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them is true nature, spirit itself, and not something else that true nature produces. They are its

originally virtual characteristics which by manifesting display its possibilities. These dimensions

function as the ontological ground of all appearance, all phenomena, and all experience. [See

Diamond Heart, Book IV, by author]

Structure of Spirit

This structure of true nature is reminiscent of the notion of the great chain of Being that many

teachings and philosophies have developed. Plotinus, for instance, postulated three basic

dimensions, one emerging from the other: the One, which corresponds to our unmanifest

absolute truth; the Nous or divine mind, which corresponds to our dimension of pure presence;

and the Soul, which corresponds to our dimension of the logos. In our times, Ken Wilber, in his

far-reaching theory of human experience and development, utilizes the idea of the great chain of

Being to ground his theory in a view that integrates all dimensions of reality, from the physical to

the spiritual. Thus, like the Diamond Approach, his theory holds that reality as a whole has a

structure based on the dimensions of true nature. However, there is a difference, for he views

true nature itself as always structurless and nondifferentiated. For Wilber, spirit is always

transcendent and undifferentiated spirit, but for us this is only the dimension of pure emptiness

or/and that of pure awareness. Using his terminology, for Wilber spirit is either the causal level,

the pure spirit in its total absoluteness and transcendence,  or the nondual level, while the

psychic and subtle levels are not spirit itself but different kinds of dimensions that are not purely

spiritual in nature.

The Diamond Approach sees spirit itself as structured, as we described in the above discussion

of the five dimensions of reality or spirit. All five dimensions, not only the absolute dimension,

are true nature. This is similar to the five awarenesses of the Dhyani Buddha’s in Mahayana

Buddhism, which are inherent differentiations that manifest from Buddha nature without

becoming anything else. The rays of the rainbow are all light, even though of colored light.  In

individual experience, one of the dimensions may dominate consciousness, but in reality all the

dimensions are coemergent, and all are differentiations that manifest necessary characteristics

of true nature. In other words, they are all differentiations of what Wilber calls the causal

dimension,  for reality is always a structured but timeless unfolding.

Essential Aspects

True nature also possesses qualities that are the basis of all spiritual qualities known to

humanity, qualities that make us human, and which make it possible for us to develop spiritually.

Many traditional spiritual teachings postulate spiritual qualities, each according to its own unique

logos. The logos of the Diamond Approach views the unmanifest spirit as possessing virtual

perfections, inherent but undifferentiated. As true nature manifests its boundless dimensions, it

can also differentiate these perfections, or perfect qualities. This is a “horizontal” differentiation

of true nature, in contrast to the “vertical” differentiation of the boundless dimensions. In other

words, these differentiated perfect qualities can appear in any of the boundless dimensions, by

the ground of this dimension differentiating itself into these qualities. We call these perfections

essential aspects, meaning differentiated aspects of true nature or spirit. Each quality remains

true nature itself, but appears in a differentiated quality necessary for the life of the soul and for

the development of human consciousness. These aspects include truth, clarity, spaciousness,

intelligence, existence, will, strength, joy, will, peace, value, love, personhood, identity,  and so

on. These are all qualities of true nature in all of its dimensions, even when it is unmanifest, for

our spiritual nature eternally possesses such perfections. The important point here is that these

are horizontal differentiations of the causal dimension, and that such perfections can arise in our

experience as differentiated and delineated qualities. They are not affects, images or