The Jeweled Path: The Biography of the Diamond Approach to Inner Realization

Description

An intimate account of the development of a spiritual tradition and a biography of its creators--told by one of the Diamond Approach cofounders. An intimate account of the development of a spiritual tradition and a biography of its creators--told by one of the Diamond Approach cofounders. The Jeweled Path invites you to enter into the story of how the modern spiritual path of the Diamond Approach emerged. With humor and intimacy, Karen Johnson, cofounder with A. H. Almaas, reveals the personal experiences that birthed the teaching and furthered its development. These profound awakenings-occurring amidst ordinary life-became the building blocks of a remarkable new approach to human nature and to our understanding of reality.

KAREN JOHNSON is the codeveloper of the Diamond Approach as it is taught in the Ridhwan School today, having worked alongside A. H. Almaas for the last forty years. Johnson was educated as an artist and then received an MA in psychology.

"A rare, intimate dive into the development of a spiritual path. We don't usually have the opportunity to witness the birth of a path from the perspective of one who is engaged with its development. Nor are we often invited into the lives of its founders as they awaken to the teaching that is emerging through them. Through Karen Johnson's writing, her humor, her keen-eyed observations, her willingness to reveal her humanness, and her ever-cascading realization, we are able to hear the untold story of the Diamond Approach and experience its profound gifts in a new way. What a privilege."-Geneen Roth, author of Feeding the Hungry Heart and Women, Food, and God "A humble, honest, intimate, lucid, and above all astonishing account of the rise of a remarkable teaching. It's good to find confirmation here that even pure diamonds don't fall ready-made from the sky; they must be ground and polished in the crucible of the human heart. Karen's and Hameed's four-decade journey of unflinchingly honest and deeply mutual discovery sets a new benchmark in our appreciation of the full potential of spiritual friendship."-Cynthia Bourgeault, author of The Meaning of Mary Magdalene and The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three "For anyone interested in the origins of the marvelous Diamond Approach, here it is. Karen offers an inside glimpse into the DA founders' passion, truth seeking, and wisdom-a journey that can inspire your own."-Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart "The Jeweled Path shows the Diamond Approach in action. We see how the source of this teaching first revealed itself and, in that process of coming into being, how it ground and polished its first human exemplars, making them fit to be its messengers. Johnson so well captures that force and momentum, the bursting into life with clarity and precision, that is the unique heart of this particular teaching."-Zarina Maiwandi, Ph.D., Columbia University