The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series) [Paperback]

A. H. Almaas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Diamond Mind Series | Publication Date: September 5, 2000

In this book, the author explores the underlying spiritual understanding of narcissism. He presents a detailed map of the steps involved in working through barriers that prevent us from recognizing the most essential nature of our true identity.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The third and final book in Almaas's Diamond Mind series, this 602-page tome reformulates the traditionally accepted definition of narcissism, positing it as the major barrier to self-realization--we are staring at reflections of ourselves thinking we are looking at the real self until we fall through the surface of the pond. Dissecting the nature of self to expose ego's mimicry, Almaas illuminates the relationship between the different approaches of various psychological and religious traditions, leaving no stone unturned in his search for "essence." Since the process involves transformation of the experience of identity, it exerts pressure on all levels of self-image, bringing up classically narcissistic issues. While the work appears therapeutic and, in fact, may have therapeutic value, its primary purpose is opening to deeper levels of self knowledge, which eventually becomes a participation in the dynamic unfolding of being human. A pivotal distinction expounded upon in The Point is that Almaas is not directing the reader toward some realization of immaterial spirit or psychological state but is engendering the emergence of a material soul, a palpable essence of being. --Randall Cohan

Review

"Almaas is one of the most significant voices for a new and remarkably integrated spiritual vision. His work connects the personal, the universal, the psychological and the spiritual not as pieces put together, but as the inseparable mandala of the sacred that we are. I respect his work to the highest degree and commend it to anyone interested in living the life of the spirit."—Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of After the Ecstasy, the Laundry



"Almaas is an astute and brilliant explorer. The Point of Existence is remarkable in its thoroughness, detail and depth. In it he shows how the universal narcissism of everyday life is an incomplete stage of development which can only be overcome through realization of one's deepest most essential nature. This is a book to study, to contemplate, to live with, and to use as a guide on one's journey."—John Welwood, Ph.D., author of Toward a Psychology of Awakening



"Almaas's The Point of Existence is a supremely original and unique work, of immense significance for anyone involved in a spiritual path. Its far-reaching reformulations of narcissism as the defining dimension of ordinary personality and the major barrier to self-realization offer a great promise and challenge to both transpersonal and psychotherapeutic orthodoxies. It will be studied and debated by psychologists, spiritual practitioners, and theologians for years to come."—Harry Hunt, Ph.D., author of On the Nature of Consciousness



"This pioneering work renders outdated both the psychologist's traditional avoidance of deeper dimensions of experience and the mystics dismissal of psychology. The sophistication of this work is stunning and the views stimulating to our sense of what human identity is and what we can be."—Sherry Ruth Anderson, Ph.D., co-author of The Feminine Face of God

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Product Details

• Paperback: 636 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936713097
• ISBN-13: 978-0936713090
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Therapeutic Insights in the Process of Self-Realization, December 7, 2001

By 

Harvey Aronson (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series) (Paperback)

