Customer Reviews

Spacecruiser Inquiry (Diamond Body Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is very practical for those already familiar with Almaas' teachings. It describes precise and extensively his method of self inquiry, and I underline the word "method", since the book focuses on inquiry itself, on "how" to inquire, and not on "what" to inquire about. 400 pages about how to conduct your inquiry can be a bit too specific and overwhelming for those not into the Diamond Approach, but, on the other hand, it can be the most valueble for those familiar with previous Almaas' books (especially the Diamond Mind series). I really recommend it for the latter, but beginners should choose another one to start with.

The title of this book is, to be honest, a little silly. But after getting over Almaas' metaphor I found this to be one of the best spiritual practice books I have come across. Inquiry, when done properly, is an amazingly powerful practice. Almaas takes you step by step into a deeper understanding of how to do this practice. That said, this book is not for everyone. I would suggest that someone should have read Diamond Heart One and Two (for most people these are a better starting point than the Diamond Mind series) and also have at least a couple of years of sitting meditation experience before working with this book. Without that foundation, this work might only engage you at the psychological level. This is also a "workbook" with lots of inquiry exercises-take your time with it. I would suggest setting aside some time to work with it two or three times a week. The inquiries will take 15-20 minutes each and shouldn't be skipped if you want to engage this work fully.

I reread much of this book, trying to get something out of it. I used to find it wordy and abstract. What I have realized recently is that this book is but a supplement for inquiry. Inquiry is very difficult to realize, and is something that must be personally realized as a way, and until then the teachings about it sound convoluted and abstract. So, it is easy to get little from this book until the practice of inquiry is discovered in oneself. That's what differentiates it from any meditation, it's natural and not some practice learned externally.

I first started reading this book without having to do anything with the school and I found it with a lot of sense and practical advise, it can be a bit overwhelming but it is overwhelming to go into your self and through all those knots and contractions that you will find on the way. It makes a lot of sense to me the method of inquiring into your experience as a way to really go through layers and layers of misunderstandings cause as he says all this conflicts are pointing directly to where the fundamental hurt is .. Besides, inquire is at the same time an allowing those pains to be, a recognition and embrace of those things we usually run away from ....so what is it that I am feeling at the moment??

This book is unreadable. It's grotesquely overwritten and bogged down with vague (very vague) spiritual terminology. Too many 'and' clauses, not enough examples. Honestly, the basic ideas in this book could be summarized in about 5 pages. What really disappointed me is that the basic idea seemed interesting and it is supposed to be a practical method that I could learn and learn from. So I kept wanting to find this book useful, but I finally threw it away in frustration - I don't want anyone else to pick up this book with hope, only to be smothered in vague, arrogant, and precious "advice". Ask yourself questions, be both positionless and yet goal oriented, ask yourself a lot of questions. That's pretty much it.
Some may find the exquisitely vague and lengthy passages on stuff like the differences between soul and Being useful, but I was lost and annoyed. I was amused by the authors long, circular, and ecstatic explanation of things like Brilliancy (capitalized, naturally) using words like smooth and elegant. Like this:

"I call the aspect of intelligence Brilliancy because it is the presence of brilliance that is not the brilliance of something. The experience of the aspect of intelligence is what you would perceive if you took the brilliance of any color and made it an independent quality, a presence on its own that is purely brilliance and is not the brilliance of anything else. This pure brilliance, existing on its own, is the very consciousness and substance of intelligence. What you observe is brilliance in itself, not something that is brilliant. So I call the quality itself Brilliancy in order to differentiate it from the characteristic of brilliance."

What?

a somewhat imaginary approach resulting in a somewhat imaginary enlightenment