The Awe & Ecstasy of Surrendering to the Inner Beloved

Ep. 227 (Part 2 of 2) | In Part 2 of Deep Transformation’s second Path of Love Series dialogue, A. H. Almaas explains that the inner beloved is at work in our hearts, pulling us irresistibly nearer as we venture forward on the path of love. The force comes and pulls us, he says, melts us and overwhelms us—sometimes with wounding and sometimes with ecstasy. Our great love for the inner beloved ultimately dissolves our attachments to other, smaller beloveds, which can be big things—family, friends, teachers—or little things: ice cream, cake, our favorite movie star. But our heart isn’t going to be happy until it meets the beloved face to face, Hameed assures us. Then, after emptying our heart, when we finally behold the inner beloved, love becomes the nature of the whole universe. Now our relationships are expressions of the inner beloved, and we find we love everything.

What makes the Diamond Approach’s path of love unique is that it uses love and inquiry combined to penetrate the obstacles that arise along the path. Thus, obstacles are not only burnt away through sheer devotion but also understood and recognized for what they are. Hameed also explains the difference between spiritual poverty of the soul and mystical poverty of the heart, between realization of the absolute via the path of mind versus the path of love, that nonduality is an outer expression of the inner beloved, and describes his own astonishing experience of “thunder and lightning in the heart” on this path. Towards the end of the conversation, Hameed reminds us that when we feel love, that is the beginning. Take the love itself rather than the object of the love, he says, and let it get bigger, let it get deeper, see where it takes you. Recorded January 8, 2026.

“The beloved is the source of love and what loves everything.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2

1. The path of love also has many joys and rewards (00:30)
2. The experience of the absolute on this path is distinctly about love (02:41)
3. The Diamond Approach’s inquiry practice allows us to understand the obstacles that arise (05:11)
4. Relationship can be a path on its own, but it’s not the same as the path of love, where outer relationships are disengaged from (09:30)
5. Mystical poverty: when the heart has nothing left in it, only the inner beloved (12:53)
6. The inner beloved is a jealous lover (13:44)
7. When we finally behold the inner beloved, we find we love everything (14:18)
8. Hameed’s experience of thunder & lightning in the heart (15:23)
9. The inner beloved is the source of love, the source of the universe (17:10)
10. Nonduality is an outer expression of the inner beloved (17:40)
11. Love has a magnetic component to it; the inner beloved wants to be one with us (21:19)
12. Mystical poverty is a relinquishment of all competing loves; love is what melts the attachments (23:46)
13. Mystical poverty of the soul is not the same as mystical poverty of the heart (25:40)
14. We need to remember the mystery of the inner beloved (28:05)
15. The soul is an experiential lens for perceiving inner truth (28:52)
16. When we feel love, that’s the beginning; let it get bigger, let it get deeper, see where it takes you (30:22)
17. Love is the most powerful force in the spiritual universe (30:44)

For fans of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, the Wisdom Series, based on Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home, will be continued later this spring.

Resources & References – Part 2

1. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
2. Poet Longchenpa only rarely talks about love and beauty, Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind
3. Ramakrishna, Hindu mystic devoted to Kali
4. Advaita Vedanta
5. A Course in Miracles, a path which focuses on relationships
6. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas

Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

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Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation Listeners

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign up.

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Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas) was born in Kuwait in 1944. At the age of eighteen, he moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him to inquire into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature rather than the physical nature of the universe. He left the academic world to pursue an in-depth journey of inner discovery, applying his scientific precision and discipline to personal, experiential research. This included study with different teachers in different modalities, extensive reading, and continuous study of his own consciousness in an effort to understand the essential nature of human experience and reality in general.

Hameed’s process of exploration led to the creation of the Ridhwan School and, with his colleague Karen Johnson, resulted in the founding and unfoldment of the Diamond Approach. He is the author of 20 books, including Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart, Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type, The Unfolding Now: Realizing Your True Nature through the Practice of Presence, and more.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell