The author of several books on spirituality (e.g., Spacecruiser Inquiry), Almaas developed the Diamond Approach to spiritual self-knowledge and founded the Ridhwan School, which is based on this approach. Here he offers a guide to the Diamond Approach, which integrates psychological and spiritual practices that can lead to the realization and actualization of one's true nature. Almaas sees the soul as the "vessel that contains and holds all of our inner events" and believes in a unity of reality consisting of soul or self, the world or cosmos, and God or Being. The first half of this book describes the nature of the soul and the process by which it creates what we call the self. The second half is an overview of how to use the Diamond Approach to find the true nature of reality, or "what we ultimately are." This informed and scholarly work effectively counters a materialist view of reality. Its value is further enhanced by appendixes presenting different cultural concepts of the soul and extensive endnotes grounding the author's views in other historical and philosophical works. Recommended for academic libraries.-Jerry Shuttle, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.