to experiences where consciousness itself dissolves, from the recognition that each point contains the entire universe to the discovery that everything is made of love.

Join Tami, Hameed, and Henry to discover:

  • Why awakening is an endless process rather than a final arrival
  • The profound difference between thinking and heart-knowing
  • How to navigate the fear that arises at the threshold of ego dissolution 
  • The role of trust, compassion, and basic trust in profound transformation 
  • What happens when individual consciousness completely ceases 
  • Why nothingness and being are inseparable faces of reality 
  • How grief and catastrophic loss can become doorways to awakening 
  • The Zen teaching of uni-locality—experiencing that one point is everything 
  • Why love may be the most fundamental nature of reality itself

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One. 

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Post Views: 11,153
Spirituality

A.H. Almaas: Love in Its Boundless Dimension

A.H. Almaas — July 25, 2023

We come into this world with a basic trust in the goodness of life. And our trials, tribulations, and traumas cover up that trust, or shatter it completely. In this discussion of his new book, Nondual Love, Tami Simon speaks with author and teacher A.H. Almaas about spiritual self-inquiry and the path toward reclaiming our sense of the boundless benevolence of the universe. 

Take a deep, relaxing breath in a quiet, comfortable place and dive in to this inspiring, expansive conversation exploring: the Diamond Approach to spiritual realization; inner work as the quest to understand the content of consciousness; how truth is a continuum; the nature of experience and knowing; satchitananda; the Buddhist concept of selflessness; universal love and Sufism’s “ocean with no shores”; permanent realization; the ego and the inner Jabba the Hutt; “living daylight” and the overcoming of fear; how full embodiment frees us from our “diamond issues”; relaxation as the first step in experiencing nondual reality; asking yourself, “what’s in the way?”; and more.

To learn more about the Diamond Approach, visit https://www.diamondapproach.org/

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

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Meditation Spirituality

A.H. Almaas: Presence: The Elixir of Enlightenment

A.H. Almaas — March 26, 2019

A.H. Almaas is the pen name of A. Hameed Ali, a veteran spiritual teacher who founded The Ridhwan School in 1976 to spread The Diamond Approach®, his particular path of spiritual inquiry. He has written many books, including The Pearl Beyond Price, The Unfolding Now, and The Alchemy of Freedom. With Sounds True, he will soon be launching Presence—an eight-week online course devoted to exploring the always-available consciousness underlying all of reality. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Almaas about approaching Presence as “the elixir of enlightenment”—the central key to understanding our spiritual nature. Almaas explains the experiential feeling of touching Presence and provides examples of other teachers who have attempted to explain it. Tami and Almaas discuss the possible meaning of enlightenment and why body-based practices are essential to discovering Presence. Finally, they consider why the spiritual path is essentially endless and what it means to be a “complete human being.” (64 minutes)

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Personal Growth Spirituality

Michael Singer: Living Untethered

Michael Singer — January 13, 2026

What would change if you could witness your thoughts and emotions without being consumed by them? What if the energy you seek through external circumstances has been flowing within you all along, simply waiting to be untethered?

This week, Tami Simon revisits a beloved conversation with Michael Singer—bestselling author of The Untethered Soul and its profound sequel, Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament. Michael is also the author of The Surrender Experiment and the creator of Sounds True’s transformative online course Living From a Place of Surrender.

Join Tami and Michael to explore:

  • The seat of awareness and what it means to truly be “in there” • The three-ring circus of consciousness: sense perceptions, thoughts, and emotions • Shakti—the energy flow within that either expands or contracts based on our internal blockages • Samskaras: the stored impressions from past experiences that shape our present reactions • Practical techniques for letting go: positive thinking, mantra repetition, and witness consciousness • The profound process of transmutation—how blocked energy transforms into love when we stop resisting • The difference between the conditional lower heart and the boundless spiritual heart • Why “you must die to be reborn”—letting go of who you think you are to discover who you really are

If you’re ready to stop bothering yourself about the moments in front of you, to untether from patterns that no longer serve you, and to discover the inexhaustible source of energy already flowing within—this conversation offers a clear, practical roadmap home.

Listen now and discover what it means to live untethered.

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Richard Rudd: The Soft Journey to the Future Human

— January 6, 2026

 

What if the challenges we face—both personal and collective—are signs of humanity crawling up the reed, preparing for a metamorphosis as dramatic as a dragonfly’s transformation?

This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Richard Rudd—a teacher, mystic, award-winning poet, and founder of the Gene Keys. Richard shares the story of his remarkable three-day awakening at age 29, when he experienced what he now understands as glimpses through “the future human”—a state of pure light, intelligence, and complete absence of fear. This experience led him to develop the Gene Keys, a synthesis of ancient wisdom traditions with modern understanding that helps people transform shadow patterns into creative gifts.

Join Tami and Richard to explore:

  • Richard’s extraordinary awakening and memories of both past and future consciousness
  • The dragonfly as an allegory for humanity’s evolutionary metamorphosis
  • Why 2026-2027 may mark a critical turning point—”the year of the closing door”
  • The Gene Keys system: transforming 64 shadow patterns into gifts and divine attributes
  • The art of contemplation as gentle, patient transformation
  • Why fear increases as old paradigms decline—and what’s emerging beneath the surface
  • Strange attractors and signs that systems are preparing for quantum leaps • Heart intelligence versus AI and the resistance of remembering what’s real
  • How doubt, corruption, conflict, and other shadows contain hidden gifts of inquiry, equilibrium, and peace

If you’re sensing both the collapse of old structures and the emergence of something new, this conversation offers poetic wisdom for navigating the threshold between worlds.

Listen now to discover the contemplative path through transformation.

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

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David Brooks: Perception Is an Act of Creation

— December 30, 2025

What does it mean to truly see another person—not just their surface, but their soul, their yearning, their infinite dignity?

This week, Tami speaks with David Brooks—acclaimed New York Times columnist, author, and PBS NewsHour commentator—about his remarkable journey from emotional guardedness to what he calls “heart vision.” In this profound interview on Insights at the Edge, David shares the mystical experiences that transformed his understanding of human connection, including a pivotal moment in a New York subway when he suddenly perceived everyone around him as souls in motion.

Join Tami and David to explore:

  • David’s emotional awakening and the journey from cerebral detachment to human vulnerability
  • The distinction between diminishers and illuminators—and how we see others
  • Why attention is the ultimate form of generosity and morality
  • The difference between heart intelligence and mental intelligence
  • How perception itself is an act of creation, not passive observation
  • Practical skills for seeing others deeply: the on/off switch of attention, being a loud listener, and avoiding the topper trap
  • Why he identifies as a religious rather than a spiritual person
  • The moral order of the universe and how our yearnings reflect something woven into reality itself
  • How rupture and repair shape us—and why staying in pain can be necessary for growth

David’s wisdom reminds us that in a world increasingly dominated by data and algorithms, the art of truly seeing another human being remains our most sacred—and most practical—capacity.

Listen now to discover how cultivating the illuminator’s gaze can transform every relationship in your life.

This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.

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Sounds True is a multimedia publishing company founded in 1985 by Tami Simon, with the mission of disseminating spiritual wisdom. The company is based in Lafayette, Colorado.

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