Spirituality in a Fractured World

A 5-month online journey to help you reconcile with the world’s discord and return to wholeness
February - June 2025

Join anytime until May 15

Spiritual Maturity: Healing the Divide

At the heart of the global conflicts, polarization, and social upheaval we face today are personal conflicts that mask a deeper existential issue – our separation from our true nature. The greatest pain we experience, whether consciously or unconsciously, is this separation from the spiritual realm, from the part of us that is eternal and unified.

This disconnection is an out-of-touchness with what is most real within us and leads to a fundamental sense of insecurity. This insecurity makes all the other pains and frustrations of life surface with greater intensity, as we are seeing with the pervasive negativity and discord.

How do we grow as human beings to stay in touch with what’s most real and resolve this internal fracture? What impact does this inner development and maturation have on how we meet our fractured world?

To move towards wholeness within ourselves and in an optimizing direction for everyone, we need to start with our own consciousness. To be a spiritually mature human being in the world, we need to open up the layers of our own inner conflicts and the sources of our disconnection.

As these layers unfold and we reunite with our deepest nature, we come to recognize that there is a loving intelligence guiding our transformation–a fundamentally creative energy, a truly optimizing force, that includes and transcends all of the inner and outer turmoil.

This reunion allows us to embody the confidence and maturity we need to navigate a world full of beauty and challenges. Rather than reacting to the world from a place of insecurity, we can live from the groundedness, luminosity, goodness, and mystery that is our deepest nature in our daily interactions, even in the face of differing viewpoints and global discord.

To move towards unification within ourselves and in an optimizing direction for everyone, we need to start with our own consciousness. In this course, we will receive expert guidance as we embark on this essential journey with a global community of sincere spiritual explorers. Together, we will learn practices to resolve our inner conflicts, heal divisiveness, and move beyond polarization to more fully meet the world in loving, intelligent, and productive ways.   

“When we are more complete as human beings and have matured into our depth, we become servants of that depth by living a life that is full and human, without ever leaving this transcendent depth.”

Spirituality in a Fractured World will help you...

  • Navigate Polarization: Learn practical methods for cutting through divisiveness in your daily life and spiritual path, moving beyond conventional tactics to find a deeper, more effective approach.
  • Cultivate Foundational Spiritual Qualities: Discover which qualities are essential for facing today’s tense and challenging times and gain practical tools for integrating and embodying them in your life.  
  • Stay Connected to Your Spiritual Realization: Develop methods to live from your spiritual nature even when feeling charged or reactive.  
  • Engage Your Personal Thread: Identify the intersection of psychological and spiritual work that will most support you in authentically living from your deeper nature.
  • Relate from Our Shared Humanity: Navigate the challenge of keeping your heart open to those with differing and opposing viewpoints by exploring methods for relating and responding more effectively. 

“We are here to inspire people to take the risk to go within, to face the sorrow, the demons, to trust the transformation. We don’t have to leave this earth, or live in a cave.”

A Note From A.H. Almaas

I started out as a physicist and mathematician. I was a scientist who then became a psychologist before realizing what I was looking for was the truth of reality and the truth of myself. I became engaged in spiritual teachings and worked with therapists and teachers to clarify my personal history and realize my spiritual nature.  

Our spirit is the essence of who we are, just like the atoms that make up the body. We are all connected. We are waves of the same ocean. Our essence is that which is beyond appearances, ideas, feelings, and sensations. It’s our invisible core, our true self, our authenticity. When we’re in touch with our authenticity without any filters or preconceived notions of who you are or who I am, we open ourselves up to experiencing the nakedness of truth.  

Spirituality is engagement with this truth. Being on a spiritual path means taking a turn inward, becoming interested in more than appearances. It means being in touch with the real depth of where our human goodness comes from.   

If you’re ready for a love affair, a passionate immersion into your internal treasures that will allow you the pleasure of your own beauty and the beauty of others, you’re in the right place.  

If you’re ready to ask yourself, “is this the deepest thing I am?” and “what else can I be?”, your essence of goodness may be ready to come out, even in the face of the world’s great dysfunction. As such, I’m deeply honored to offer you a path to wholeness that has been long-waiting to come through: Spirituality in a Fractured World.

Sincerely,

A. H. Almaas

A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)

Course Structure

Learn

Every other week, a new module is released. Each module contains a pre-recorded teaching carefully crafted by Karen and Hameed to help people experience the ways spirituality can be a compass and an anchor as we traverse the difficulties of our time.
Learn more about course structure, module length, and module release dates in the FAQ on this page.

