Entering the Path of Heart: Love and the Jealous Beloved

Ep. 221 (Part 1 of 2) | Deep Transformation is excited to release the first episode in our new Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, in honor and celebration of Hameed Ali’s latest book, The Inner Beloved. The series begins with Hameed sharing his motivation for writing all three of the books in his Love Trilogy (Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, The Inner Beloved), namely, when he realized his prior books had omitted to teach specifically about the role of love on the spiritual path. Love is the energy, the driving force toward union with our inner nature, Hameed explains, and it is love that dissolves the obstacles that remain towards the end of the path. It is the path of heart that gets you all the way.

Hameed orients us with an overview of the Diamond Approach’s experiential path of love, gifting us with some tremendous teachings on love as a prelude to delving deeply into his newest book, The Inner Beloved. When asked, What is the inner beloved? he responds, The beloved is not just love. Love serves the beloved, love is the way to the beloved. The inner beloved is what our deepest heart longs for. The path of the heart is painful at times, he continues, because we feel separate from what we yearn to become one with. At the end of the dialogue, Hameed shares that with his path of love teachings, he wants us to know there is a way to address our longing, our yearning. There is a way for it to complete itself, he assures us. Recorded December 11, 2025.

“The beloved is the deepest nondual truth you can experience.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

1. Introducing A. H. Almaas and his trilogy of books on love: Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved (00:48)
2. Hameed’s motivation to write about love came when he realized his prior books had omitted teaching about the role of love on the spiritual path (04:27)
3. The first book in the trilogy, Love Unveiled, talks about 3 kinds of love important in human life and in spiritual practice (07:01)
4. The second book, Nondual Love, talks about the boundless dimension of universal love (09:05)
5. The third book, The Inner Beloved, is about the path of love—the movement toward our fundamental nature through the heart (10:59)
6. Roger points out that Hameed’s teachings on love go far beyond other spiritual teachings (12:20)
7. The beloved is not just love: love serves the beloved, love is the way to the beloved (13:35)
8. We all have 3 centers of operation: head, heart & belly—each one is a spiritual brain of its own (16:24)
9. Love is the most explicit motivator for the spiritual journey (18:08)
10. The Diamond Approach is not about being liberated or free from suffering, it’s about loving to know the truth (20:40)
11. The path of the heart is painful because we feel separate from what we yearn to become one with (24:13)
12. Emptying the heart of all other loves (26:01)
13. The inner beloved is the most jealous of beloveds (30:21)
14. Was there a certain point of surrender for Hameed? (33:04)
15. Love’s function is to move us towards the inner beloved (35:55)

(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 in the spring.)

Resources & References – Part 1

1. A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series on Deep Transformation, based on Hameed’s book The Inner Journey Home
2. A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart's Journey to Divine Unity
3. A. H. Almaas, Love Unveiled: Discovering the Essence of the Awakened Heart
4. A. H. Almaas, Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality
5. A. H. Almaas, The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization
6. A. H. Almaas, The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being: An Object Relations Approach
7. A. H. Almaas, The Void: Inner Spaciousness and Ego Structure
8. Ram Dass, renowned spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author
9. Bhakti, a concept common in Indian religions, may refer to loving devotion for a personal God, a formless ultimate reality, or an enlightened being
10. Sri Ramana Maharshi, Who Am I?
11. Kabir, Indian mystic and poet

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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