“Divine eros is a topic that invites the purity of our spiritual nature to combine with the power of our animal instinct. Instinct is animal, and “animal” generally means “primitive.” The animal in us is a powerful primitive force that humanity still hasn’t learned to deal with in a completely human way.”
– The Power of Divine Eros, Ch. 9
Each year, Diamond Approach founders A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali) and Karen Johnson release public teachings on a particular theme through Diamond Approach Online (DAO). This year’s offerings will support our global community in learning how to work with the instinctual human drives in a way that fuels the inner journey.
We all have social, sexual, and survival instincts that are a natural part of being human, but in today’s world, we see them manifest in distorted, harmful ways. Not just in the United States, but throughout the world we see conflict, chaos, polarization, and negativity. It’s a difficult time and an opportune time for those committed to spiritual growth to learn how to harmonize our animal instincts with our essential nature.
Some may remember our course Spirituality in a Fractured World, which taught participants how to work with discord within ourselves first in order to experience more harmony in the world. This program was very powerful, however, it did not include these teachings on the instincts; you’ll only find brief mention of the importance of working with our animal nature in some of the books by A H. Almaas.
“These are very powerful drives that live at the bottom of the unconscious. More than any other influence, they make us forget about or ignore the truth.
You may see the truth, but when an instinctual need comes up, you not only stop seeing the truth, you actually feel, “Who cares about the truth? If following my instinct means that I’ll survive, and I don’t know if I’ll survive if I follow the truth, then the choice is obvious.” Survival is what you go for. You forget truth because it feels like a luxury.
– Spacecruiser Inquiry, Ch. 9
How can these biologically-based drives – that we need for life and living – be liberated to ignite our transformation and allow us to live as fully embodied spiritual beings in the world? And what does this perspective on the instincts teach us about the human species and what we can consider as a next evolutionary step?
Join Hameed and Karen for a free webinar on Sunday, January 28, called Realization in the Rough: Reconciling Our Animal Instincts with the Spiritual Path where they’ll kick off this year’s exploration and introduce these timely teachings to the public for the first time.
For those inspired by the webinar, the next step is the online course Human Instincts on the Inner Journey: How to Harmonize Our Animal and Spiritual Nature starting in February. Through meditations, recorded lectures, experiential exercises, and live Q&A sessions with Hameed and Karen, this program will reveal the exact details of how to work with the instinctual drives as part of your spiritual path.
In the fall, we’ll further the transformation of our animal nature in a course that teaches us to work with the instincts at the mystical union of body, breath, and Being. As we did in the Spiritual Wisdom of the Body series, we’ll learn how to explore these drives in our bodies in a way that serves and expresses our realization.
We are very excited to embark on this rich, powerful, and timely exploration with you this year and look forward to seeing you at Realization in the Rough on January 28.
“What’s important to see is that ultimately, all animal instincts amount to the basic drive for physical survival. And all our powerful needs and instinctual drives can become a force that completely eclipses the love of truth. This is true whether the survival instinct manifests as the need for security, support, safety, affection, social contact, comfort, or money.
We need to deal with this level of our soul if we are to liberate our heart, for our heart can truly love only when it is free. The heart exists at the level of the human soul rather than at the level of the animal soul. And unless the instinctual drives in the animal soul are confronted, they will confine—and ultimately control—the human soul and heart.”
– Spacecruiser Inquiry, Ch. 9