Practice

Take the teachings from the intellectual to the experiential in each module's guided meditation and Diamond Inquiry exercises.

To help participants deepen their skill in the practice of Diamond Inquiry and benefit the most from the course exercises, you will also receive a free bonus course, Discover Your Truth Through Diamond Inquiry,

Gather

Join biweekly inquiry practice sessions to engage the transformational exercises with your fellow course participants. Practice sessions are live, online, and optional.

Once per month, attend a live Question & Comment (Q&C) session with your course teachers to ask your most burning questions. Q&C's are recorded in case you can't make it live.

Connect with others, share your experiences, and have your questions answered by Diamond Approach teachers in the online course community space.

Integrate

Explore supplementary practices and inquiries to support your integration of the course material into your daily life.

Live Q & C Meetings

There are five Question and Comment meetings with Diamond Approach teachers. Q&C sessions are optional and will be recorded.

Mar 9 • Apr 6 • May 4 • June 1 • June 29
11:30am - 1pm Pacific Time

Community Inquiry Practice

Join us for optional biweekly live gatherings to do each module's exercises with your fellow course participants.

Sundays starting Feb 23
10am - 11:30am Pacific Time

“If even some small part of you is curious how to live in the real world as part of your spiritual path - then take the course. It will support you and those you care about being more authentic in your lives.”

Here’s What You’ll Explore in the Course

Module 1:

Fractured Unity

How does spiritual practice integrate with the world, especially when it’s in turmoil and distress?

In Module 1, you will start unwrapping the layers of your experience by exploring how you are being impacted by what is currently happening in the world. How is it affecting your outlook about the world and your personal life? How is your outlook shaping your relationship to yourself, your spiritual practices, and broader issues?

Module 2:

Open Window

It’s common for us to have convictions, positions, attitudes, and beliefs about reality that prevent us from seeing things freshly, outside of our fixed view, or as they really are. How can we be truly open to others—even when we find their views concerning or wrong? 

In Module 2, you will have the opportunity to discover exactly how true openness within ourselves is our ally in healing discord. You will examine your positions on current world issues, explore why you are may not be open to other points of view, and experiment with new methods of accessing true openness.

Module 3:

Red Dragon

How can difficult emotions such as anger, fear, and resentment be transmuted into liberation? True strength is needed and you will learn how anger can be a gateway to this strength.

In Module 3, you will explore situations or viewpoints in the world that frighten you and make you angry—as well as the ways you experience your expansive strength and can “wake up” to our underlying unity while wrestling with conflict.

Module 4:

The Green Guide

Compassion is essential in healing the pain of discord and divisiveness. Together, we will learn how to access greater compassion within ourselves and act from the ethics of our natural condition of openness, respect, and love.

In Module 4, you will identify world circumstances you find painful or hurtful—and how you avoid emotional hurt. We will then inquire into and experientially explore how the emotional pain we avoid is actually a portal to the very compassion we most need.

Module 5:

It’s All Good

Both historical and present-day experiences can make us question the underlying goodness of life. Fortunately, we can learn how to soften our defenses, experience basic trust in this goodness, and be in touch with true inner resources.

In Module 5, we will explore ways you experience basic trust and ways it may be limited for you. We will apply this to world situations that impact that trust and discover how fear itself can be a gateway into deepening our trust in life’s unfolding.

Module 6:

Divine Emissaries

There is a goodness that is inherent in all of us—but how can we act from that goodness in the face of all the chaos in the world? How can each of us be true representatives of inner goodness and bring that quality to bear in our life situations and the world?

In Module 6, we will unveil how you express the inner goodness you have experienced and what can get in the way of that goodness coming through.  We’ll look at  areas of your life or larger social issues that are important to you to explore how that goodness both shines and is limited in those arenas.

Module 7:

The Inner Warrior

The true confidence, support, steadfastness, and solidity that we need to navigate the world comes from inside, from our own spiritual potential, not from life circumstances or external structures and safeguards.

In Module 7, you’ll tap into the inner quality that can give us the mooring we need to feel grounded and help us recognize the indestructible refuge that is always available and here to help us.

Module 8:

Riding the Tsunami

The chaos of the world can feel overwhelming, like a powerful tsunami that sweeps us away and makes it challenging to stay engaged in the spiritual practices we need to feel grounded in and able to take action from the wisdom of our deeper nature.