Much like a major symphonic work, A. H. Almaas' work slowly develops several theme that ultimately converge to reveal incredible beauty and meaning. The initial chapters of the work are somewhat difficult in the extremely fine discriminations that the author makes in setting the ground work for his main arguments. In brief, for Almaas, narcissism is the identification with anything other than one's Essential Identity, whether it be one's body, looks, fame, thoughts, or emotions. Essential Identity is that aspect of our own true nature that give us a sense of who we are at the deepest Being- level of existence. Self-realization involves the movement from the former to the latter--moving from identifying with the ordinary experience of our personality to identifying and becoming one with Being and its essential qualities such as love, compassion, strength, clarity and identity.
For the first time ever, Almaas, presents a rich and psychologically informed phenomenology of the dissolution of the egoic self in the process of self-realization. If the first movement of the work is slow and methodical in setting up the major themes, the second movement, is a detailed, experience near description of how during the course of spiritual development we move from ordinary experience to the depths of Being. Almaas suggests that our idealizations of others, institutions, and ideas has to do with our search for internal support which can only ultimately found in the security of Being. Our need for mirroring, is explored as stemming from Being's need for mirroring, for its uniqueness, specialness and exquisiteness. Most moving in this all, is the exploration of how the very hurts that result from lapses in idealization and mirroring, can be doorways to much deeper understanding. Through a very detailed, and careful assessment of the way in which hurt opens to love and depth, Almaas makes clear how the support of a loving teacher and community make it possible to slowly penetrate our defensive posture, to tolerate pain. He sensitively describes how practitioners gradually move into experiences of deficient emptiness that very naturally can open up to the spaciousness of Being and the realization of our most profound inner identity.
There is so much in this work that is suitable for repetitive consideration and contemplation. It clearly presents in a concise way the modern psychotherapeutic insights on the development of narcissism and then carefully identifies similarities and differences between the therapeutic and spiritual work with narcissism. Almaas identifies and makes psychological sense of those cases of teachers whose behavior does not seem to match their realization. Using the predominant psychological metaphor of our time, Almaas has sympathetically illuminated as no one before, the ways in which every pitfall on the path is also a potential movement closer to our true nature. If the reader will take the patience to move through the slow, sometime painstaking development of the theoretical frame of Book One, they will in Book Two be privileged to experience a most meaningful descriptive and explanatory map of spiritual development that takes account of both the reality and depth of our psychological needs and experiences, and the delicacy, profundity and riches of spiritual reality.

Harvey Aronson, LMSW, Ph.D., is currently directory of Dawn Mountain Buddhist Temple, and a psychotherapist in private practice in Houston, Texas. He is author of Love and Sympathy in Theravada Buddhism, and Couch or Cushion: Buddhisst Practice on Western Groun (forthcoming).

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ... making the Unconscious Conscious., August 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series) (Paperback)

So much of psychology is superficial and so much of what spiritual traditions teach is misleading and impractical to incorporate into our daily lives...

The self-realized Almaas puts into words what others before him could not. This book cuts right through ignorance/narcissism and slowly brings to surface realizations that change forever, what one believes to be reality.

Almaas cross correlates metaphysics with psychology in a mind numbing fashion, throwing deep unconscious process at the rational mind for contemplation, dredging up our childhood experiences, and our relationships with the enviornment. He cuts open the shell that has hereto hidden what is real and jangles the core of our identities.

His approach is to clarify that which is misunderstood, avoiding nothing in the process. The Diamond Approach, as taught by Almaas, is a very sophisticated path toward self-realization that seeks to understand the essential qualities that are behind our everyday lives and determine our reactions to experience. By understanding these essential qualities, which have hereto been unconscious, as they arrise within our daily lives by disidentifying with there representations, we can come to realize our true nature, our essence. This book describes these essential qualities and the representations that obscure them bringing a lucid clarity to the personality, making it receptive.

"The point of existence" gradually inserts important insights into the mind in a very heart warming fashion, making it a book that not only brings understanding with its clarity, but also touches the heart.

This book has helped me in ineffable ways. I ended up buying the whole seires. It is highly recommended.

(Some very insightful and interesting excerts from the Diamond Heart series, by Almaas, is available free through a search on the net - if you are not already convinced.)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoa!!! ~~ Brain Sizzle ~~, December 29, 2008

By 

Daniel Johnson (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series) (Paperback)

This book is intense. Don't even think about it unless your mind is ready to go on a journey. Not really for the lay-reader. Of course, if you're one of those types who really likes reading psychology journals and scientific papers and stuff, then you might disagree, and you might say this is fluffy or something. But, for lay readers such as myself - it pushed the limits of my cerebral capacities.
However, after pushing through to the end of the book, I've gotta say that I now see reality in a completely different light. He really breaks down exactly what Self-Realization is. Before this book, I didn't really think there was such a thing as self-realization or that it was even important.
I love this book, and I can't wait to re-read it again someday and find out how much I must have missed the first time through.
Highly Recommended for those bold enough to digest it!