In Module 8, we will explore ways we can “ride the tsunami” and harness the chaotic energies in the world to support our inner practice and our ability to take meaningful action.

Module 9:

Diamond Planet

In this time of polarized opinions, some people have come to consider critical thinking suspect and immediately reject information from new sources. However, a dangerous situation is created when we are taught not to think and to doubt any information except from sources that support our usual way of thinking.

In Module 9, we will explore how our worldviews have developed, how rigid or open our views are, and how to stay experientially closer to the openness of our true nature that is necessary for flexible, discerning learning amid the complexity of our world.

Module 10:

Utterly Human

What does it mean to be truly human? When people talk about “human nature,” they are often referring to our flaws: the ways we act out, are reactive, angry, etc. But true human beings are defined by our hearts, by our embodiment of presence, by our knowing of the underlying unity that goes beyond just connecting us all: It is what we are, deeply and truly.

In Module 10, you will explore the ways you have been impacted by and integrated all that you have learned in the course. You will dive into what it means to be truly human and in touch with our deepest nature, as well as the ways your participation in this inner work ripples out into the world to the benefit of all humanity.

“This is not fast food for the soul. This path is a love affair. It is a passionate and immersing, drowning in love, love affair.”

Meet Your Teachers

A.H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)

A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali)

A.H. Almaas (pen name for Hameed Ali) is the founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization, a contemporary teaching that developed within the context of both ancient spiritual teachings and modern depth psychology theories. He has authored eighteen books about spiritual realization, including the Diamond Heart series, The Pearl Beyond Price, The Void, and The Alchemy of Freedom.  

He is the founder of the Ridhwan School for Spiritual Development, an inner work school devoted to the realization of True Nature. The orientation of the school is directed toward guiding students to realize their true nature to the fullest realization and further still to endless enlightenment.

Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson is the co-developer of the Diamond Approach as it is taught in the Ridhwan School today, having worked alongside Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) for the last 40 years. Karen was trained in art and dance and began the journey into the spiritual universe at 14 years old with the guidance of her parents.   

First, she was introduced to yoga and meditation and then learned about other forms of spiritual practice, which allowed her to develop her innate paranormal capacities. After attending California College of Arts and Crafts, she befriended Hameed Ali, and with him began a new trajectory into the secrets of the universe of Being, which became the Diamond Approach. Karen also received an MA in psychology at JFK University in 1990 and is the author of two books, The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization and The Power of Divine Eros: The Illuminating Force of Love in Everyday Life. She continues to venture into new explorations of the endless realms of our miraculous Nature.

Sandra Maitri

Sandra Maitri

Sandra Maitri is an artist, an author, an enneagram teacher, and a long-time teacher of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization. She leads Diamond Approach groups and enneagram workshops for hundreds of students each year in the United States and Europe. She has studied with various Eastern and Western spiritual and psychological teachers, focusing especially on Insight and Tibetan Buddhist meditation. She is the author of The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul and The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home. In her spare time, she paints and writes.

Jessica Britt

Jessica Britt

Jessica Britt has been a student of Hameed Ali’s since 1977 and a Diamond Approach teacher since 1985. She is a training director, leading on-going groups in Europe, Canada, and the US. In the ’80s she was on the Gestalt staff of Esalen Institute creating an integration of Reichian and Gestalt work. While at Esalen, she was a student within the Native American Traditions, leading wilderness journeys. In addition, she studied Continuum Movement with Emilie Conrad. A nurse in the ’70s, she specialized in the field of childhood sexual & physical abuse. Jessica continues to practice from a view that includes the whole of the miracle of conscious life.

Vince Draddy

Vince has been teaching the Diamond Approach for the past 23 years and has been a student for 35 years. He leads ongoing Diamond Approach groups in California, the Netherlands and Ireland as well as working with individuals. It was during a two year period in Asia studying meditation and chi kung that he discovered a book by A.H. Almaas, which prompted his return to the US to join a Diamond Approach group in 1990. The potential to live a life in the world from a mystical perspective informed by love was, and remains, the main draw for him of the Diamond Approach teaching.

Vince is married with two children.

FAQ

What is the Ridhwan School?

“Ridhwan” is a Sufi word. It means “satisfied and satisfying.” Our school, home to more than 4,000 students across the globe, has the potential to both help you to be fulfilled and to help others be fulfilled. Students learn to ground, sensitize, recognize, and trust the inherent guidance of Being.

What is the Diamond Approach?

The Diamond Approach is the core teaching of the Ridhwan School, a spiritual path that approaches our ordinary experiences, emotions, and sensations in a friendly way of understanding. This radical acceptance of our situation allows something to come through that puts us in touch with our spirituality.

In the Diamond Approach, everything we experience is utilized as a doorway to our spiritual nature. Rather than negating or seeking to transcend parts of our humanness that are considered barriers to realization, we learn to approach each aspect of our physical, emotional, and mental experience with acceptance and open curiosity to discover its truth. We do meditation and other exercises, but the main method is Diamond Inquiry™: non-judgment of what we’re experiencing, which brings crisp clarity into one’s own truth.

What’s included in the program?

When you register for the program, you’ll receive admission to all 10 modules in the course. You’ll participate in video teachings, guided practices, experiential exercises, and have the opportunity to interact with the teachers and learn from other participants during the questions and comments time. You will also be invited into optional biweekly gatherings to do the experiential exercises with your fellow spiritual explorers. All course participants will have access to a private Facebook group moderated by Diamond Approach teachers.  

When does the course begin? Can I join after the start date?

The first module is released on February 7 and we welcome new course participants anytime until May 15. The course is designed for you to be able to join at any point, catch up at your own pace, and still benefit from the teachings, practices, and live, community elements. 

What is the course schedule?

The first module is released on February 7. After the first module is released, the next module is released on February 28. Modules are released every other Friday from February 28 – June 20, 2025.
Community Practice Session and Live Q&C dates are listed on this page in the Course Structure section. Attending these live elements is encouraged but not required.

How long should I plan to spend on each module?

This course is designed to meet you in your life, exactly where you are at. To support your ability to engage with the material on your own schedule, guided meditations, teachings, and Diamond Inquiry exercise videos are pre-recorded. This course also offers pre-recorded Question and Comment periods with Hameed and Karen that contain supplemental practices and teachings. Listening to or watching the pre-recorded elements will take 1.5 – 2 hours per module. 

In addition to the pre-recorded content released in each module, you are also invited into optional live community inquiry practice sessions and live Q&Cs. 

  • Community Practice sessions occur via Zoom every other week on Sundays from 10am – 11:30am Pacific Time. These 90-minute sessions are not recorded.
  • Live Q&Cs occur once per month directly after one of the Community Practice sessions from 11:30am – 1pm Pacific Time.
    You can attend just the Live Q&C and not the practice session. Live Q&Cs are recorded for anyone who cannot attend live.

If you choose to join the private course Facebook group, we invite you to spend as much time as feels supportive to you connecting with your fellow course participants there.

Are the sessions live or pre-recorded? What happens if I miss one?

The biweekly modules are are pre-recorded and include teachings, practices, and bonus Q&C sessions from previous course participants. The 5 monthly question and comment sessions with the teachers are live, though recordings will be available if you are unable to make the live events. Bieekly community practice sessions will not be recorded. 

Will you be mailing anything to me or is everything digital?

Once payment is received you will receive an email with your login details, then you are officially in! You will receive everything in your email inbox, including instructions on how to access the course. 

Do you offer financial assistance such as scholarships for online courses?

Yes! To apply for financial assistance for any of our courses, click here to complete a scholarship application

What if I have questions?

We’re here to support you on your journey and help with any questions you may have about enrolling and accessing the course. For support please email daosupport@ridhwan.org. Be sure to add this address to your contact list so we don’t end up in your Junk/Spam/Promotions folder. But please check there just in case!

Is there a refund policy?

Yes. If you are dissatisfied with the course —for any reason—simply contact us for a refund within 30 days of purchase.

Are You Ready to Explore Spirituality in a Fractured World?

Choose a Payment Option That is Right for You

Standard Tuition

The standard tuition for this course is $450.

Reduced Tuition

In order to make online spiritual support more accessible to our global community, we also offer a reduced tuition option of $300 for anyone who needs it.

"Pay It Forward" Tuition

For those who are able to help, you can “Pay It Forward” by selecting the $600 tuition option and those additional funds go directly to provide scholarship opportunities for others.

Payment Plan

Standard tuition can be paid in three monthly installments of $150. 

The Diamond Approach

Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions

© Copyright Diamond Approach, Ridhwan School – All rights reserved.

Scroll to Top